The Sensory Ecology of Water: A Multisensory Anthropological Study of Outdoor Swimming in the Arctic

Project Information

EcoSENSES

Grant agreement ID: 101102950

DOI

10.3030/101102950

Project closed

EC signature date 7 April 2023

Start date 1 October 2023

End date 31 October 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 191 760,00

Coordinated by

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EcoSENSES (The Sensory Ecology of Water: A Multisensory Anthropological Study of Outdoor Swimming in the Arctic)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Outdoor swimming in Norway has surged since the COVID 19 pandemic, promoted as a way to improve health, social connection, and a sense of belonging to nature. Yet most research on “blue spaces” focuses on warmer climates and treats wellbeing as a purely human concern. This leaves a gap in understanding how Arctic waters—and the living beings and materials within them—shape everyday relationships between people, environments, and the more than human world. EcoSENSES responds by exploring how sensory immersion in cold water reconfigures wellbeing as shared and relational rather than individual and clinical. It uses friluftsliv—Norway’s philosophy of outdoor life—as a lens for navigating safety, sustainability, and conviviality with waters, coastlines, and nonhuman others.

Objectives:
• Build a theoretical model of human–environmental wellbeing grounded in Arctic swimming practices and sensory knowledge.
• Generate practical recommendations for safe, inclusive water recreation that respect human and more than human needs.
• Develop collaborative open science methods for co creating multisensory knowledge.
• Consolidate the researcher’s leadership in sensory anthropology through teaching and supervision.

By combining anthropology, environmental humanities, and sport studies, EcoSENSES shows how simple practices—short dips, coastal walks, seasonal rituals—can foster resilience and ethical relations with place. Expected impacts include stronger evidence based water policy, advances in open science, and climate aware action in swimming communities. The scale spans local sites, regional strategies, and European agendas on sustainability and public health.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

EcoSENSES delivered a full multi-sensory research programme using sensory ethnographic data collection techniques in Arctic Norway. Methods included participant sensation (joining swims), “wet” in situ interviews during immersion, dry interview follow ups, and elicitation in interviews using photos and video, and documenting of immersion fieldwork using social media posts. Data was analysed through grounded theory models to link themes of sensation, culture, stewardship, and wellbeing.

Key achievements:
• Baseline synthesis of friluftsliv and wellbeing from policy documents, literature, interviews, and a year of ethnographic data collection.
• Model of the outdoor swimming sensorium, mapping cues and skills for safe, respectful practice—reading currents, feeling bodily limits, noticing ecological signs.
• Insights on place and stewardship, showing how attachment to coves, shorelines, and beaches translates into clean ups and care.
• Robust governance with a Data Management Plan and ethics approval; co created multisensory artefacts treated as research data.
Outcomes: A theoretical model of relational wellbeing now underpins several outputs: an accepted journal article, an encyclopaedia entry, a book chapter on urban river swimming, and a forthcoming article on sustainability practices. A curated dataset (closed due to confidentiality concerns) supports future publications.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

EcoSENSES moves beyond generic “blue space” claims by showing how people learn with cold water—and how that learning reshapes health, safety, and care for places. Outdoor swimmers use playful, improvisational skills to adapt in real time to shifting Arctic conditions; this reframing of competition builds competence and social cohesion while normalising safety behaviours like buddy checks and sighting. The project also evidences a politics of the sensible: repeated immersions make environmental change tangible (smells, textures, temperatures), tipping routine recreation into civic action—mobilising complaints after pollution, sparking clean ups, and strengthening attachment to place. Beyond local sites, EcoSENSES links everyday immersion to wider transformations: Olympic driven river clean ups, “swimmable city” agendas, living lab innovations, and citizen science show how hope based messaging and visible access accelerate investment and stewardship.

Pathways for uptake:
• Demonstration sites translating sensory know how into design choices: safe entry points, signage, emergency equipment, seasonal facilities.
• Light touch stewardship protocols (temperature logs, litter tallies) feeding municipal dashboards.
• Comparative Arctic trials refining guidance across salinity, tide, and ice regimes.
• Open science supports for multisensory data sharing.
• Aligning access with water quality improvements to lock in long term benefits.

EcoSENSES logo. Blue and white cresting waves with green text (EcoSENSES) on a white background.