The National Antarctic Science Center (NASC) has started participating in the Polarin research project of the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, the Ministry of Education and Science reports.
“Today, on March 1, 2024, the Polarin project of the EU’s Horizon Europe program has officially started, with the participation of the National Antarctic Science Center (NASC) and 49 other organizations from around the world. These are institutions that provide polar research from the EU, Chile, Canada, the USA, the UK, and other countries. The project is coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany,” the press service of the Ministry of Education said.
It is noted that Polarin involves the unification of 64 research infrastructures in the Arctic and Antarctic and the provision of free access to them (both direct and remote) to all participants.
“In this way, it is planned to support interdisciplinary research in both polar regions to address global issues, including climate change. After all, these regions are especially important for the Earth’s climate and are the first to respond to changes,” the statement said.
The agency said that the created network covers all related areas of research – from marine and terrestrial to atmospheric, and will include research stations, ships, observatories, repositories and databases.
Ukraine is represented in the project by two infrastructures: the Antarctic station Akademik Vernadsky and the Noosphere icebreaker.
“This will allow us to attract additional international funds to the Antarctic program, and Ukrainian scientists to use the polar facilities of other countries and participate in important scientific initiatives,” the press service quoted the director of the National Academy of Sciences Yevhen Dykyi as saying.
Ukraine will join Polarin in 2024-2025, and the project will last for 5 years. The project budget is 14.6 million euros, of which more than half a million euros are earmarked for Ukraine.
