The call for the Prix de Quervain is now open and this year’s prize will be awarded to outstanding research on topics relating to high altitude. The funding organisations are the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research (SKPH), the Commission for the Research Station on Jungfraujoch (SKHFJ), and the Swiss […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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