With start in January 2026 the Interreg Aurora project High North Civil Preparedness Forum arrange a webinar series on the theme of countering foreign information influence.
January 16, 2026
Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI): Actors, Tools and Countermeasures
Tanja Ellingsen, Associate Professor Political Science, Faculty of Social Science, Nord university, Norway
Ellingsen specializes in peace and conflict-studies, extremism and terrorism, and hybrid threats, conspiracy-theories and disinformation as threats to democracy, and has published several articles and book-chapters on these topics (i.e. Ellingsen, 2024).
Tanja teaches about international conflicts, terrorism, hybrid threats and communication during crisis both at the bachelor and master level at Nord university. She is currently involved in a research project on hybrid threats towards Critical Infrastructure (INFRAPOL) led by NUPI and a project on Democracy and Dictatorship funded by NFR. She has recently also been engaged in a research collaboration with Croatia and EU Hybnet on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI).
March 19, 2026
Webinar with the Police Chief at Finnmark Police District in Norway (Title on this webinar will come later)
Ellen Katrine Hætta, Police Chief, Finnmark Police District
Ellen Katrine Olsdatter Hætta (born 1970) is a Norwegian lawyer, from Karasjok and residing in Kirkenes. In 2016, she was appointed Chief of Police in Finnmark Police District. In 2021, she was appointed for a new term in the same position. On 21 January 2022, she was appointed by Jonas Gahr Støre’s government as a member of the Total Emergency Preparedness Commission. The commission’s mandate was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Norway’s emergency preparedness systems. It was to assess and make proposals for how society’s overall resources could and should be directed to further develop civil security and emergency preparedness, and ensure the best possible overall utilization of emergency preparedness resources.
Hætta was also the police chief when 5,500 asylum seekers came cycling across the border crossing between Russia and Norway, Storskog (Kirkenes), in the fall of 2015. This created a major asylum crisis that required an urgent decision in the Storting for return, but many disappeared after the rejection, and the PST later found that some had been commissioned by foreign intelligence services as part of the flow, which was considered by many to be an organized incident by the Russian authorities.
April 16, 2026
AI in relation to information influence, and various techniques used in information influence
Teuvo Arolainen, Media Preparedness Specialist from the National Emergency Supply Agency in Finland
Teuvo Arolainen is a Master of Social Sciences (MSSc) who works as a media preparedness expert at the National Emergency Supply Agency. He has focused on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and its identification and prevention. Arolainen is also familiar with mental crisis resilience. He has a background as a professional journalist at the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and as a head of communication in various organizations.
Are you interested to listen to the webinars?
Contact lilian.johansson@lansstyrelsen.se to get an invitation to the webinars. Specify which webinar you are interested in. The webinars will be online on Teams and held in English.
The webinars are arranged by the Crisis Communication Network in the High North Cooperation.
