The IPY Field School started up in 2009 with great success. A total of 297 students from 50 countries applied for this interdisciplinary course held in the high Arctic. The students in 2009 came from Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, U.S.A., the Netherlands, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Ecuador and Russia.

These students had a fabulous three weeks course in Svalbard, including lectures concerning IPY and the Arctic and the Antarctic, field work and excursions, project work with poster presentation, career development lectures – and perhaps most important of all: getting to know students with different nationality and educational background within nature sciences.

The IPY Field School was meant to be a one-time only project, however, due to funding from IPY Norway and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with UNIS contribution, the IPY Field School will be held in 2010 and 2011 as well.

This year there are 26 student places available for the course. Professor Ólafur Ingólfsson (University of Iceland and UNIS) will be the course responsible, but there will be several guest lecturers as well, teaching everything from Oceanography, Geology and Geography to Biology and Geophysics in the Polar areas.

For application instructions and more information on the course, please visit the UNIS website. The application deadline is April 8, 2010.