Welcome to the Helmholtz Graduate School for Polar and Marine Research – POLMAR

The graduate school POLMAR provides a structured qualification programme for Ph.D. students at the Alfred Wegener Institute as supplement to their individual research work. More about POLMAR ...

Announcements / News

Please save the date: PhD Days 2020 will take place on Helgoland, 8 - 12 June 2020

Call: Deutscher Studienpreis 2020 der Körber Stiftung
Der Deutsche Studienpreis zeichnet jährlich die besten deutschen Nachwuchswissenschaftler aller Fachrichtungen aus. Neben der fachwissenschaftlichen Exzellenz zählt vor allem die spezifische gesellschaftliche Bedeutung der Forschungsbeiträge: Die jungen Wissenschaftler werden dazu ermutigt, den gesellschaftlichen Wert der eigenen Forschungsleistung herauszuheben und sich einer öffentlichen Debatte darüber zu stellen.
Bewerbungsschluss: 1. März 2020

POLMAR research stays abroad

Full solar eclipse on the 20 March 2015 as seen from Adventdalen, Spitsbergen / Svalbard (Photo: Jaroslav Obu)

Family support by POLMAR

Polona Itkin (former POLMAR member) had been able to attend seminars and made business trips thanks to the POLMAR family support programme. There is no minimum age limit for becoming a marine scientist!

POLMAR alumni

Our former POLMAR members Nina Keul and Sven Kranz had gone to the US for a postdoc position. Meanwhile, Sven accepted an assistant professorship at Florida State University and Nina is back in Germany at the Institute of Geosciences at Kiel University.

Exploring Alaska (Valeria Selyuzhenok)

The research stay at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) was one of the best parts of my PhD studies so far. With great support of the sea ice group at the Geophysical Institute, I made a good progress investigating the mechanisms of landfast ice development in the Laptev Sea. Apart from invaluable feedback and the scientific experience I got, I also had a great time exploring Alaska. All in all, I came back to Germany with new ideas, lots of motivation and inspiration to continue my work on sea ice.

Oxford University/ UK (Photo: J. Wolter)

With kith and kin to the UK (Juliane Wolter)

In summer 2014, I worked at the Long-Term Ecology Laboratory at the University of Oxford. The two month research stay was funded by a POLMAR Outgoing Scholarship, which also included financial support for childcare. Taking my daughters with me started as a necessity, but soon turned out to be beneficial for all of us. The experience of working in the highly inspiring working environment of Oxford University and living abroad with my family was excellent and I encourage all PhD students to use the great opportunity to apply for a POLMAR Outgoing Scholarship!