A Memorandum of Understanding has today been signed between INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic) and The IK Foundation. Signing took place in Sweden at the INTERACT'S Headquarter at Lund University, where Margareta Johansson works as coordinator for this infrastructure project, financed by the European Commission (Horizon 2020 European Union funding for Research & Innovation). Lars Hansen, the Head of The IK Foundation, expressed joy in the collaboration with the words "that a global cross-border collaboration between scientific disciplines is important, something that has always been a prerequisite for our organisation. Especially when new ideas and thoughts are being developed, such as our planned autonomous Field Station at Spitsbergen (financed by The LMK Fund in Sweden), which will be an interesting beginning of an innovative and long-term cooperation."
Actual written Memorandum of Understanding is between INTERACT and The IK Foundation. INTERACT is an infrastructure project under the auspices of SCANNET lead by Lund University. It is a circumarctic network of currently 83 terrestrial infrastructures in northern Europe, Russia, US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Scotland as well as stations in northern alpine areas. INTERACT specifically seeks to build capacity for research and monitoring in the European Arctic and beyond, and is offering access to numerous research stations through its Transnational Access program. The IK Foundation has taken the initiative to develop the next generation of scientific Field Stations. The work with FIELD STATION | NATURAE OBSERVATIO is a long-term project, a practical and theoretical enterprise, aiming to establish eco-designed automatic Field Stations, which unattended during night and day, all year-round will observe a selected landscape and its life. The IK Foundation develops unique international networks of cooperation and finance in order to fulfil its mission to provide good knowledge of both local and global Natural & Cultural History to everyone. The IK Foundation is an independent non-governmental organisation - with a strong reputation for interdisciplinary thinking, in-depth knowledge and long-term results.
This MoU will promote cooperation between these two partners and especially encourage exchange of knowledge on best practices related to research stations’ establishment and management in harsh Arctic conditions. The IK Foundation’s planned and unmanned Field Station on Spitsbergen, Svalbard (FIELD STATION | NATURAE OBSERVATIO | MARTIN'S EYE) - is an expression of intent to work together in science.
READ MORE:
• INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic)
• The IK Foundation | FIELD STATION | NATURAE OBSERVATIO
