01.04.2016: On 1 April the international training and research programme for junior scientists MicroArctic „Microorganisms in Warming Arctic Environments” is initiated. The GFZ is partner in this EU-funded Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN), coordinated at the University of Bristol, UK. Contact persons at GFZ are Prof. Dirk Wagner, head of section Geomicrobiology, and Prof. Liane G. Benning, head of section Interface Geochemistry.

The Arctic plays a key role in the Earth’s climate system under global warming and therefore represents an area of growing strategic importance for European policy. MicroArctic aims at training the next generation of experts in microbiology and biogeochemistry to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of arctic ecosystems and organisms, and to acquaint them with the factors having an impact on arctic ecosystems. Apart from its training aspects for early stage researchers, the ITN will contribute to the understanding of changes and adaptations of Arctic microbial communities.

Two junior researchers work at the GFZ, both of them in work package 2 of this ITN “Ecosystem response to changing environmental conditions in the Arctic“, coordinated by Prof. Wagner. The research will identify fundamental microbiological processes and the role of methanogenic archaea. It also aims at clarifying bio-geo-interactions as well as the relations to weathering processes and the carbon cycle under changing climate. Along with the University of Bristol and the GFZ, additional eleven institutions from research and economy are partners in the network.

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