Research school on climate change - CHESS
The primary mission of the Research School on “Changing climates in the coupled earth system” (CHESS) is to educate PhD students in Norway, on various topics related to present and past climates. The school will be coordinated by the University of Bergen (under Associate Professor Thomas Spengler).
The school’s activities will be organized by a national board which includes two UiO faculty; Carmen Gaina (geodynamics) and Joseph LaCasce (meteorology) as well as others from Bergen, Tromsø and UNIS - The University Centre in Svalbard.
CHESS follows in the wake of the successful research school Norwegian Research School in Climate Dynamics (ResClim), which offered courses to over 100 students on a range of topics, from air-ice-ocean interactions to climate in previous epochs.
Climate changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, glaciers and ice extent in polar regions
The new research school will address a number of important issues in climate research, including changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, as well as changes in glaciers and ice extent in polar regions.
The school will also study previous climates, when the climate was often greatly different due for example to changes in the distribution of land and oceans and to volcanic activity.
Under the school, Norwegian and international specialists will give lectures, workshops and summer schools will be organized in diverse locations and funds will be available for Norwegian PhDs to work and study abroad. CHESS will also support various “hands on” courses in proposal and article writing, presentation techniques and teaching.
Strengthening with a new academic position
In addition to the research school, a new Adjunct Professor position has been awarded to the Department of Geosciences by NFR for Prof. Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu of the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (University of Bergen).
The New Adjunct Professor will work with researchers from the Center for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) and the section for Meteorology and Oceanography (MetOs) on diverse problems in paleoclimate, in particular with regard to the causes and nature of extreme climates of the geologic past. Prof. Nisancioglu will give lectures for graduate students enrolled at CEED and MetOs and co-supervise the students involved in relevant research projects.