Environmental systems: integrating monitoring, research and management

A course for PhD students in environmental sciences. 

The course is available as a singular course.

Two important challenges in environmental sciences are to assess how human drivers impact on environmental systems and the effectiveness of management policies to adapt or mitigate these impacts. Answering these challenges implies we need to set up multidisciplinary monitoring systems that can efficiently measure changes and identify causes of changes for entities that, more often than not, are monitored on incongruent scales. The course therefore aims at integrating monitoring, research and management around three themes:

For climate systems, the course will, with an emphasis on the Arctic region, utilize local, regional and global examples of utilizing data and models in combination to assess monitoring systems ability to detect and attribute climate change. The examples will be utilized for conceptual discussions of strategies for designing climate monitoring systems on a cascade of scales.

For ecological systems, the course will illustrate the basic concepts of ecosystem functioning and management, and how climate interacts with other drivers to affect ecosystem dynamics, with the use of case studies from terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

For the relationships between society, climate and ecological systems, the course will in particular focus on how society involvements can be made operational within adaptive monitoring/management framework.

For each theme, the course will rely on concrete case studies from northern regions, as well as presentations of general principles, such as adaptive management and monitoring.

Who can apply as a singular course student:

• PhD student enrolled at another institution than UiT. PhD students must upload a document from their university stating that there are registered PhD students. This group of applicants does not have to prove English proficiency and are exempt from semester fee.
• Holders of a master´s degree of five years or 3+2 years (or equivalent) may be admitted. These applicants must upload a Master´s Diploma with Diploma Supplement / English translation of the diploma. Applicants from listed countries must document proficiency in English. To find out if this applies to you, see the following list: Proficiency in English must be documented - list of countries. For more information on accepted English proficiency tests and scores, as well as exemptions from the English proficiency tests, please see the following document:  Proficiency in english - PhD level studies 

Knowledge:

• Principles of adaptive management
• Principles of adaptive monitoring
• Examples of monitoring systems of northern climate systems
• Examples of monitoring systems of northern marine environments
• Examples of monitoring systems of northern freshwater environments
• Examples of monitoring systems of northern terrestrial environments

Skills:

• Identification of relevant scales and design of climate monitoring systems
• Identification of relevant scales and design of ecosystem monitoring program
• Multidisciplinary dialogue between climate, ecosystem and social sciences

General competence:

• Be able to critically assess monitoring programs
• Evaluate the integration of monitoring objectives and design
• Assess societal involvement in monitoring programs
• Knowledge of northern social-ecological systems

Language of instruction and examination

PhD students at UiT register for the course through StudentWeb before 1. September. The registration starts in middle of June. 

Other applicants apply for admission through SøknadsWeb before 1. June. Application code 9301.

Applicants who are granted a seat, needs to register for classes and exam in StudentWeb before 1. September. The registration starts in middle of June.

Re-sit examination