Svalbard Science Forum
SSF work report
41th NySMAC meeting, Goa November 6-7 2014
SSF work report
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Funding programs
SSF Flagships programs
Management plans
Input from NySMAC
RiS portal
SIOS
$$F Funding programs
 Arctic Field Grant 2015 applications
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81 applications
NOK 2,0 million avaliable
42% of projects in Ny Ålesund
74 % Master and PhD students
50% female project leaders
Next deadline mid-October 2015
AFG application 2015
Iceland 1
Russia 1
USA 1
Switzerland 1
Germany 2
Norway 45
Netherlands 2
Finland 2
UK 4
Italy 4
Denmark 5
Sweden 6
Poland 7
AFG application 2015
Archeology
1%
Biology
34%
Engeneering
1%
Atmos. Geophys
4%
Oceanography
5%
Geology
26%
Glaciology
14%
Enviromental sci.
15%
Svalbard Strategic Grant
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Deadline 26th of November
Workshops and projects
2,5 million NOK available (max 200k/400k)
Priorities:
 Continue to develop the existing four Ny-Ålesund flagship
programs.
 Establish new SSF flagship programs for scientific
cooperation in Svalbard.
 Follow up the recommendations outlined in reports from
previous SSF Workshops (organized by SSF or by
researchers with SSF strategic funding support).
 Increase mobility between the research bases.
Promoting research cooperation between
Norwegian and Russian researchers in Svalbard
 Deadline 26th of November
 9 million NOK (max 400k/year for 3 years)
 Priorities:
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Exchange of researcher groups
Shared use of research infrastructure
Participation in collaborative projects
Preparation of joint applications for research projects
Increased access to data for use in joint projects
Intercalibration of methods for comparative studies
Research in Svalbard database (RiS-database).
Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS)
Flagship programs
 Kongsfjorden Ecosystem-new views after more than a decade
of research: Workshop in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, March 2014
 Workshop on collaboration and coordination within the NyÅlesund Atmospheric Flagship Program, October 2014
 Calving and Surging Glaciers in Svalbard, October 2014
 Towards a coordinated Research and Monitoring
Programme for Ny-Ålesund, January 2015
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SSF Flagship program definition
SSF flagship programs for scientific cooperation in
Svalbard are groups of researchers from different
nations, stations, institutions and/or research bases
that work together with the same questions and
challenges to find common answers and
solutions.
A prerequisite for success is that the cooperation
within and between the research entities is
strengthened. SSF flagship programs include sharing
of knowledge and data, they have priorities and a
clear strategy to ensure added value for Svalbard
research.
New SSF flagship programs should complement
existing ones, and all SSF flagship programs should
be continuously developed.
Management plans
 East Svalbard:
 Final comments from directorate of the
environment (MD)
 Final approval in 2015
 Western Svalbard 2015
 January, Reference group meeting, discussion of
draft
 February 1st, plan sugestion send to MD for
review
 Spring – public hearing
 November 1st, final plan send to MD
Input fra NySMAC
 Svalbard workshop 2016
 like NySMAC seminar for all of Svalbard?
 In connection with NySMAC seminar?
 SSF meetings back-to-back with NySMAC?
 Calls relevant for Svalbard research on the SSF
webpage
Status RiS Portal
 Launched May 19, 2014
 Sept. 19: Guarantee period for 1 year + development
 9 fix releases already:
 Measures to meet certain security standards
 Improved tools for all administrators (incl. stations and KB)
 Better application documents to the Governor
 Improvements wanted (needs financing):
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Lists of bookings and personnel - stations
Metadata – get it up and running as before
Increased map functionality
Open for communication with other services (metadatabases,
publication databases, map services etc.)
Improved search and statistics
Design issues
Information migration – collecting parts that dropped out
Booking in Hornsund?
Status: SIOS
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5th and final General Assembly in Brussels 24-25/9:
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The SIOS project should continue,
through an interim phase of up to three years with a set-up team in Longyearbyen,
towards a fully functional operational phase (2017-).
Use the implementation plans to build the services under the SIOS Knowledge Centre.
SIOS-PP ended formally on 30/9.
 Norw. host proposal for setting up SIOS KC in Longyearbyen
 SIOS partners are invited to commit to the implementation phase (2015-2017),
by submitting Letters of Commitment to the coordinator: AWI, CNR, FMI (positive about
LOC or statement in meeting: IGF-PAS, NIPR, SMIH, NERC, IPEV, KOPRI)
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4th Policy Board meeting in Oslo 20-21/11 – SIOS “Kick off”?
 Sufficient LOCs to start the implementation phase by this meeting.
 It is expected that Norway will organize interim solutions for the implementation with the
establishment of a SIOS Knowledge Centre Setup Team, interim governing bodies etc., and
will during the implementation phase (at earliest 2015) formally establish SIOS as a new
MoU-based organization supported by a Norwegian AS, if sufficient commitments and
progress is made.
SIOS deliverables
 All deliverables promised with 2000 pages of reports will
be submitted to EU and made available on the SIOS website.
The deliverables that are handed over to the Stakeholders are:
 Proposal for legal and governance structure for the SIOS Knowledge Centre
(Statutes, Policy docs., MoU)
 Implementation plans for the services delivered by the SIOS Knowledge
Centre (Data, Access, Logistics, Remote Sensing, Training, Portal).
 Business plan for the Implementation (Letter of Commitments) and
Operational phase (Financial Strategy with membership fees).
Thank you for your attention!
www.svalbardscienceforum.no