From the Earth's interior to the polar ice caps – our geoscience infrastructure receives support from the Swedish Research Council

The Swedish Research Council's call for proposals aims to support research infrastructure of national interest. This is done in a two-step process where relevant areas/infrastructures are identified and can then apply for funding in a competitive process. Relevant infrastructures have been selected either based on the needs assessment carried out in 2023, or because they have an ongoing grant until 2025 or 2026. The exact amount and conditions for grants are determined after dialogue with the respective project managers.

The department has stated ambitions to renew and improve its research infrastructures, and the board has appointed a research infrastructure panel to further develop these plans, consisting of Graham Budd (convener), Ian Snowball, Bjarne Almqvist, Tetyana Budnyak, Jaroslaw Majka, Christian Schiffer, Erik Sahlée and Anna Neubeck.

“This is fantastic news. Groundbreaking research often depends on access to national infrastructure, which requires support at a higher level than the institutional level. Our work will benefit greatly from this new funding – especially EPOS Sweden, which is coordinated here at Uppsala,” says Graham Budd, professor of paleobiology.

“We are delighted to have received continued confidence in EPOS Sweden. The European research infrastructure EPOS is a driving force in open science. Open data is a prerequisite in increasingly data-dependent research. Even in the geosciences, cutting-edge research is based on ever larger and multidisciplinary data sets, which EPOS delivers to both basic research and research on societal challenges, such as natural disasters and access to natural resources. EPOS Sweden ensures that Swedish researchers and Swedish geoscience data are part of this success, says Henning Lorenz, project coordinator and director of EPOS Sweden.

‘I am on the board of the Nordsim Vega Centre and am really delighted with the news from the Swedish Research Council,’ says Valentin Troll, professor of petrology.

Here is the infrastructure that will receive funding:

EPOS Sweden (European Plate Observing System)

• Area: Solid Earth / solid earth physics
• Focus: Earthquake studies, tectonics, geophysics, geodynamics, seismology.
• Read more here: https://www.uu.se/forskning/forskningsinfrastruktur/internationella-forskningsinfrastrukturer-dar-uppsala-universitet-medverkar/epos
  

ACTRIS Sweden (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure)

Area: Atmospheric science
Focus: Atmospheric processes, aerosol and cloud research, climate and environment, chemical trace elements in the air.
Read more here: https://www.uu.se/forskning/forskningsinfrastruktur/internationella-forskningsinfrastrukturer-dar-uppsala-universitet-medverkar/actris

The icebreaker Oden

Field: Polar and marine geoscience
Focus: Oceanography, glaciology, climate research in the Arctic and Antarctic, marine geology.
Read more here: https://www.polar.se/stoed-till-polarforskning/isbrytaren-oden/

SWERVE 2.0 (Swedish research vessel infrastructure for marine research)

Field: Marine geoscience/oceanography
Focus: Marine geology, oceanography, marine ecosystems, data collection at sea.
Read more here: https://swerve.se/

NordSIMS-Vegacenter

Field: Geochemistry/mineralogy/planetary geoscience
Focus: Microimaging, geochemical analysis of minerals, environmental science and planetary research.
Read more here: https://www.nrm.se/forskning/forskningsinfrastruktur/nordsims-vegacenter

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Read more about infrastructure grants on the Swedish Research Council's website

Read more about the department's research infrastructure