SSF initiated research collaboration

The Svalbard Science Forum (SSF) is a means to advance unique, high-quality research and reduce research duplication in Svalbard. SSF facilitates the biannual meeting of representatives from the research communities in Svalbard to explore opportunities for cooperation, coordination and data sharing.

The SSF secretariat manages the Research in Svalbard (RiS) portal, which provides an overview of thousands or research projects in Svalbard as well as access to data sets and publications. The database simplifies efforts to coordinate research and develop closer collaboration.

Seed money from the Research Council of Norway, most notably the Svalbard Strategic Grant (SSG), is administered by the SSF secretariat and aimed at:

• Establish new collaborative research networks (or flagships) in Svalbard
• Develop existing networks, including the four Ny-Ålesund Flagships
• Increasing mobility between research communities in Svalbard
• Making information on research activities in Svalbard more accessible

SSF secretariat also organizes workshops and administers, in addition to the SSG, the Arctic Field Grant (AFG) funding scheme.

In Ny-Ålesund, most of the research takes place within four SSF-initiated flagships, or main international collaboration themes:

• Atmosphere 
• Glaciology
• Kongsfjorden System
• Terrestrial ecosystems

For more information about the Ny-Ålesund Flagships, see nyalesundresearch.no/research-and-monitoring.