Professional Affiliation

Scholar, Fulbright Arctic Initiative; Public Health Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway; Professor II, Indigenous Pedagogy, Institute of Sámi Teaching Education and Indigenous Journalism Study, Sámi University of Applied Sciences

Expert Bio

Ketil Lenert Hansen is an indigenous (Sámi) epidemiologist and public health professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (100%) and Professor II (20%) in Indigenous Pedagogy at Institute of Sámi Teaching Education and Indigenous Journalism Study, Sámi University of Applied Sciences, with over 20 years of mixed methods research experience within the Norwegian indigenous Sámi people. This work has included research on discrimination, bullying, health inequality, violence, disability, resilience, child welfare, somatic- and mental health among Sámi children, youth and adults. His community engagement work has spanned regional, national, and international efforts. He has also been involved in teaching programs and developed courses in public health for masters and PhD students, taught at several circumpolar summer schools for PhD students in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Lenert Hansen has received several awards for my circumpolar research, eg.: Jens Peder Hart Hansen Award (2012) and Dissemination prize from the Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT (2018). Today, he serves as a member of the Lancet Commission on Arctic Health: Accelerating Indigenous Health and Well-Being.

“As an indigenous (Sámi) professor of public health the Community Dimensions of Health for indigenous people in the Arctic are very important to me and close to my heart. My ancestors lived a nomadic lifestyle in the northern part of Scandinavia for hundreds of years. They were predominantly reindeer herders and, several of my family member still continue this tradition today, on the biggest island in Norway, Hinnøya (Linnasuolu, North Sámi language).”