About SPI Flagship Initiatives
SPI Flagship Initiatives are multi-annual programmes combining science and technology projects from different disciplines and different groups/institutions in Switzerland around a polar focus region. The funding is focused on field campaigns (logistics, safety, etc.), data management, outreach, and programme coordination, thus providing temporary infrastructure for a Swiss-led polar research programme.
Two new SPI Flagship Initiative programmes starting in 2026
Two research programmes were selected in the second round of the call for proposals:
DOMINO
Dynamic changes in air-snow-ice-ocean interactions with global warming: An observational programme in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean supported by multi-scale modelling
Led by
Dr Hendrik Huwald, EPFL
Prof. Franziska Aemisegger, University of Bern
DOMINO will combine state-of-the-art in-situ and remote-sensing observations of atmospheric, snow, ice, and oceanic variables. By integrating field observations with modelling and reanalysis data, the project aims to deliver new understanding of coupled processes and feedbacks in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean system at the individual weather event to inter-annual timescale. The project will be embedded in the international Antarctica InSync programme and aims to provide critical knowledge for improved climate projections and for anticipating the global consequences of rapid environmental change in this region.
Swiss partner institutions*: EPFL, ETH Zurich, University of Bern, University of Lausanne, WSL
Research clusters:
Atmospheric Processes led by Prof. Franziska Aemisegger, University of Bern
Processes at the Ice Sheet Boundaries led by Prof. Johannes Sutter, University of Bern
Snow on Sea Ice led by Dr Ruzica Dadic, WSL/SLF
Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry led by Prof. Samuel Jaccard, University of Lausanne
ARKTIS
Arctic Research and Knowledge Transfer Initiative Switzerland
Led by
Prof. Shinichi Sunagawa, ETH Zurich
ARKTIS will collect a wide variety of interdisciplinary data from the historically under-sampled Central Arctic Ocean and investigate the far-reaching implications the changes in this region have for the global climate, primary productivity and biodiversity. The programme will participate in two year-round campaigns aboard the drifting polar observatory Tara Polar Station (TPS) built to deliver long-term, year-round, interdisciplinary scientific research and to raise public awareness about the transformative changes occurring in this region.
Swiss partner institutions*: Eawag, Empa, EPFL, ETH Zurich, Hochschule der Künste Bern
2022-2026 SPI Flagship Initiatives
The first two SPI Flagship Initiatives began their work in early 2022. The two selected programmes are:
PAMIR
From ice to microorganisms and humans: Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of climate change impacts on the Third Pole.
PIs: Prof. Martin Hölzle (University of Fribourg) and Dr. Francesca Pellicciotti (WSL/ISTA)
Swiss partner institutions*: EPFL, University of Bern, ETH Zurich, WSL, University of Fribourg, PSI, University of Zurich, University of Geneva
Programme website: https://pamir-project.ch
Press release: "1.5 million Swiss francs for cryospheric research in Central Asia"
GreenFjord
Greenlandic Fjord ecosystems in a changing climate: Socio-cultural and environmental interactions
PI: Prof. Julia Schmale (EPFL)
Swiss partner institutions*: EPFL, University of Lausanne, ETH Zurich, WSL, University of Zurich
Programme website: https://greenfjord-project.ch
Press release: "New research programme will study fjord ecosystems in Greenland"
Both SPI Flagship Initiatives are implementing ambitious science programmes from 2022 - 2026.
*’partner institutions’ involves institutions of PI, sub-PI, and other participants