On 30 November, the Swiss Polar Class Festival embarked around 500 visitors on a journey of discovery of polar regions for the second year running. This year’s novelty was the inaugural day dedicated to primary schools. Nine classes from Valais contributed to the content of the festival with their creations […]
Read More
The ALANA project, based at the University of Bern’s Humanities in Arctic Research platform focuses on uncovering prehistoric human-environment interactions in Alaska’s Brooks Range mountains. It is supported by the Swiss Polar Institute’s Polar Access Fund and its main local archaeological partners are the University of Alaska Fairbanks UAF and […]
Read More
Wide open skies, colourful flowers, and stillness all represent the Arctic tundra to me, but the tundra can also be harsh and unforgiving. Difficult logistics, the cold, and mosquitoes are just a few factors that can make botanical fieldwork a real challenge in the North, not to mention the tiny […]
Read More
Exploring the lakes of Southern Greenland has been the most professionally joyful time of my career as an evolutionary ecologist. Yearly trips over the past 6 years (with the exception of 2020!) have been a continual source of scientific inspiration. In 2024, the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) funded an Exploratory […]
Read More
The Polar Access Fund focuses on early-career researchers who plan to undertake an initial field trip to a polar region or a remote high-altitude area. The research conducted during the field trip must be inserted into an existing overarching project (e.g. to enlarge its scope or for comparisons) and be related to […]
Read More
The Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) is delighted to announce the appointment of Frédéric Herman (UNIL) as Chair and Christian Wolfrum (ETH Zurich) as Vice-Chair of the SPI Foundation Board. Their mandates will start on 1 January 2025. Earlier this year, the SPI also welcomed Virginia Richter who succeeded to her […]
Read More Back at the Resolute base station, after our successful fifteen days of fieldwork on Ward Hunt Island, I remember asking Éliot and Eva: “Guys, if you had, let’s say, three choices, what would you rate as the most memorable moments we had together up there?” At that time, it was […]
Read More
Environmental impact, best practices and the importance of complementary expertise were at the heart of the exchange during the Polar Dialogue and plenary sessions “Floating Platforms in Polar Seas: Sailing for Science” at this year’s Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík. On this occasion, organisations operating various platforms in polar seas […]
Read More
The Summer School started on Monday 17 June, with all participants and organisers meeting at the bus station in Courmayeur (Italy) at 1 pm. Leona and I arrived early, which gave us a chance to grab some focaccia and ice cream and walk around this charming mountain town. After all […]
Read More