Swiss Polar Institute – Supporting Swiss polar science

© Jean-Vincent Simonet, all rights reserved

PolARTS is a joint initiative by Pro Helvetia and the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) aimed at encouraging exchange and fostering collaboration between arts and polar science. PolARTS supports up to three tandems, each composed of one polar scientist and one artist from Switzerland, over a period of 12 to 18 months. These […]

Mertz on the ice cliff (c) Frank Hurley, 1912 /Wikimedia - Public Domain, State Library of South Wales

Mertz Fellowship 2025 – the call is now open

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Mertz Fellowship 2025 – the call is now open

The Mertz Fellowship – a partnership between the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia, Swissnex, Swiss Polar Institute, and the Antarctic Science Foundation – supports joint projects and scientific networking between Swiss and Australian higher education and research institutions. The programme focuses on early-career researchers and fosters cutting-edge research while strengthening […]

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SPI Exploratory Grants & SPI Technogrants – 2025 Calls for proposals are open

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SPI Exploratory Grants & SPI Technogrants – 2025 Calls for proposals are open

We are pleased to announce that the calls for proposals for the SPI Exploratory Grant and SPI Technogrants are now open! The submission deadline is 9 October 2025, 12:00 (noon, Swiss time). The SPI Exploratory Grants support Swiss-based scientists active in polar regions (including remote high-altitude regions such as the Andes and the Himalayas) by allowing them to […]

© 2025 Kristina Dolezych / Waalem GmbH & Co. KG, all rights reserved

Floating platforms for polar science: towards a white paper

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Floating platforms for polar science: towards a white paper

Experts from offshore sailing and polar science communities gathered on 19 and 20 July on Föhr (Germany) to resume the exchange on environmental impact, best practices and complementary expertise initiated at the Arctic Circle Assembly last year. The two-day seminar was dedicated to outlining the opportunities floating and sailing platforms can […]

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Swiss Polar Institute signs a Memorandum of Agreement with Antarctica New Zealand

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Swiss Polar Institute signs a Memorandum of Agreement with Antarctica New Zealand

On 7 July 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand, Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) and Antarctica New Zealand (ANZ) officialised their cooperation in polar science. This MoA aims to facilitate the development of joint research projects in Antarctica. The signing took place in the presence of Prof. Jordy Hendrikx (Chief Executive, ANZ), […]

Polar Access Fund 2025: selected grantees

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Polar Access Fund 2025: selected grantees

We are pleased to announce that four projects have been selected by an independent panel of experts for the eighth edition of the Polar Access Fund. The successful proposals span the domains of glaciology, sea ice physics, glacial hydrology and geophysics. The grants, co-funded by Swiss Polar Institute and BNP […]

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Polar Access Fund: Artificial ice reservoir (ice stupa) built to enhance water management in Ladakh

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Polar Access Fund: iceberg fill the Narsarsuaq fjord in Greenland.

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SPI Exploratory Grant: Fieldwork on vegetation patterns above Zackenberg Research Station in Greenland

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Calving iceberg on Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, summer 2023. The scale is hard to capture, but this iceberg is rising up more than twice the height of the calving front which is approximately 130-150 meters high.

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A Polar Access Fund grantee is recovering GPS data in order to monitor a landslide near the Portage glacier (Alaska).

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SPI Technogrant: Prototype for a low-cost and robust electrical resistivity tomography monitoring system for remote permafrost environments

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Polar Access Fund: Challenging access to fieldwork site on a debris-covered glacier in the Garhwal mountain range in northern India

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Field & Summer School: International Geochronology Summer School, Switzerland

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SUPPORTING SWISS POLAR SCIENCE

NEWS

The PolARTS call for proposals is open

The PolARTS call for proposals is open

Mertz Fellowship 2025 – the call is now open

Mertz Fellowship 2025 – the call is now open

SPI Exploratory Grants & SPI Technogrants – 2025 Calls for proposals are open

SPI Exploratory Grants & SPI Technogrants – 2025 Calls for proposals are open

Floating platforms for polar science: towards a white paper

Floating platforms for polar science: towards a white paper

Swiss Polar Institute signs a Memorandum of Agreement with Antarctica New Zealand

Swiss Polar Institute signs a Memorandum of Agreement with Antarctica New Zealand

Polar Access Fund 2025: selected grantees

Polar Access Fund 2025: selected grantees

OPEN CALLS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Explore all SPI funded projects

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