About UAK
The goal of the UAK project – Useful Arctic Knowledge - is to strengthen the quality of education, research and innovation in ocean observing technology for use in arctic and fjord environments. The UAK consortium includes 7 partners in Norway, USA and Canada and collaborates closely with other ocean technology projects, especially EU HIAOOS and the SFI Smart Ocean. The project increases mobility and collaboration with industry and research institutions to advance innovation processes in ocean observing technologies with emphasis on underwater acoustics and marine optics. UAK is funded by the INTPART programme (International partnerships for excellent education, research and innovation) under contract no 337245 with Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (DIKU). This contract is a follow-up of the first UAK contract from 2018 to 2022, where three research schools were organised, one at UNIS in Longyearbyen and two onboard KV Svalbard. The reports form these research schools are available under publications. More information about UAK 2018-2022 is available in the project website at University of Calgary.
Project Summary
UAK expands the long-term collaboration in research and education between Norway, USA and Canada within ocean observing. The project is contribution to the Arctic component of the Ocean Decade. Focus is to provide training in use of ocean observing methods and technologies to observe changes in the ice-ocean environment caused by climate changes or human activities (SDG13). Main focus are observations that can detect, localise, and track changes in the Arctic Ocean environment e.g. ice-ocean parameters, ocean sound and the light in the ocean. These changes will have impact ocean health and marine life (SD14).
UAK organizes educational programs, research schools, and mobility grants to train the new generation of scientists within research areas covering oceanography, sea ice, marine optics and underwater acoustics.
UAK facilitates for collaboration between research and industry to foster innovation within observing technologies supporting ocean research in the Arctic, fjords and coastal regions. Shorter and longer visits will be organized between the partners. The project will support joint reports and publications with special attention collaboration between different generations, research, and industry.
UAK organises dedicated open workshops and special sessions in international conferences.
UAK supports the education program in Ocean technology at UiB, SFI Smart Ocean, and several research projects e.g. HiAOOS and EcoSense.
Partners
Workpackages
WP 1. Coordination and international collaboration. (Lead H. Sagen, NERSC, Co-lead: B. Hamre, IFT).
WP 2. Training and education activities in ice covered regions. (Lead: E. Storheim, NERSC).
WP 3. Training and education activities in fjord and coasts. (Lead: A. S. Kristoffersen, IFT-UiB).
WP 4. Scientific publications, education, and outreach (Lead: Camilla Sætre, IFT-UiB).
WP 5. Research and innovation in ocean observing. (Lead: Hanne Sagen, NERSC).