Assoc. Prof. Aviâja Lyberth Hauptmann is an Inuk microbiologist from Greenland, specializing in Arctic foodways and microbiology. She is an associate professor and head of department at Ilisimatusarfik – the University of Greenland, where she has developed and now leads the SILA Bachelor’s in Biology Program. She also holds a part-time assistant professorship at the University of Copenhagen, Globe Institute.
She has held positions as an assistant professor at Ilisimatusarfik and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis, where she collaborated on research and teaching around the microbiology of Indigenous Greenlandic fermented foods.
Assoc. Prof. Hauptmann’s work emphasizes the significance of traditional animal-source Inuit foods in understanding human-microbe interactions and promoting food sovereignty. She has been an active public debater for more than a decade, currently focusing on Indigenous food systems and the role of Indigenous peoples in science. Her work not only advances scientific understanding of Arctic microbiology but also bridges cultural and societal aspects, promoting the integration of Indigenous knowledge into scientific research.
“For those of us who live in the Arctic, it is increasingly clear that science is diplomacy. In a time where the mantra of Greenland’s government as well as our national research strategy is ‘Nothing about us without us’ it will be the scientific communities who manage to build equitable and long-term relations with Arctic collaborators who can do science in the Arctic.”