Explore the Arctic and Antarctic in an interdisciplinary environment
The School of Excellence in Arctic and Antarctic Learning addresses the complex challenges of the polar regions with collective expertise across subject boundaries. Joint doctoral courses and projects provide a broad understanding of the natural science, ethical, geopolitical, and societal issues of the polar regions. On this page, you can read more about the structure of the research school, course offerings, and find open doctoral positions.
Course offerings and structure
The research school fosters a strong cohort of early-career researchers working across disciplinary boundaries. The course portfolio spans glaciology, geology, meteorology, oceanography, climate change, biodiversity, geopolitics, tourism and Indigenous knowledge. It addresses interactions among the ocean, cryosphere, atmosphere, terrestrial systems, and the anthroposphere.
Courses are delivered collaboratively by five Swedish higher education institutions with leading polar research profiles. More information about the partner universitites - About us
Summer and field schools
A central component of the programme is a series of interdisciplinary summer and field schools that provide hands-on training in polar environments and methods. These include the Transdisciplinary Polar Summer School in the Swedish mountains (held in Bydalen), the Southern Ocean Summer School focusing on ocean dynamics and ice–ocean interactions (held in Corsica), and field-based courses such as Winter Processes – Physical, Chemical and Biological Processes of Polar Systems (held in Abisko) and The Dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet (held in Greenland). The summer and field schools will include the participation of national and international researchers, operational experts, and other knowledge holders, contributing to a broad and in-depth understanding of the polar regions and giving PhD students the opportunity to develop long-term international collaborations.
In addition, the programme includes a seminar series (Polar Seminars) running throughout the research school, with two three-day meetings per year hosted in rotation by the participating universities. These meetings enable PhD students to come together regularly, build a national cohort, exchange ideas across institutions and disciplines.
Course portfolio
The course portfolio will continue to evolve throughout the duration of the research school. Additional tool courses as well as specialised courses relevant to polar research, developed in consultation with stakeholders to ensure alignment with societal needs and priorities, will become available during the programme. There are a number of elective courses that can also be applied for by doctoral students outside the research school.
Join the research school - for PhD students already enrolled in a doctoral education at a Swedish university.
In addition to the PhD positions listed above, it is also possible to join SEAL if you are already enrolled in a PhD education at a Swedish higher education institution.
Further information
For questions regarding SEAL, please contact the Director of Studies, nils.wallenberg@gvc.gu.se
