The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and its three Russian partners received an award in the category of top-level research for the QUARCCS project within the framework of the competition "Building Bridges for German-Russian Cooperation in Higher Education and Science", which was jointly announced by the Russian and German Foreign Ministries.
In the QUARCCS project, AWI researchers together with scientists from the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology are investigating the influence of climate change on sea ice, ocean, atmosphere and ecosystem in the Arctic. Forecasts and risk analyses for shipping and expeditions are among the topics dealt with in the project, as well as the decline of ice in the Russian marginal seas and its influence on the Arctic ecosystem.
Dr Thomas Krumpen accepted the award on behalf of the AWI during the closing event of the 'German-Russian Year of Cooperation in Higher Education and Science' in Berlin. The Russian project partner Mirseid Akperov accepted the award on behalf of the Obukhov Institute in Moscow. The award ceremony took place physically and virtually in Berlin and Moscow at the same time.
The competition was part of the 'German-Russian Year of Cooperation in Higher Education and Science'. The aim of this theme year was to present the long-standing and diverse relations in research and teaching between universities, research and educational institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation to a wider public.
A total of 124 applications were submitted for the competition in four categories (cooperation between universities, top-level research, innovation, young researchers). 25 of them were selected for an award.
In addition to the successful QUARCCS project, the AWI participated with three other projects.
A panel discussion took place in the afternoon of the final event. On the topic of "Focus on Science Partners", AWI coordinator for cooperation with Russia, Dr Anne Morgenstern, provided insights into the diversity of German-Russian science cooperation from the perspective of polar and marine research.