Researchers in the United Kingdom and Greenland are well-placed to develop important new science partnerships that address pressing research questions. These partnerships can support the development of skill- and knowledge-based networks to strengthen both communities; foster the creation of positive, respectful and empowering partnerships; and create lasting research connections.
In specific recognition of this work, the future potential and the breadth and depth of the environmental, social, cultural and wider effects of climate change in Greenland, the United Kingdom’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), now Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) working with the UK Science and Innovation Network and the NERC Arctic Office, is funding a bursaries programme. This will support UK-based researchers working in partnerships with researchers in Greenland in the 2023-24 field season.
The outcomes of the bursaries programme are expected to support and further develop lasting research and collaboration links between UK-based and Greenland-based researchers; to provide access opportunities for UK-based researchers to work with new partners in Greenland; and support self-determination in research for the Greenland research community.
The 12 funded bursaries in 2023/24 are as follows:
Dr Harold Lovell, University of Portsmouth: ‘Community knowledge and the hidden history of Greenland’s wildfires’ – You can read about Harold’s fieldwork here.
Dr Christine Batchelor, Newcastle University: ‘Interpreting Greenland’s Glaciated Seafloor: New Insights into Ice-Sheet Stability and Marine Biodiversity’ – You can read about Christine’s fieldwork here.
Dr Leanne Wake, Northumbria University: ‘Returning Environmental Archives to Greenland (REA-Green)’
Dr Mihai Cimpoiasu, British Geological Survey: ‘Geophysical Assessment and Understanding of Greenlandic Embankment Stability (GAUGES)’ – You can read about Mihai’s fieldwork here.
Dr Kate Hendry, British Antarctic Survey: ‘GLaciers And Marine Productivity IN Greenland (GLAMPING)’
Prof Lise Autogena, Sheffield Hallam University: ‘Macroalgae and Glacial sands – the need for new techniques for ecologic study on these emerging resource opportunities in Greenland’
Dr Joe Marlow, Scottish Association for Marine Science: ‘Assessing biodiversity and carbon stocks on Greenlandic fjord walls using ROV surveys and automated 3D image analysis’
Dr Kathryn Adamson, Manchester Metropolitan University: ‘Landscape of Change’
Dr James Lea, Liverpool University: ‘A flagship glacier-fjord monitoring programme in Nuup Kangerlua’
Dr Marc Macias Fauria, Oxford University: ‘Building synergies to explore the role of herbivores in ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling West and South Greenland’
Dr Isla Myers-Smith, Edinburgh University: ‘Disentangling patterns of Arctic plant diversity across scales’
Prof Martin Solan, Southampton University: ‘Building and enabling UK-Greenland research capacity to address effects of anthropogenic stressors on benthic ecosystems’