I – Exploring Research Opportunities

You are planning to do a research project in Ny-Ålesund. Great! Important steps include 1) Finding a host institution in Ny-Ålesund; 2) Finding funding; 3) Connecting with the corresponding flagship programmes in Ny-Ålesund to enable optimal collaboration.

Finding a host institution in Ny-Ålesund

The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) has been assigned the role of being Norway’s host at the research station. Kings Bay AS owns the land and most of the buildings in Ny-Ålesund, and provides infrastructure support services for research activity in the area. More than 20 institutions run long term projects and programmes in Ny-Ålesund. Ten of these institutions have a key function, in that they have long-term rental agreements with Kings Bay, and assess, accept and host projects in Ny-Ålesund initiated by researchers from their respective countries. The different institutions may have varying procedures for assessing and hosting projects.

If you are planning a research stay in Ny-Ålesund you need to contact one of the following institutions – depending on your own affiliation. If your affiliation / country is not mentioned below, the Norwegian Polar Institute may host your project. In that case, please contact research.nya@npolar.no.

For some countries, a peer-review process is conducted to decide which projects are granted access at no cost, but for some countries (like Norway), access is contingent on a project already having been through a peer-review process, and the researchers will be invoiced for the use of facilities. 

Note the application deadlines may vary between the institutions.

Ny-Ålesund Research Flagship programmes

The research in Ny-Ålesund is carried out within the framework of various institutional, national and international programmes. The presence of researchers from many different institutions offers unique opportunities for collaboration. Since 1994, the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC) has functioned as an important venue for coordination and cooperation among the research institutions in Ny-Ålesund. The coordination of projects, the detailed discussions of research priorities and research infrastructure development takes place within the framework of four thematically broad Flagship Programmes for Ny-Ålesund. These flagships involve: Atmosphere, Glaciology, Kongsfjorden System (marine), Terrestrial ecosystems.

Researchers planning new projects in Ny-Ålesund are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with already ongoing research and monitoring within their field. This can be most easily achieved by participating in flagship activities and through attending flagship meetings. See more information here.

Access support programs

Funding programs exist on different levels and scales. Specific programs focusing on access to polar field sites including to the different institutions in Ny-Ålesund Research Station are:

POLARIN Transnational Access

SIOS Access Program. Please see the INTERACT and SIOS web sites, respectively, for information regarding deadlines and eligibility criteria.

Arctic Field Grant (run by the Svalbard Science Forum (SSF) to support field work to the Arctic.

Other relevant actors on Svalbard

The Governor of Svalbard

The Governor of Svalbard is both Chief of Police and has the same authority as a County Governor on mainland Norway. The Governor is also the principal environmental protection authority in Svalbard. The Environmental Protection Department is responsible for:

• Nature supervision and environmental monitoring
• Safeguarding the environmental aspects of planning and construction, business enterprises and interventions in nature
• Management of protected areas, flora and fauna
• Oil spill preparedness, pollution control and waste disposal
• Registration, monitoring and maintenance of cultural heritage sites
• Control of import and export of animals and registration of domestic animals

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS)

SIOS is an international observing system for measurements on and around Svalbard addressing Earth System Science questions. Important components of SIOS include:

• The observing system
• The knowledge centre
• The working groups
• The SIOS consortium
• SIOS data access point
• SIOS open calls and opportunities
• SIOS e-learning platform
• SIOS observation facility catalogue

Svalbard Science Forum (SSF)

Svalbard Science Forum was established by The Norwegian Research Council to promote coordination of research activities on Svalbard, to provide integrated and easily accessible information about research currently ongoing on Svalbard, and to expand and strengthen collaboration between individual researchers and research institutions – both Norwegian and foreign – that are involved in research activities on Svalbard. The forum serves as a coordination and advisory body for actors engaged in research activities on Svalbard.

The SSF secretariat administers seed money from the Research Council of Norway through two funding programmes.

• Svalbard Strategic Grant (SSG): aims at establishing new collaborative research networks on Svalbard, developing existing networks, increasing mobility between research communities on Svalbard, and making research data more accessible.
• Arctic Field Grant (AFG): awarded to students and researchers and covers additional costs for conducting field work on Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

Both of these programs have application deadlines annually.

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