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Making Connections for Our Changing Mountains
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Dear MRI Community,
Autumn is upon us here in Switzerland, and with it came wonderful opportunities to connect with each other in person at a series of mountain events. We kicked off the month with our MRI Chair, Prof. Jörg Balsiger, co-chairing a session at AlpWeek in Brig, Switzerland, titled 'Onwards, upwards? - Climate adaptation and internal migration: opportunities and challenges in mountain areas.'
We then continued with the MRI Governing Body Retreat in the village of Parpan, Switzerland. Surrounded by the Swiss Alps and breathing the fresh mountain air, our Governing Body and Coordination Office got to work on co-designing the next phase of the MRI. Then came the International Mountain Conference (IMC) 2022 where over 800 mountain researchers came together at the heart of the Tyrolean Alps in Innsbruck, Austria to further develop a global understanding of mountain systems, their responses, and resiliencies. It was great to see so many of you there! A full round-up of our IMC 2022 activities can be found below.
Following IMC, the MRI attended the Future Earth General Assembly in Paris, France. As a partner, we valued the opportunity to participate and set priorities and strategic directions for Future Earth, while strengthening prospects for you - our MRI community - to engage in new research collaborations on sustainability. Stay tuned for more on that in future. The MRI was also represented at the Moving Mountains Summit, hosted by Mountain Sentinels, where we engaged in local and indigenous knowledge, worldviews, biophysical and social sciences.
Closing the month of mountain events was the Sixth Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership in Aspen, Colorado, USA. The meeting aimed to place sustainability and the resilience of mountain ecosystems and communities at the center of international processes, policies, and investments within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022, as well as set priorities for the Mountain Partnership in line with its 2022-2025 strategy. Full coverage is reported here.
It was certainly a busy month of making connections between research, practice, and policy for our changing mountains! After two long years of online events, it was refreshing to connect once again in person and we look forward to more of these opportunities in the months ahead.
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Enjoy the read,
The MRI Coordination Office
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This month over 800 mountain researchers came together for the 2022 International Mountain Conference (IMC). The Mountain Research Initiative was well-represented throughout the conference by the MRI Coordination Office, its Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs), members of the Science Leadership Council (SLC) members, and the many network members from around the world who make the MRI what it is today. Read about the highlights and key reflections coming out of #IMC22.
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MRI Governing Body Retreat
This month the MRI Governing Body and Coordination Office came together in Switzerland to begin work on co-designing the next phase of the MRI. It was a great opportunity to review key objectives, have in-depth, strategic discussions, and generate ideas for the future. We look forward gathering their insights in future consultations to sharpen our next proposal.
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On 20 September 2022, the 'Mentoring and Training Program in IPCC Processes for Early Career Mountain Researchers' came to a successful close, achieving all the objectives the project set out to do for the period 2019-2022. Read more and listen to participant reflections on this unique experience.
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This year the call is thematically dedicated as a contribution from the MRI to the observance of the UN-proclaimed International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development in 2022 (IYM2022). Deadline for proposals is Friday, 30 September 2022, 23:59 CEST.
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This workshop, titled 'Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere - Methods and Applications From Regional to Global Scale', will focus on the latest developments in remote sensing of land ice and snow. Submit an abstract by 15 October 2022.
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The MRI Resilience Working Group will hold a post-IMC 'De-Conference'. The idea is to meet online to listen to those of us who could attend IMC (onsite or virtual), and who would like to share their impressions of the resilience-related discourse at IMC. For those who could not attend, this is the chance to get fresh, direct insights from the conference.
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With new mountain events added regularly, don't forget to check out our online calendar.
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GEO Mountains News & Events
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Biodiversa+, the European Biodiversity Partnership under Horizon Europe, has launched a new transnational joint research call on 'Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society.' GEO Mountains welcomes discussions that could lead to the development of a joint proposal, and/or would be happy to write letters in support of projects that could contribute to GEO Mountains’ objectives. Submit a proposal by 9 November 2022.
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GEO Mountains took part in two main sessions at #IMC22, a focus session on ‘Obtaining and integrating interdisciplinary mountain data' and a workshop on 'Identifying Essential Socioeconomic Variables.' The conference was an excellent opportunity to meet and discuss the objectives of GEO Mountains with a wide cross-section of mountain researchers from multiple regions and disciplines.
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Reliable data on mountain populations are crucial for environmental protection and disaster response, but they derive from a variety of approaches, leading to considerable variability. GEO Mountains is helping to provide policy makers with more robust estimates. Read more about it on the Group on Earth Observations blog!
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Join us for an online training session and overview of potentially relevant datasets (remote sensing, climate, etc.) listed in the GEO Mountains General Inventory. This is a great opportunity for early career scientists in data analysis, especially those interested in functional and floristic vegetation dynamics in the tropical Andes with a view to gaining insights into future vegetation dynamics under future climate and land use scenarios.
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31 October 2022 | Accra, Ghana and Online
The aim of this side event at GEO Week is to provide a platform for activities of the GEO Work Programme working on polar regions and mountains to exchange and investigate possible synergies, given the many common challenges that are often encountered. The session will include contributions from representatives of Arctic GEOSS and GEO Mountains, as well as those working in the Antarctic and under other mountain programs.
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Further GEO Mountains news and relevant events can be found on the GEO Mountains website.
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Conéctate A+ News & Events
Cluster of Cooperation in the Tropical Andes and Central America Region
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The Cluster of Collaboration (CLOC) Conéctate A+ has launched two funding calls to encourage the research community to address pressing knowledge needs in science, policy, practice, and society. The calls focus on the areas of climate change, ecosystems, and health in the Tropical Andes and Central America region within the framework of sustainable development. The calls are open to all and aim to encourage the formation of interdisciplinary research teams across institutions and continents. Extended submission deadline: 31 October 2022.
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UN 2023 Water Conference: Second Global Online Stakeholder Consultation
To ensure meaningful and substantive engagement of stakeholders in preparation for the UN 2023 Water Conference, stakeholders are invited to provide comments, suggestions, and inputs on the five themes that have been proposed by the co-hosts for the interactive dialogues. Submit your input by 30 September 2022.
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Check out the new edition of the Journal of Mountain Science featuring 21 articles devoted to mountains and their surrounding lowlands.
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This list, updated each week, contains articles relevant to mountain research that you won't want to miss this month.
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The 12th ESEH Conference in 2023, organised by the University of Bern, in Switzerland, is titled 'Mountains and Plains: Past, present and future environmental and climatic entanglements.' This paramount topic enables numerous approaches from various disciplines. The call for papers is open until 31 October 2022.
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What do we know about the Alpine settlement system? Why are small towns important for Europe and globally? Find out at the Alpine Towns Conference. The authors will introduce the report through maps, facts and debates. Invited experts and panelists discuss what the findings mean in practice. Save the date and register to be kept informed!
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Have an idea for a blog post or mountain news to share?
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Call for Papers: Modelling socio-ecological systems. Understanding the dynamics of water, agricultural and rural systems
This Special Issue of Ecological Modelling will address how can rural areas be understood, how the ecological, economic, social and institutional dimensions interact, which are the challenges for agricultural systems, the interplay among the environmental and the socio-economic roles of water, what are the major factors driving change, and how can healthy rural systems be maintained and promoted.
Manuscript submission deadline is 30 September 2022.
MRD: Restoring Mountain Systems for Social–Ecological Resilience
This Mountain Research and Development (MRD) focus issue will contribute to a better understanding of restoration in mountains by including critical reviews of concepts and approaches that address conditions, practices, challenges, and opportunities for integrated recovery and restoration of mountain landscapes, biodiversity, livelihoods, and cultures.
Full paper submission deadline is 1 November 2022.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change: Impacts of Global Change on Protective Forests in Mountain Areas
This new article collection in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change aims at collecting recent advances in research to improve our understanding of the effects from the various aspects global change has on protective mountain forests, as individual or interacting factors.
Abstract submission deadline 18 November 2022.
Annals of Glaciology Special Issue: Ice, Snow, Water, and Permafrost in a Warming World
The International Glaciological Society (IGS) will prepare a special issue of the Annals of Glaciology exploring how, as a result of global atmospheric warming, all components of Earth´s cryosphere are now changing at a dramatic pace.
Manuscript submission deadline is 31 December 2022.
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Check out the MRI website for a full list of open calls and publication opportunities.
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Future Earth - Pathways Communication Grants (Second Call)
To promote wider uptake and understanding of pathways for sustainability, this Pathways Communication Grants Program supports the dissemination of scientific research findings via innovative dissemination formats and practices. Funding amount for each project in 2022: 2,500 to 10,000 Euros.
Application deadline is 30 September 2022.
TWAS-Sida PhD Scholarships for Climate Research for Students from Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
The TWAS-Sida PhD Scholarship Programme for Climate Research for students from LDCs has just been established in response to the need of increasing the base of expertise in climate research in Least Developed Countries, through a modern and complete PhD training programme.
Application deadline: 5 October 2022, 23:59 CEST.
Agora Grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
SNSF's Agora scheme aims to promote the spread of knowledge, as well as the exchange of views and perspectives about scientific research. It therefore encourages projects involving two-way processes - with interaction and listening - which generate dialogues between researchers and the public. Grants between CHF 5,000 and CHF 200,000.
Submission deadline is 10 October 2022.
Collaborative Research Actions 2022 - Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production
Current patterns of global development based on people’s continuous extraction and exploitation of natural resources are not sustainable, and a societal transition to systems of sustainable consumption and production (SSCP) is urgently needed. In an attempt to promote co-development research through science and stakeholder-based approaches to attain SSCP, Belmont Forum has launched a call for research proposals (Collaborative Research Actions).
Full proposals received by 10 October 2022.
Mertz Fellowship for Polar and High Altitude Research Collaboration Between Switzerland Australia
The Embassy of Switzerland in Australia, with the support of the Swiss Polar Institute, is launching the Mertz Fellowship programme to promote linkages between Swiss and Australian higher education and research institutions through scientific networking and joint projects. The programme targets early-career researchers from the polar and high altitude science communities in Switzerland and Australia.
Deadline for submission: 30 October 2022, 23:00 CET.
SPIRIT Grants 2022
The Swiss Programme for International Research by Scientific Investigation Teams (SPIRIT) promotes team-oriented cross-border research. Funding is awarded to research projects with clearly defined goals that are submitted by excellent research consortia from two to four countries. Researchers from all disciplines can apply for a SPIRIT grant; the topics are chosen by the researchers themselves.
Submission deadline: 2 November 2022.
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For a full list of open funding opportunities, please see our website.
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Institute of Environmental Geosciences, Grenoble University Campus, France
This postdoctoral position will focus on the spatial prioritization of areas for conservation in Peru. Fixed-term contract for one year starting 1 November 2022.
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A regularly updated compilation of mountain job opportunities can be found on our website.
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