Anthony Speca

I am an educator, geographer, philosopher and Arctic specialist.  Through my educational consultancy Polar Aspect, I design and run Model Arctic Council (MAC) experiential learning events for undergraduate students, in collaboration with universities in the UK and Canada.  I also design and run the the world's only MACs for secondary-school pupils, in collaboration with schools in the UK and Spain, as well as an online MAC delegate training and conference programme for schools around the world.

Since 2016, I have designed and run numerous MAC events, reaching hundreds of students and pupils from dozens of countries.  My MACs include the Norwich Model Arctic Council, hosted at university level by the UEA School of Environmental Sciences, and at secondary-school level by Norwich School.  I also write and speak about MAC and diplomatic simulation as educational tools.

Outside UEA, I am an Adjunct Professor at Trent University in Canada, and a Philosophy, Politics and Economics Teacher at Norwich School.  I am also Managing Director of the Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education, an institute that I helped to establish within the international University of the Arctic, and a member of the Materials | Art | Science | Envionment | Research group at Bath Spa University.

Formerly, I was a senior policy official with the Government of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic.  I directed a team of analysts advising policy-makers on fiscal and economic issues, and I helped strategise negotiations for the devolution of lands and resources from Ottawa.  Later, I continued to advise the Government of Nunavut as an independent public-policy consultant, whilst writing and speaking about Arctic governance.

I am especially interested in Arctic political and economic geography, Arctic imaginaries, Arctic education, Model Arctic Council, geographical concepts and history, and the philosophy of geography.

At Trent University, where I am an adjunct professor, I created and contribute to a module on Arctic political geography, with a Model Arctic Council as a capstone project.  I have also updated and taught a module on the Arctic economy and its development.

At Norwich School, I currently convene a tutorial on critical thinking skills, and I teach extension sessions in the social sciences for the 'Academic Scholars' programme.  I have also taught A-level courses in political ideologies, the British constitution, the nature of economics, normative ethics and physical geography.

My academic background is in philosophy, and I obtained my PhD in 1999 from the University of Toronto in Canada.  I have also trained in negotiation and mediation.  I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society of Arts.