COMNAP Antarctic Fellowships
COMNAP and SCAR have
again joined forces to launch fellowships for early-career researchers. The fellowships enable early-career researchers
to join a project team from another country, opening up new opportunities and
often creating partnerships that last for many years and over many Antarctic field
seasons.
Note that the application process for SCAR and COMNAP fellowships are
now separate and the eligibility criteria differ.
The COMNAP Antarctic Fellowship Background Information:
The COMNAP Antarctic Fellowship was offered for the first time in 2011. COMNAP is the international independent organisation of National Antarctic Programs. Formed in 1988, COMNAP has as its goal to develop and promote best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica.
The COMNAP Antarctic Fellowship is similar to the SCAR Fellowship Programme in that, it is designed to encourage the active involvement of early career Antarctic persons and to strengthen international capacity and cooperation in the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty. Both Fellowship Programmes allow the selected Fellow to become acquainted with recent advances in research and technology and/or to develop long-term linkages and international partnerships.
However, there are two primary differences between the SCAR and COMNAP Fellowship Programmes. First, the COMNAP Fellowship Programme is intended to allow people from a COMNAP Member National Antarctic Program country to undertake short-term visits to major international laboratories, field facilities, and/or home institutions in or operated by other COMNAP Member National Antarctic Programs (for a list of members, please visit the "Our Members" page of the COMNAP website).
Secondly, the proposed project should contribute to the objectives of the home or host National Antarctic Program's objectives.
Evaluation of applications received:
A review panel chaired by a representative of the COMNAP Executive Committee, and including expertise in the range of projects proposed, will evaluate all COMNAP proposals on the basis of the excellence of the proposed project. This evaluation will also take into consideration factors such as:
§ its relevance to the list of proposed project themes;
§ its achievability within the time frame allotted;
§ the extent to which links have already been established with the proposed host institution;
§ the extent to which it will strengthen the Antarctic science support capacity of the nations involved;
§ its "fit" with COMNAP's goals and objectives.
Completion of Fellowship:
At the end of each Fellowship, each candidate must provide a report to be published on the COMNAP website. Reports should cover the accomplishments and a budgetary report. These reports will be tabled and discussed at the COMNAP AGM. The COMNAP Fellowship scheme should be acknowledged in any resulting publications.
The COMNAP Antarctic Research Fellowship Recipients 2011-2018
The following were awarded COMNAP Fellowships. Their reports are also available below.
2014-2015 Keith Soal "Characterisation of Ice Structure.pdf", (Full title: Characterisation of Ice-Structure and Fluid-Structure Interactions on Polar Vessels using Operational Modal Analysis), University of Stellenbosch, South Africa to Germany and Finland
2015-2016 Alejandro Velasco Castrillon "Limno Terrestrial Microfauna.pdf", "100 years on: a re-evaluation of the first discovery of limno-terrestrial microfauna of the McMurdo Sound region", University of Adelaide/South Australia Museum to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
2015-2016 Inka Koch (Awarded a joint SCAR/COMNAP Fellowship) "Airborne Ice Penetrating Radar.pdf", "Detecting marine ice internal layers and thickness in an Antarctic ice shelf with airborne ice penetrating radar", University of Otago, New Zealand to University of Texas, USA
2016-2017 Ronja Reese “Importance of Ice Buttressing in Antarctica.pdf”, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research,
Germany, to the British Antarctic Survey
2016-2017 Blanca Figuerola “Vulnerability of Antarctic bryozoan communities to environmental change.pdf”, University of Barcelona,
Spain, to the Australian Antarctic Division
2016-2017 Christopher
Horvat (Awarded a joint SCAR/COMNAP Fellowship) " Modelling the
Antarctic Sea Ice Floe Size Distribution", Harvard University, USA, to the
National Institute of Water and Atmosphere, New Zealand
2017-2018 Maria Gabriela Roldan " Inviting Antarctica into your home: an evaluatoin of public engagement with Antarctic science, science support, policy and technology", Gateway Antarctica, New Zealand, to the Institute Antartico Chileno (INACH), Chile
Other Opportunities
CCAMLR Scholarship Scheme
University of Canterbury Summer Scholarship Scheme
Each Austral summer, the Unviersity of Canterbury which hosts the COMNAP Secretariat in Christchurch, New Zealand, offers senior students an opportunity to work on a summer project. COMNAP has participated in two such projects and reports from each one are below.
2010/11 Max Gallagher "Impacts of Tsunami on National Antarctic Program Operations and Personnel in Coastal Antarctica".
 FINAL Tsunami Report.pdf
2013/14 Hanne Nielsen "From Shelter to Showpiece: The Evolution of Antarctic Station design".
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