Lise Loktu is a researcher with the High North Department. She has a master’s degree in archaeology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology with specialization in GIS and historical archaeology.

Loktu has extensive experience from cultural heritage management. Her core expertise is within public management, environmental monitoring, GIS and digital archeology. She has broad experience with project management related to excavation, area planning and environmental impact assessments. In addition, she has a lot of experience with communication and dissemination of historical information.

From 2016-2022, Loktu worked as a senior advisor for the Governor of Svalbard with responsibility for the management of archaeological cultural environments. In this context she has made a significant contribution to establish a professional management program for archaeological sites in the archipelago. She was responsible for establishing an environmental monitoring program for mapping vulnerable cultural environments through the use of drones, georeferenced orthophotos and 3D models, thereby strongly contributing to ensure updated monitoring data from the most vulnerable cultural environments.

Loktu has designed and led several excavation projects on Svalbard, including grave sites from the west-European whaling period. She had a central role in the clean-up of the mining community in Svea, which is one of the world’s most extensive and ambitious environmental clean-up projects. She has had the responsibility for the Governor’s work with mapping and documentation of the cultural environment, for how the clean-up work should take the cultural environment into account and how it should be managed and monitored afterwards.

Loktu is also a trained graphic designer with a background in advertising. She has used this expertise to contribute to dissemination of cultural heritage environments. On Svalbard, she played a central part in implementing a big project concerning signage and dissemination of the cultural environment in Longyearbyen.