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  Dear Member of the Swiss polar and high-altitude science community,
We hope that this email finds you well. This newsletter brings you our latest news on our open calls and collaboration opportunities from our network such as the Mertz Fellowship, Antarctica InSync, and access to the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. We also invite you to discover this year's Polar Access Fund grantees and their projects, to read more about our collaboration with Oliver Heer Ocean Racing for environmental data collection and outreach during the Vendée Globe race, and last but not least, to bookmark the dates for the upcoming events.
We wish you a refreshing read, a nice summer, and look forward to seeing you in Fribourg on the Swiss Polar Day!
The SPI Team
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 Photo credit: © Noé Sardet EPFL/Parafilms, all rights reserved
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 Photo credit: © Brandon S. Whitley, all rights reserved
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Enabling early-career scientists to access polar and high-altitude regions to pursue their research on climate and environmental changes, this year’s Polar Access Fund supports six researchers selected by an independent panel of experts. The projects cover diverse domains such as biology, microbiology and biogeochemical cycles, applied geophysics, oceanography, high-altitude medicine, and Arctic archaeology.
Continue reading →
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If you are interested in joining our small dynamic team committed to supporting cutting-edge science in the fascinating, but fast-changing polar environment, we look forward to hearing from you by 19 August.
Entry date: 1 November 2024 or upon agreement
Location: Energypolis Campus, Sion (VS)
Learn more & apply →
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 © 2024 Swiss Polar Class, all rights reserved
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In collaboration with Swiss skipper Oliver Heer, our free educational programme Swiss Polar Class will publish new learning content focused on oceans during the famous Vendée Globe race.
Available in French and German, this new module for primary schools offers a novel way to better understand the role oceans play in global climate while following the Vendée Globe, the ultimate solo sailing challenge circumnavigating Antarctica.
This outreach project stems from the initial partnership between Oliver Heer Ocean Racing and the Swiss Polar Institute focused on environmental data collection in the Southern Ocean.
Read more →
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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. More news soon!
Stay informed and bookmark the SPI Flagship Initiatives' webpage →
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Starting this summer with the SPI Exploratory Grants and the SPI Technogrants (see calls below), we have reviewed our funding instruments to assess and lower the environmental footprint of Swiss scientific research in polar and high-altitude regions. Changes include cleantech and alternative data acquisition methods. Applicants will also be encouraged to measure the carbon emissions of their projects. We welcome community feedback on this newly established submission process and look forward to your proposals.
Learn more →
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SPI to support Swiss participation in Antarctica InSync
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 © AWI, all rights reserved
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Antarctica InSync (International Science & Infrastructure for Synchronous Observation) is a new major programme led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research. The programme aims to better understand, protect and sustainably manage the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030.
The programme is currently in its preparatory phase. The SPI has taken a lead to support Swiss participation in Antarctica InSync and will ensure coordination and regular exchange between the delegates. Working groups are organised by the following themes: Ocean, Sea Ice, Biology, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheet.
The programme will also be presented during the Swiss Polar Day on 12 September.
We encourage senior scientists interested in contributing to the development of science programmes to participate and to contact us directly for additional information →
Access the current overview (pdf 7MB) →
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Upcoming calls & access opportunities
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 © Christophe Randin / Thomas Stastny, all rights reserved
For both grants, the submission deadline is set to 4 October 2024, 12:00 (noon, Swiss time).
An online info event will be held on 29 August to provide information on the calls’ respective goals and processes, and will include a Q&A session.
To the event webpage →
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.
More info →
The SPI Technogrants support Swiss groups developing technologies relevant for research in polar regions (and other extreme environments such as remote high-altitude regions).
More info →
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The call for proposals for the Mertz Fellowship is now open. It aims to intensify collaboration and networking between Swiss and Australian polar and high-altitude science communities. It is dedicated to PhD students and ECRs (maximum 5 years after the PhD award at the time of the proposal submission) based in Switzerland or Australia. The fellowship supports their active involvement in polar and high-altitude research through short-term exchange visits and joint projects.
The deadline for submission is 31 October 2024, 23:00 CET.
Read more & apply →
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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.
Learn more & apply →
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 © GRIMM, all rights reserved
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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.
Learn more & contact us →
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 © Christophe Randin / Thomas Stastny, all rights reserved
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We are organising an online info event on the two upcoming calls to be published in early August: the SPI Exploratory Grants and the SPI Technogrants. This event will provide information on the calls’ respective goals and processes, and will include a Q&A session. The link will be emailed to registered attendees shortly before the event.
To the registration form →
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 Photo credit: © 2017 Parafilms/EPFL, Noé Sardet, all rights reserved
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 © 2024 Ambassade de France en Suisse et au Liechtenstein, all rights reserved
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L’Ambassadrice de France en Suisse, Mme Marion Paradas, en coopération avec le Département fédéral des affaires étrangères et le Swiss Polar Institute, a le plaisir de vous inviter à une conférence-débat portant sur le thème de l'impact du dérèglement climatique en zone alpine.
Les échanges se dérouleront exclusivement en français.
Inscription obligatoire avant le 6 septembre 2024.
Vers le programme et l'inscription →
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 © ILLU, all rights reserved
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Established by the University of Bergen, the partners of the ClimateNarratives project and in collaboration with Avannaata Kommunia, ILLU science and art is a flexible space where innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, technology and science are at the core of its activities.
Residencies for scientists based outside Greenland are possible, please refer to ILLU's webpage for more details →
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The deadline for the 2024 SCAR Fellowship applications is extended to 9 September 2024. 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.
Learn more & apply →
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The 15th Symposium on Polar Science is organised by the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan and will take place on 3-5 December 2024. This annual event offers a platform to showcase and foster a broad spectrum of polar scientific research and interdisciplinary studies.
Online registration and abstract submission for the symposium will begin in early August.
Read more & apply →
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Open PostDoc & PhD positions at WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF |
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WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is offering two positions within their snow hydrology team. The positions aim at enhancing their operational snow model systems, including the representation of individual snow processes and the assimilation of observational data. These models are applied in various research projects and to run a range of operational services for the Swiss avalanche and flood forecasting, for water management purposes, and public information.
PostDoc position (3 years) →
PhD position (4 years) →
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The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) is an organisation that aims to stimulate interdisciplinary and international collaboration in polar, high altitude and cryospheric sciences. The national committee in Switzerland is part of APECS, and encourages collaborations and networking with a focus on all Swiss-based early-career researchers, from undergraduate students to early faculty members.
Learn more & join →
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Outreach
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 The active refrigerated container housing samples, transported frozen at -20°C to Dumont d'Urville by traverse. © Matthias Jaggi / SLF, all rights reserved
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On 5-6 October 2024 Girls* On Ice organise a "Women* on Ice" weekend with at the Albert-Heim Hütte, to experience the Alpine landscape from scientific and artistic perspectives.
Registration is open to every woman* until 15 August 2024, no previous experience is necessary, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Find out more →
*cisgender girls and transgender, agender, Two Spirit, nonbinary, intersex, and genderqueer persons
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 Illustration credits: © Girls* On Ice, all rights reserved
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Focus on glaciers in museums and galleries throughout Switzerlamd |
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 Illustration credits: © Association Aux arts les glaciers!, all rights reserved
This summer, several cultural venues and museums focus on glaciers. The Musée Historique de Lausanne (MHL) proposes the exhibition Glaciers. Un monde en mouvement in collaboration with ETH Zurich and University of Lausanne.
In Valais, the cultural centre and exhibition gallery Ferme-Asile presents Élégies, the first institutional exhibition of artist Matthieu Gafsou that offers a space for apprehending our relationship to the world and climate change through a melancholic contemplation of receding glaciers.
At the Musée des Bisses, the temporary exhibition Art for Glaciers showcases artwork from Maëlle Cornut, Thierry Raboud and other artists.
All three exhibitions are part of a nationwide collective project on the topic of vanishing glaciers, Watching the glacier disappear, federating numerous museums and galleries across Switzerland until 29 September 2024.
More info & full programme →
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