SVALI is a part of the Top-level Research Initiative (TRI), which is a major Nordic collaborative venture for studies of climate, energy and the environment. The NCoE SVALI is together with NCoE DEFROST and NCoE CRAICC within the TRI sub-programme “Interaction between Climate Change and the Cryosphere” (ICCC), which aims to improve our understanding of stability, variations and dynamics of the cryosphere. 

The NCoE SVALI takes on the task to answer these key questions:  

• How fast is land ice volume in the Arctic and North-Atlantic area changing, and why?
• Will these processes continue to accelerate?
• What are the consequences for sea-level and ocean circulation
• What are the implications for society?

Graduate School provides joint PhD courses; summer schools, workshops and crossborder integration of PhD projects and PostDoc activities within the SVALI framework.   The goal of the Graduate School course selection is to make sure that all relevant aspects in glaciology are covered.  Graduate School is constantly developing new courses and summer schools to ensure that this goal is achieved. Students who are funded by SVALI are required to take min. 5 ECTS of SVALI courses but we recommend that 30% of PhD studies would consist of SVALI courses.SVALI partner institutes provide a great number of relevant courses for our students.