INTERACT

Climate change affects the Arctic more than twice as much as any other region on Earth. Moreover, the impact of climate change in the Arctic is not geographically limited but causes hazardous events worldwide. Understanding and predicting potential events requires international research and monitoring. The EU-funded INTERACT project is based on an especially successful transnational access programme aiming to achieve best practices for lucrative research, monitoring, education and outreach to address societal challenges caused by the rapid climate change in the Arctic.

INTERACT coordinates 64 partners and 88 research stations hosting more than 5000 researchers per year in 16 northern countries improving new collaborations, using innovative science and science diplomacy and establishing a fully integrated infrastructure that will make data and acquired knowledge globally available.

Planet Earth faces unprecedented environmental changes that will affect all members of society. Arctic climate warming is more than twice the global rate and unpredictable extreme events cause major impacts on ecosystems and people. However, the Arctic atmospheric circulation causes extreme events and societal damage beyond the Arctic which need international research and monitoring to understand and predict. Furthermore, attitudes need to be changed throughout the world through outreach while the next generation needs to be equipped to live in a different world.

INTERACT III innovates a pan-arctic network of 86 research stations in 16 northern countries to provide a fully integrated, advanced infrastructure now able to meaningfully address major societal challenges and provide services for 155 global and regional networks. Furthermore, the global reputation of INTERACT has attracted world-leading partners and enterprises to participate in reducing the impacts of hazardous change while maximizing the opportunities arising from new technologies.

Specifically, INTERACT III provides comprehensive coordination of 64 partners and 86 research stations. The station managers design best practices to ensure excellent research, monitoring, education and outreach. INTERACT III builds on an extremely successful transnational access program that has already populated the Arctic with 900 researchers to further provide excellent science while reducing the environmental footprints of researchers through improving remote and virtual access. The access transnationality ensures new collaborations, innovative science and science diplomacy at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions. Station managers, transnational access and joint research activities cooperate to address major societal challenges in a fully integrated infrastructure while their data and understanding are made globally available through exceptional outreach and education and policy briefings to decision makers.

Website:

http://www.eu-interact.org/

Social Media:

twitter@INTERACT66 facebookInteractArctic

Contacts:

Head and Shoulder 5

Katharina Beckmann

Scientific Secretary,

Communication and Dissemination &

Training and Education Task Groups

Lund University

katharina.beckmann@nateko.lu.se

Margareta Johansson 2

Margareta Johansson

Policy Advice Task Group

Lund University 

margareta.johansson@nateko.lu.se

twitter@MJ_INTERACT

Head and Shoulder 5

Niklas Labba 

Policy Advice Task Group

 Oystein Godoy 2

Øystein Godøy

Data Management Task Group

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

o.godoy@met.no

 Agata Gozdzik 2

Agata Goździk

Training and Education Task Group

Institute of Geophysics, 

Polish Academy of Sciences 

gozdzik@igf.edu.pl