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Science conducted in and around polar and high-altitude regions is critical to understanding the evolution of the Earth’s climate.
Due to the complex logistics, challenging access and difficult safety conditions in these extreme environments, the Swiss polar community requires specific competencies and dedicated support.
The Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) offers tailored support to scientists based in Switzerland who work in polar regions and remote, high-altitude environments.

NEWS

The Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research (SKPH), the Swiss Commission for the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (SKJFJ) and the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research are publishing the 2021 call for the Prix de Quervain. The objective of this competition is the promotion of students and early-career […]

Vacancy for Scientific Director

News

Vacancy for Scientific Director

The Swiss Polar Institute is looking for a new Scientific Director. Applicants should be leading scientists in polar/high-altitude research with strong research credentials anchored in the Swiss research community. The contract will offer a position at 20% (annualised) and have a duration of 4 years, renewable once. See the announcement […]

IMG_6087_credit_Matthias_Buschmann - copie

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

News

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

The SPI Flagship Initiative programme, enabling ambitious Swiss-led multi-annual and multi-disciplinary research programmes in polar or remote high-altitude regions, has just been launched. The funding will be 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 SPI Flagship […]

SPI involved in EU-PolarNet 2

News

SPI involved in EU-PolarNet 2

Following its participation in EU-PolarNet, the Swiss Polar Institute is now a partner of the EU-PolarNet 2 consortium, funded by Horizon 2020. Through EU-PolarNet 2, SPI will contribute to the mapping of existing strengths and capabilities in European polar research, help identify short and long-term polar science needs, shape future […]

Swiss Polar Institute gains new national status

News

Swiss Polar Institute gains new national status

Founded in 2015 with the aim of supporting the research community, the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) has now been selected as a “Research institution of national importance” for the period 2021-2024. This new status and additional funding by the Swiss Confederation will raise SPI to a new level to support […]

Survey about Swiss-French polar science collaboration

News

Survey about Swiss-French polar science collaboration

The Swiss Polar Institute, in collaboration with the French Polar Institute (IPEV), is circulating a questionnaire to help foster Franco-Swiss polar collaborations. We invite Swiss polar researchers to fill out this questionnaire and let us know how SPI-IPEV could support such collaborations or access by Swiss groups to French infrastructure/locations […]

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

The SPI Flagship Initiative programme, enabling ambitious Swiss-led multi-annual and multi-disciplinary research programmes in polar or remote high-altitude regions, has just been launched. The funding will be 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 SPI Flagship Initiatives represent a unique opportunity, since this will be the only call for proposals for the period 2021-2024.

The call documents are available online.

Two online information events will be held on 19 and 26 February.

© Preben Van Overmeiren, all rights reserved

WHAT WE DO

red_or_dead — Funding
Funding for field access, logistics and technology

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Funding
Funding for field access, logistics and technology

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Expeditions
Expeditions and Flagship programmes

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Events
Information events, scientific workshops and conferences

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Outreach
swiss polar class educational programme

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Health and Safety
Courses and support measures for fieldwork

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Training
ACCESS TO FIELD AND SUMMER SCHOOLS

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Scientists onboard a Zodiac near Siple Island

SPI Gallery

Scientists onboard a Zodiac near Siple Island, Antarctica, during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) 2016-2017. The area was relatively ice-free at the time of the scientists’ visit, allowing an unexpected opportunity to collect vegetation and geological samples from nearby Lauft and Maher Islands. © Bradley Markle (CC BY 4.0)

© Parafilms/EPFL. Photographer: Noé Sardet (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Scientists returning to the ship from Mount Siple

SPI Gallery

Scientists returning to the ship from Mount Siple, Marie Byrd Land, after drilling an ice core during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) 2016-2017. © Parafilms/EPFL. Photographer: Noé Sardet (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Glacial lakes of the Bhutan Himalayas

SPI Gallery

Scientists use unexpected means of transport to reach some test sites in the Bhutan Himalayas. Sonam Wangchuck’s project “Bathymetric survey of glacial lakes; GPS measurements of lake shoreline; ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of moraine dams and glacier tongues; turbidity and surface temperature measurements” was supported by the Polar Access […]

The Balleny Islands

SPI Gallery

Aerial view of the rarely-visited, volcanic Balleny Islands, taken during the second leg of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE). Their location straddling the Antarctic Circle gave scientists the perfect opportunity to drill the first ice core from Young Island to better understand changes in circumpolar westerly winds. © Parafilms/EPFL. Photographer: […]

Marine invertebrate collected during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE)

SPI Gallery

Marine invertebrate collected from the sea floor during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) 2016-2017. Organisms living on the sea floor capture carbon by feeding on microscopic plankton and other animals, playing a key role in the carbon cycle. © Parafilms/EPFL. Photographer: Noé Sardet (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Maintenance at Swiss Camp Greenland

SPI Gallery

Bowdoin Glacier and recently-calved icebergs, Northwestern Greenland

SPI Gallery

View of the Bowdoin Glacier and recently-calved icebergs, Northwestern Greenland. Eef van Dongen’s project “Monitoring of the calving glacier Eqip Sermia, West Greenland, using UAVs” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2018. © All rights reserved, Eef van Dongen 2021

MOCCHA campaign guard

SPI Gallery

MOCCHA campaign guard ensures the safety of the crew, mainly against polar bears, as it is usual during fieldworks in the high Arctic. Andrea Baccarini’s project “Participation in the MOCCHA campaign in the high Arctic onboard of the ODEN icebreaker” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2018. © All […]

Fieldwork on Himalayan glaciers

SPI Gallery

Fieldwork was carried out to measure the accumulation rates of Himalayan glaciers. Evan Miles’ project “Accumulation via Borehole teLeviewing at high Elevation (ABLE): proof of concept” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2019. © All rights reserved, Evan Miles 2021

Summer nights at Mount Nils Larsen

SPI Gallery

Shadows of Mount Nils Larsen do not cover the field camp, since the Sun does not set during these beautiful Antarctic summer nights. Akçar Naki’s project “DEAIS: Changes in the Drainage Pattern of the Eastern Antarctic Ice Sheet through Time” was supported by the SPI Exploratory Grant, 2018. © All […]

Rocky and snowy Dronning Maud Land

SPI Gallery

Rocky and snowy Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, is a strategic location for collection of data and samples. Alfonso Ferrone’s project “Summer campaign at “Princess Elisabeth Antarctica” research station, in the Dronning Maud Land region of East-Antarctica” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2019. © All rights reserved, Alfonso Ferrone […]

Launching of the autonomous submersible ROPOS

SPI Gallery

Launching of the autonomous submersible ROPOS, in the Southern Ocean, during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) 2016-2017. This technology was used to collect samples from the seabed and benthic organisms while filming the process simultaneously. © Parafilms/EPFL Photographer: Noé Sardet (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Flying UAV near Eqip Sermia

SPI Gallery

Flying of a remotely controlled UAV for in-situ measurements. Eef van Dongen’s project “Monitoring of the calving glacier Eqip Sermia, West Greenland, using UAVs” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2018. © All rights reserved, Eef van Dongen 2021

Fieldwork in a sunny Antarctic landscape

SPI Gallery

Researchers working at a remote automatic measurement station in the field. Armin Sigmund’s project “Measuring snow sublimation, transport, and accumulation near Princess Elisabeth Station, Antarctica” was supported by the Polar Access Fund, 2020. © All rights reserved, Alexis Merlaud 2021

Contact

Swiss Polar Institute ENT-R SPI-GE
GR C2 505
Station 2
1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

Phone:

+41 21 693 76 74
+41 21 693 10 74

Email:

secretariat.spi@epfl.ch

Planning your field activities in spite of COVID

Polar Social Sciences & Humanities: Spotlight on Swiss Research #3

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NEWS

Prix de Quervain 2021

Prix de Quervain 2021

Vacancy for Scientific Director

Vacancy for Scientific Director

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

SPI involved in EU-PolarNet 2

SPI involved in EU-PolarNet 2

Swiss Polar Institute gains new national status

Swiss Polar Institute gains new national status

Survey about Swiss-French polar science collaboration

Survey about Swiss-French polar science collaboration

Call announcement: SPI Flagship Initiatives

WHAT WE DO

Funding

Expeditions

Events

Outreach

Health and Safety

Training

Scientists onboard a Zodiac near Siple Island

Scientists returning to the ship from Mount Siple

Glacial lakes of the Bhutan Himalayas

The Balleny Islands

Marine invertebrate collected during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE)

Maintenance at Swiss Camp Greenland

Bowdoin Glacier and recently-calved icebergs, Northwestern Greenland

MOCCHA campaign guard

Fieldwork on Himalayan glaciers

Summer nights at Mount Nils Larsen

Rocky and snowy Dronning Maud Land

Launching of the autonomous submersible ROPOS

Flying UAV near Eqip Sermia

Fieldwork in a sunny Antarctic landscape

Contact