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A foundation at the service of the Swiss polar and high-altitude community
The Swiss Polar Institute is a foundation under Swiss Law with the mission to support Swiss polar and high-altitude science. The Swiss Polar Institute is recognised as “Research institution of national importance” for the period 2021-2024 by the Swiss Confederation.
Foundation Board
The Foundation Board is the highest authority of the Foundation. It allocates resources, appoints new members as well as those of the Science and Technology Advisory Board, the Scientific and Executive Directors and the financial auditors. Moreover, it approves the annual budget and the Foundation accounts. The Foundation Board is composed of:
| Martin Vetterli (Chair) | EPFL |
| Frédéric Herman (Vice-Chair) | University of Lausanne |
| Christoph Hegg | WSL |
| Virginia Richter | University of Bern |
| Frederik Paulsen | Lausanne |
| Elisabeth Stark | University of Zurich |
| Christian Wolfrum | ETH Zurich |
The Swiss Polar Foundation, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) as well as the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research (SKPH) are participating in the Foundation Board as guests.
Science and Technology Advisory Board (STAB)
The STAB issues recommendations to the SPI Secretariat regarding educational, scientific and technological activities as well as supports the SPI in the setting up of programmes, international collaborations and evaluations of funding activities.
The STAB is composed of independent experts with varied scientific profiles and backgrounds plus two delegates from the SKPH. The STAB is currently composed of:
| Hubertus Fischer (Co-Chair) | University of Bern |
| Björn Dahlbäck (Co-Chair) | Formerly Swedish Polar Secretariat, Sweden |
| Naki Akçar (SKPH delegate) | University of Bern |
| Jérôme Chappellaz | EPFL |
| Kelly Kenison Falkner | Formerly US NSF, United States |
| Daniel Farinotti | ETH Zurich and WSL |
| Jane Francis | British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom |
| Patricia Holm (SKPH delegate) | University of Basel |
| Samuel Jaccard | University of Lausanne |
| Joan Nymand Larsen | University of Akureyri, Iceland |
| Jennie Thomas | Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement/Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France |
| Andreas Vieli | University of Zurich |
| Meike Vogt | ETH Zurich |
SPI Secretariat
The SPI Secretariat is in charge of the implementation of the SPI activities and tasks. The Secretariat is currently located in Sion.
