Practical experience as biologist in the Arctic – here you can find student blog-posts and other documentation about their experience from internships in Arctic Longyearbyen, Svalbard as part of the AB-208 Internship course at The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)
Even though my internship was technically over I still had a few hours left over due to time lost due to COVID. Over the past month I have been doing little bits and pieces for bioCEED as my time comes to an end. I have been helping out with overseeing surveys, advising improvements for the bioCEED website homepage, wrapping up my work on the learning arctic biology worksite to pass the work back to Eike (who was originally working on the website), writing species descriptions for the field guide and I’m general wrapping things up. It has been a nice […]
The past 6 months have absolutely flown by. Unfortunately, this means my time at bioCEED has come to an end. Over the past 2 months I have settled back into “normal” life back in Australia. My work within bioCEED has been focusing on getting microbiology and lichen ready to be published. This has involved proof-reading, editing and coordinating with the authors of those sections. The past 2 months has involved a lot of web development. I have pretty much no experience in this department. Most of the web development revolved around simplifying and tidying up the old website as many […]
Gaining new knowledge I have really enjoyed my stay in Longyearbyen and working at Polar Permaculture. I have gotten to use some of my biological knowledge, mostly through trying to maintain good growth in the plants we were growing and when doing my small-scale water quality experiment on basil plants. I got to use my skills in plant biology, and I got to use and improve my skills in doing research, finding the best and most reliable sources for information, and also using less time on doing so. I have made a report on optimal growing conditions for the plants […]
When I arrived in Longyearbyen my expectations for the internship were quite high. I thought the internship would give me a lot of practical skills that would help me sort out which part of research I liked before starting my master degree in the fall. I was looking forward to helping out collecting and processing samples, learning more about how to run research projects in remote places and arctic conditions, maintaining lab and field equipment, and to utilize as many machines, instruments and methods in the lab as possible. The lab activity in January is less intensive than in the […]
The past few weeks have been spent getting an overview of the remaining tasks and how to complete these within the allocated timeframe. Unfortunately, there have been a few changes due to Corona and the sampling event scheduled in May has had to be postponed mostly because of planning, social distancing and quarantine restrictions. Participating in the sampling would have been an excellent opportunity to utilize and expand classroom-taught biological knowledge, however the theoretical skills gained throughout the internship process have most likely been just as useful. These include learning about the fjord systems in Svalbard, how anthropogenic impact influence […]
The past month has been spent evaluating the tenders from five different companies in regards to the recipient study. The actual content of the tenders and the details surrounding the decision making process can unfortunately not be disclosed, however there are many general principles of such assessments that can be discussed. An essential first step in the evaluation process is to ensure that the bidders fulfill the fundamental requirements and that they fully understand the significance, risks and costs related to the different aspects of the project. As long as the invitation to tender is clear and concise, the communication, […]
I’ve been thinking a lot of what I could do from home for the remaining period of my internship in Polar Permaculture, and Hege and I finally figured it out. I will be collecting and comparing existing data on optimal growth conditions for the kinds of herbs and salads that will be produced by the company in the future (some of it is already being produced). This will be valuable and critical when the production will be scaled up and professionalized in new facilities in the near future (one to two years). The layout and equipment have to fit the […]
The past few weeks after UNIS closed down can be characterised by confusion, waiting for information and lack of efficiency. Students were constantly discussing what to do with their studies, if they were going to be forced to leave Longyearbyen and where to go. For around 10 days, which felt like 2 months, the insecurity among the students grew along with the alcohol consumption and lack of motivation. With the increased pressure from UNIS and some home universities, most students had left by Sunday the 22nd of March. I have many reasons why I wanted to stay. First and the […]
Lina is welcoming the midnight sun, and are looking forward to fully focus on her internship. See her videoblog here
Once again, another major change; I’m back in Australia. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 I had to return home. I am currently on day 8 of 14 days in quarantine. Two weeks ago, everything rapidly began to change. WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and countries began closing their borders as the virus spread rapidly and many people were dying. Norway first closed their borders to all non-Scandinavian countries then soon after closed it borders to everyone. Schools, fitness centres and sports and recreational events, were all closed overnight. UNIS initially said they were closing for 2 weeks. Over the next week […]
Student culture versus employee cultures Even thought the employee culture at UNIS seems informal, being a student, I haven`t mingled that much with the employees more than during the lunch a couple of times. Still, my impression is that the environment is friendly and casual between the staff. On the other hand, the student culture is perhaps more family oriented since we live together, eat together, study together and socialize together. As many students have left their family and friends behind, strong bonds between the students have formed. How do you utilize your biological knowledge? When I, during my internship, […]
The situation for the past few weeks has been heavily influenced by Covid-19, and with all lectures cancelled it was uncertain whether the students could proceed with the internships. As measures were taken to avoid contact and potential contamination risks, the students were advised to work from home, something that could easily be facilitated by LL. They have provided a PC and all communication goes through emails and Teams, something that has worked really well. Throughout the last couple of weeks we have been working on a project description for the recipient survey (mentioned in the last blog post), and […]
Unfortunately, I had to leave Longyearbyen last Friday the 20th of March. I was supposed to have stayed here for another two months, but we were all asked to leave if we could. Now I´m sitting at home in Kragerø, Norway, looking at the green grass and trees, feeling a bit sad. My work at Polar Permaculture will continue, but I´ll be doing all the work from home, obviously. There is plenty of tasks I can do from my computer, and I think it will be just as meaningful as the work I´ve been doing In Longyearbyen. It won´t be […]
It is currently a beautiful time in the Arctic. The sky is bursting with pastel colours as it transitions from the polar night to the midnight sun. Each day the sun rays light up the surrounding mountains a little more as the sun hangs above the horizon for a little longer. However unfortunately, due to my lack of Norwegian (absolutely nothing) I have swapped internships. I had to leave the Longyearbyen local government and have now started a new internship at bioCEED. I’m a little disappointed that I will not be able to continue to work on improving reuse in […]
Two months have past, and I am almost half way through the semester. So far I have only touched on some of the tasks that a lab technician conducts. I have spent several hours calibrating pipets, cleaning labs, setting up new instruments and transferring some samples from one container to another. I am quite familiar at the lab already, and that feels good. I am happy to have started the work, but feel I am lagging a bit behind schedule, since I want to be done with my workload by May 15th when the class ends. My lecture schedule and […]
The past few weeks have been spent gaining a thorough understanding of waste water management systems, Adventfjorden as a recipient, and possible solutions to the challenges of waste water pollution. This post will explain the conditions in Adventfjorden and summarize the conclusions from earlier seabed studies. Adventfjorden is a 7 km long and 3–5 km wide fjord on the southern side of Isfjorden, Svalbard’s largest fjord system. The two largest rivers, Adventelva and Longyearelva, plus numerous of other streams contribute a substantial amount of melt water from the surrounding glaciers and as well as a large amount of inorganic sediments […]
Daily operations The last weeks I ́ve been part of the daily operations at Polar Permaculture. That includes sowing microgreens and basil, tending the plants, some deliveries and other types of miscellaneous work. A few weeks ago I started setting up a new grow room, where I had to remove a small biogas system that no longer was being used and I had to insulate parts of the room. Íll be using the room for test growing different types of plants. At the moment we ́re waiting for a delivery of parts needed to make the grow room fully operational, […]
Me and my background My name is Ola, and I´m from a small town in the south-east of Norway. I study Ecology and Wildlife Management at the University of South-Eastern Norway, USN, in a town called Bø. I´ve been working as a marine engineer onboard different types of ships for quite a few years, but two years ago I decided to do something completely different. I´ve always had an interest in nature, so I decided to start studying natural sciences. My Bachelor program mainly consists of biology, but also other subjects such as geology and climate studies are part of […]
My name is Sine, and this semester I will be living in Longyearbyen, studying Arctic Biology at Svalbard University Center (UNIS). Just arriving in Longyearbyen, I am really surprised how much I like the complete darkness, and I feel amazed by even the smallest signs of light on the sky that highlights the surrounding mountains. Longyearbyen is really beautiful, and the arctic conditions suits me perfect. Being a person who absolutely love hiking, I am really looking forward to the spring when the arctic nature reveals itself, and the sun starts rising. My previous semesters at the University of South-Eastern […]
Lina Lettau is following the AB-208 course “Internship in Arctic Biology” at UNIS. She will be working at SIOS – an international observing system for long-term measurements in and around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard addressing Earth System Science questions. Besides the internship period, the other main part of the course is documentation and reflection of experiences made, as well as learning outcomes achieved. This video is the first part of this documentation.
Hi! My name is Dom, I am from Australia. I am currently studying a Bachelor of Biology, majoring in Marine Science at the University of Queensland. This will be my last semester of my undergrad degree. I am extremely excited and grateful to be here studying at UNIS. When I left home, I was originally going to study in Bergen. A week before the semester was going to start, I got an email from UNIS informing me a spot had opened up. I jumped on the opportunity and I’m so glad that I did! I was drawn to Svalbard as […]