Professor Norvald Kjerstad trained as a master mariner at Tromsø University College and has a Deck Officer Certificate Class 1. He has varied experience from different types of ships operating in Arctic waters -- including voyages in the Northeast and Northwest passages and to the North Pole. His MSc thesis at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1989 was related to nautical aspects of ship operations on the Northern Sea Route in Russia. After many years at sea he started his academic career as a lecturer at Aalesund University College in 1991, and qualified there as Professor in 2004. Since 2007 he has also been Adjunct Professor in ice navigation at the University of Tromsø, and has been responsible for theoretical- and field courses in ice navigation at this university. In addition, Professor Kjerstad has dedicated a lot of work to developing simulators and textbooks for advanced navigation and ship handling.