ARCTOS student forum 2019

Written by Tobias Vonnahme, ARCTOS student representative 2018-2019

The topic of the ARCTOS student days this year were funding opportunities relevant for Master and PhD students. A group discussion at the first day revealed that ARCTOS PhD students have already quite some experiences in applying for funding. Especially mobility is supported by a variety of grants. Together we shared our experiences and prepared a list with various opportunities. The second day, we listened to different presentations about funding from different sources and different stages in our career, and advices how to succefully apply for it. Steinar Paulsen and Theresa Mikalsen from UiT told us about funding available from the norwegian research council or more local sources and possibilities from the EU, such as the Marie Curie fellowship and ERC grants. Mobility appeared to be a key for getting these grants. On the afternoon we heard about the Arctic field grant from Tobias Vonnahme, about the VISTA funding from Sofia Anciento, and the FRAM flagship by Paul Renaud.

Socially, we spend the first day with beach volleyball, including snow and gloves, making it a rather slow motion sport. The second day we climbed up on the nearest mountain while answering various questions and doing different tasks on the way. After a sledge race, snow painting of our research, building a human tower, and finding an island using a frozen compass, and answering all kind of questions both groups got equal scores and won a chocolate treasure.