The Ny-Ålesund Research Station now has a strategy that is valid for all research activities on site.
The Government gave The Research Council of Norway the task of writing the research strategy. It shall contribute to a good basis for further development of the station. The Norwegian Polar Institute is given the responsibility for implementation and for following up the strategy locally.
High ambitions
The Ny-Ålesund Research Station is a unique platform for natural science research and monitoring in the Arctic. The station is one of the world’s northernmost year-round research communities and provides a unique access to a natural polar laboratory. Institutions from many countries have long term research and monitoring activities in Ny-Ålesund. This makes a solid foundation to have high ambitions for the further development of the site.
-The Research Council of Norway wishes with this strategy to substantiate the government's ambitions of increased cooperation, better coordination, increased quality and sharing of data. To reach these ambitions, the researchers and institutions must contribute, and therefore we have set clear expectations to them in the strategy, says CEO at the Research Council of Norway, John-Arne Røttingen.
Good cooperation
Ny-Ålesund has been the basis for research for over 50 years and has developed into a station with a high international profile. The research strategy for Ny-Ålesund supports the good cooperation, the tools already established, the high-quality research and the unique infrastructure in Ny-Ålesund. The cooperation forum Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC) and the establishment of thematic flagship programmes have been very important for the cooperation in Ny-Ålesund and will continue to be so in the future.
Open process
The Research Council has had an open process with dialogue and an open hearing round of the draft in the preparation of the strategy.
-The Research Council wishes to give thanks for all the good and constructive input we received and have tried to incorporate as well as possible. We have had a clear framework for the process through the White Paper on Svalbard (St.meld. 32 (2015-2016)) and the Strategy for research and higher education in Svalbard from 2018. Our task has been to write a strategy for Ny-Ålesund that contributes to following up the Norwegian ambitions, says Røttingen.
The Research Strategy for Ny-Ålesund will be updated when necessary.