10 years of Centre for Polar Ecology

Exactly 10 years ago, on December 3, 2013, the Centre for Polar Ecology at the Faculty of Science USB was officially launched.

The beginnings of polar research at the Faculty of Science USB are dated back to 2007 when an expedition to the Svalbard archipelago was held under the leadership of the later founder and head of the CPE, Prof. Josef Elster. In 2011, we sent the first students to Svalbard as part of the Polar Ecology Course. There have already been 9 courses and a total of 168 students have participated not only from the University of South Bohemia, but also from Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno and Palacký University in Olomouc. The 10th course will run in the summer of 2024. The interest of students in the research of polar regions is also confirmed by about 40 bachelor's, master's or dissertation theses on polar topics, successfully defended at the Faculty of Science USB.

We have established the Czech Arctic Research Station in Svalbard, which has joined the international scientific infrastructure and has provided facilities for dozens of scientists from all over the world over the course of its existence.

We have organized 4 Polar Ecology Conferences (in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2020), in 2017 we organized the Arctic Science Summit Week and since 2018 we have been participating in the scientific and cultural festival, called the Arctic Festival.

The Centre for Polar Ecology could not function without the support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the European Social Fund and, last but not least, without the support of the management of the University of South Bohemia and the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia.