On 19 December, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI announced the renewal of SPI’s national status and an increased budget for the period 2025-2028. We are thankful for the renewed trust and the recognition of the important contributions of the Swiss polar and high-altitude science community.
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The call for the Prix de Quervain is now open. This year’s Prix de Quervain will be awarded for research on topics relating to the two polar regions. The prize honours students and early-career scientists for their outstanding MA, PhD or Postdoc works. The funding organisations are the Swiss Committee […]
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I would like to recognise and pay respect to the deep history and culture of this island, and acknowledge the Muwinina and Palawa peoples, the traditional owners and custodians of the land upon which I conducted my visit; and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging. During my 3 […]
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Following a 2nd call for applications conducted between July and October 2023, two AUD 10,000 fellowships have been awarded by the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia and Swiss Polar Institute who will each fund a Fellow. The Mertz Fellowship programme is designed to encourage the active involvement of early-career researchers in polar […]
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Sometime last fall, I had a bad dream. I was visiting my field site, Portage Glacier, and checking on the instrumentation that I had – in real life – installed during the summer a couple months prior. In the dream, I took the field computer, plugged in one of the […]
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Extreme altitude poses exceptional challenges to human physiology. Manifestations of acute mountain sickness, reduced exercise tolerance, and sleep deprivation are well recognized consequences of the hypoxic hypobaric environment. Other sequelae are less apparent but may nevertheless be associated with substantial risk. Sudden cardiac death accounts for the majority of non-traumatic […]
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14.09.2022 – The protagonists 1936 – Arnold Heim and August Gansser 1939 – André Roch, Ernst Huber, Fritz Steuri, David Zogg Six Swiss mountaineers, geologists, topographers. Pioneers who explored the hidden valleys of the Garhwal range of the Indian Himalaya more than eight decades ago. They made impressive first ascents, […]
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Uf! It is 3 pm on 8 December, and we have finally finished setting up a weather station at 5366 metres above sea level on Cerro Tapado, in the dry Andes of northern Chile, after a kilometre-plus climb from the valley, and many weeks preparing sensors and logistics. I feel […]
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The researchers from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) continue to be very prolific! We now count more than 75 journal articles resulting from this scientific expedition around Antarctica five years ago. You can now read articles about the trends of adaptation and evolution of sclerite shapes in sea pens with […]
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