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

Wladimir Köppen Award
The call addresses young researchers (up to 30 years of age) from all disciplines (Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Economic Sciences and Humanities) in German-speaking areas. Their dissertations have to show a clear relation to climate research. Advisors, professors and working group leaders are invited to recommend appropriate candidates by e-mail. The letter of recommendation should be accompanied by a digital copy of the thesis (or a download link) and a CV of the candidate.
Deadline for application: 30 September 2019

The call for Briese Award for Marine Research 2019 is open!
The prize is intended to reward outstanding PhD theses in marine research, the results of which are particularly closely linked to the use of research vessels and the use and development of technology and/or data collection at sea. A primary criterion for awarding the contract is the scope of the scientific findings gained in the course of the work. The award comes with prize money of €5,000.
Applications are open to researchers who completed an outstanding PhD thesis at a German university no more than two years ago. All disciplines of marine research are addressed, including marine technology and climate research. Applications are made directly by the applicant.
Deadline for application: 31 October 2019

Save the date: There will be a course "Medientraining" on 7 & 8 November 2019. Details will be announced soon.

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!