The Institut Nordique du Québec (INQ), the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) and the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) are launching the CASCADES expedition. The call is now open until 2 June 2025 and welcomes proposals from research groups in Switzerland and France, and from the Canadian Transforming Climate Action programme, with fieldwork to be carried out in summer and autumn 2026.

In summer 2025, FOREL will be operating along the western coast of Greenland and welcomes Swiss-led scientific projects to work on board during the months of July and August. SPI is pleased to offer interested scientists employed at a Swiss public research institution the opportunity to join this Swiss-operated research platform in the Arctic during this timeframe.

On Wednesday 5 March 2025 in Bern, in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to Switzerland and Liechtenstein and the University of Bern, the Swiss Polar Institute had the pleasure to present the European-funded project Beyond EPICA: Oldest Ice, a long-term study of ice cores from the heart […]

The second call for proposals for SPI Flagship Initiatives is now open and starts with the call for pre-proposals to be submitted by 30 April 2025. Two info events will be held online on 6 and 11 February to provide an overview of the call’s process and eligibility criteria. The SPI Flagship Initiatives programme aims […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]