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  Dear Member of the Swiss polar and high-altitude science community,
Here are the latest SPI news and activities, as well as outreach events and news from our network. Discover our Annual Report, PolARTS selected tandems, upcoming workshops on fieldwork planning and on leadership, next calls, ship-time opportunity, and open positions.
We wish you a good read!
The SPI Team
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 Photo credit: © 2023 Jason Klimatsas, all rights reserved
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Access the online version to explore our funding schemes, Flagship Initiatives, services, international and national collaboration, outreach programmes and various events that rhythmed the year. |
 © 2023 Swiss Polar Institute
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 Photo credit: © Pro Helvetia / Jean-Vincent Simonet, all rights reserved
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On 26 February 2024 in Sion (VS), the SPI and Tara Ocean Foundation held a joint workshop focused on presenting the drifting scientific observatory/laboratory, Tara Polar Station, and on exploring synergies between the two organisations and their respective scientific communities. The collaborative workshop concluded with both parties formalising their agreement with a Memorandum of Understanding. |
 Presentation of Tara Polar Station during the afternoon workshop. © 2024 SPI
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 SPI-AWI workshop participants: © SPI/AWI, all rights reserved
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On 1 March 2024, the jointly organised SPI-AWI workshop reflected the rich collaboration between AWI- and Swiss-based scientists. Various presentations focused on current and future joint projects in polar regions. The online workshop concluded with a dynamic discussion about future collaboration opportunities in Antarctica.
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SPI Exploratory Grants support Swiss-based scientists active in polar and remote high-altitude regions by allowing them to launch short-term new ideas, fund additional fieldwork or launch new collaborations with financial support for logistics. Collaboration with new teams or across disciplines are particularly encouraged, as well as participation in larger/international activities. The grants can be used to complement the funding of initiatives supported by larger funding schemes (e.g. SNSF, EU, etc.).
The SPI Technogrants support Swiss groups developing technologies relevant for research in polar regions (and other extreme environments such as remote high-altitude regions). Technogrants can also serve the improvement and adaptation of technologies to extreme environments, or support new technological developments to be used in the field for polar or remote high-altitude research.
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 UNIS Course AG-825 Glaciology 2024 © 2024 Armin Dachauer, all rights reserved
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SPI contributes to the cost related to the participation in field schools and training programmes to enable students and early-career scientists affiliated to a Swiss academic or research institution to acquire specialised experience and knowledge.
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SPI Flagship Initiatives are multi-annual programmes combining science and technology projects from different disciplines and different groups/institutions in Switzerland around a polar focus region. The funding is focused on field campaigns (logistics, safety, etc.), data management, outreach, and programme coordination, thus providing temporary infrastructure for a Swiss-led polar research programme.
The next call for proposals will open in early 2025. Bookmark the SPI Flagship Initiatives' webpage to stay informed. More news to come soon!
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 © GRIMM, all rights reserved
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All our spring and summer training courses are fully booked. Our next available training opportunity in collaboration with GRIMM:
A two-day course addressing the needs of scientific groups going into the field focuses on first aid practices in special conditions encountered in cold and remote regions. The course offers an overview of existing medical support solutions in polar and remote high-altitude environments including customised field medical kits, as well as basic first aid practices.
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 © 2022 Andrew Tedstone, all rights reserved
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From administrative hurdles to equipment failure, fieldwork can become a tumultuous experience hindering scientific research. In this event, experts from diverse backgrounds will share their experience, perspectives and best practice when it comes to planning a successful field campaign. This event is specifically designed for early-career researchers to learn more about the various challenges of fieldwork, and most importantly, how to navigate around them.
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 © 2023 Marcel Schütz / University of Basel, all rights reserved
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Fieldwork is an integral part of geoscience research. A positive and supportive group culture is an essential part of ensuring that field teams can be maximally productive and safe during field campaigns.
In this course led by Mylène Jacquemart, postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, we will cover leadership and communication tools that can help field team members, regardless of their position in the team, contribute to creating such a positive environment.
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This year's annual gathering of the Swiss polar science community will be held at University of Fribourg. The detailed programme will be available soon and will include national and international keynotes, networking opportunities and updates on recent developments in polar research.
The registration is now open with two options: only for the event and for the event & participation in the Open Forum.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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 Photo credit: © 2017 Parafilms/EPFL, Noé Sardet, all rights reserved
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RV Skagerak will travel to Svalbard in mid-August for a project from University of Gothenburg – departing Gothenburg late July / early August.
For expressions of interest for two ship-time opportunities, i.e. piggy-back on the transit and ship day bookings, please read the detailed information and contact the ship managers.
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The Department of Geography at University of Zurich is looking for a PhD candidate for reconstructing and analysing the past evolution of rock glaciers in Switzerland.
The PhD grant is financed through the SNF project "Rock glacier dynamics in the Swiss Alps: evolution and drivers at multiple spatio-temporal scales" (RoDynAlpS).
Applications review will start on 17 May 2024.
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A PhD position on the long-term stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s kilometre-thick ice is funded for four years as part of the Swiss National Science Foundation project ‘FlowState: Melting, hydrology and ice flow at high elevations of the Greenland Ice Sheet’.
The overarching objective of the project is to quantify the impact of high-elevation surface melting upon the ice sheet’s dynamic stability through the 21st century and beyond. The project will measure and then model basal hydrology and ice flow in areas where surface meltwater drains to reach the ice sheet bed through ice which is around a kilometre thick.
The deadline for applications is 20 May 2024.
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The project aims to characterise the properties of clouds at the local and regional scales along a transect from the coast to the inland region of Adelie Land in East Antarctica, using measurements collected by Doppler profiling radars working at different frequencies.
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Applications for the 2024 SCAR Fellowships are now open. The aim of the scheme is to encourage the active involvement of early-career researchers in Antarctic scientific research and to build new connections and further strengthen international capacity and cooperation in Antarctic research.
The deadline for applications is 31 July 2024.
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GEO Mountains has launched a new small grants call for project proposals that explicitly explore mountain monitoring, data, and information.
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Open webinar presenting the call and providing opportunity for Q&A: 6 May 2024, 14:00 CEST
- Deadline for proposals: 3 June 2024, midnight (23:59) CEST
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Outreach
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 Photo credit: © 2024 Simon Steffen, all rights reserved
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 Illustration credits: © Swiss Polar Class
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In collaboration with the SPI, Ferme-Asile organises a guided tour of the GRAND NORD exhibition in the company of a scientist and an artist for a polyphonic exchange as they comment on the exhibited artworks and put their perspectives in dialogue.
The tour will be in French only.
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 Photo credit: © 2024 Ferme-Asile, all rights reserved
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The project led by Canterbury Christ Church University involves gamification as a method for sharing and disseminating ongoing research findings, serving as a platform for engaging new or extended audiences with the rich cultural heritage of the Sami people and their life in the European Arctic.
The project leaders are actively seeking inputs on various aspects of the game development.
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To stay-up-to-date with the latest news about the Flagship Initiatives, their dedicated websites, GreenFjord and PAMIR, offer a host of information about the projects, their latest updates and social media feeds. |
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