The initiative includes support for young scientists (internships, courses, and training), internships in Norway for Polish researchers, staff mobility between research institutions in Poland, workshops and seminars (e.g. during SIOS Polar Night Week 2025), study visits of Norwegian scientists to Poland, developing competences of the scientific staff, knowledge/innovation brokerage using the experience of Norwegian scientific units, and the use of job shadowing tools. Integration of the Polish and Norwegian scientific communities will be the outcome of the initiative: growing coherence through the increase of competencies and skills, as well as creating new international scientific initiatives based on Norwegian-Polish consortia that will allow complex research challenges to be solved.

Activity 2.1 The School of Polar Hydrology

The high latitudes are experiencing faster climate change than the global average. Feedback mechanisms between the atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans amplify the warming and intensify the freshwater cycle. Water from snow and rainfall, glaciers melting and thawing permafrost is crucial for sea level rise and is also a driver of sediment transfer and the supply of biogeochemically relevant elements. Thereby, water links all environments. With the above in mind, the ambition is to initiate the School of Polar Hydrology with invited experts and early career researchers from Poland and Norway, addressing crucial scientific issues: terrestrial hydrosphere including rivers, lakes and tundra ecosystem. Participants in the School will be scientists interested in the physical, chemical and biological processes of freshwater and their interaction with the Spitsbergen ecosystem. Among other things, the programme of the School will cover hydrochemical aspects, hydrology, hydrological modelling and remote sensing of polar catchments. The School of Polar Hydrology will be a forum for the exchange of ideas and the training of young scientists. Svalbard’s hydrologists have already joined forces and issued a chapter in the SESS report, which recommended improving hydrological research in Svalbard, but it will be the first polar meeting of hydrologists, incl. limnologists, to work out good practices in collecting, sharing and processing hydrological data and modelling Arctic basins and finding knowledge gaps. The roadmap for future Polish-Norwegian cooperation aiming at preparing a joint strategy for harmonisation and standardisation of the hydrological monitoring in Svalbard will be developed during the school. The School will take place in Poland at the end of 2024. The Polish-Norwegian core team will be responsible for the agenda of the meeting and the cross-cutting approach in training courses and research-informed teaching selection. The result will be a set of recommendations for water research in Svalbard.

See our relation from the event: The School of Polar Hydrology

Activity 2.2 A program of multifaceted support for the development of scientists at an early career stage based on the Polish-Norwegian scientific and educational potential

An offer addressed to PhD candidates and undergraduate/graduate students from Poland and Norway aimed to stimulate scientific and educational cooperation between the two states. Currently, it is not possible to fully identify the needs of this group of recipients due to the continuous exchange of people covered by the education process. Therefore, we offer a mechanism for the competitive distribution of funds to this group based on the project priorities. Due to the short implementation time, the call for applications will be continuous with a monthly decision step until the funds are exhausted. The conditions of the call, including evaluation criteria and thresholds for funding will be defined by the regulations developed by the Call Committee appointed from among the members of the Polish Polar Consortium and representatives of the Norwegian side. Proposals with a strong bilateral collaboration will be prioritised. The call operators will be International Environmental Doctoral School (IEDS) established at the University of Silesia and Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS), with both parties conducting competitions independently (individually allocating funds).

Activities will include:

  • funding participation in courses and internships organised by Polish or Donor State entities;
  • funding short research stays dedicated to implementation of joint activities;
  • funding active participation in conferences e.g. to present results of joint collaboration.

Reports from:

Activity 2.3 Two-way mobility for experienced researchers

Strengthening the mobility of scientists between Polish and Norwegian entities. The community’s needs have been determined based on declarations of internships in Norway with partners with whom cooperation is being carried out or will be built as part of this project. Visits to Norwegian partners (the recommended duration of stay is a minimum of 2 weeks) will strengthen cooperation, enable the establishment of new networks and the exchange of experiences. The task also includes increasing the competencies of scientists in science management and knowledge brokering through an exchange of experience between Polish and Norwegian partners. The objective will be fulfilled through common participation in workshops, seminars, internships and job shadowing. The amount of mobility was initially determined for each unit based on the declarations of scientists regarding the possibilities and needs of mobility in 2024.

Reports: