Climate Narratives is an interdisciplinary research project in the climate sciences focusing on identifying risks, vulnerability, innovation, and adaption possibilities for indigenous communities living along the coast of Greenland and on low-lying islands of the Pacific. Both of these communities live close to nature and to the ocean and are facing new challenges and opportunities due to climate change: As the glaciers and the sea ice along the coast of Greenland retreats, new land is appearing and the fjords are opening; meanwhile, on low-lying island states of the Pacific, land is disappearing as the ice melts, and the communities are at an ever-increasing risk of storm surges and floods.
What is novel with the Climate Narratives project is the combination of climate science, social science, and art together with local indigenous knowledge and narratives across cultures and generations in the search to identify challenges and possibilities in the face of current and as well as future climate changes.
The supervisor: Hestnes Nisancioglu is Professor of Climate Dynamics at the Department of Earth Sciences and Research Leader for the Polar Climate research group at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. His specific research interests are devoted to understanding the past and future impacts of ice sheets and glaciers on ocean circulation, sea level and climate. He has experience in coordinating large international projects, such as the recently completed European Research Council (ERC) synergy project ice2ice (https://ice2ice.w.uib.no) and is heavily involved in the ongoing EastGRIP deep ice coring project on Greenland. Hestnes Nisancioglu has developed several courses on climate and sustainability, including SDG213 on the “Causes and consequences of climate change” at UiB, as well as an online version offered thru FutureLearn, and several field courses related to ice and climate (GEOV328, SDG313).
The research group: The polar climate research group includes expertise in physical oceanography, sea ice and ice sheet dynamics, Earth system and Cryosphere modeling, ice-ocean interactions, reconstructions of past climate, and projections of future climate and sea level. The position is embedded in both the Quaternary geology and Paleoclimate group at the Department of Earth Sciences and the Polar Climate research theme at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research.
The candidates will be included in the multi-disciplinary research collaboration within the ClimateNarratives project, including social scientists and artists co-creating new knowledge on climate changes and their narratives in close collaboration with communities in Greenland and the South Pacific. Co-PI of the project is Professor Eamon O’Kane (The Art Academy, UiB).
Available infrastructure: Access to national high-performance computing and mass data storage facilities (Sigma2) as well as state-of the art research labs (e.g. EarthLab and Farlab) and research vessels (RV G.O. Sars and RV Kronprins Haakon) are available. The group currently participates in several projects involving Earth system modelling and polar field work funded by the RCN and the EU. Together with the local community in Ilulissat, western Greenland, the ClimateNarratives team are building a local science and art hub as a platform for collaboration and co-creation of science and art. It is expected that the candidates spend extended periods of time interacting with the communities in Greenland, making use of this facility as well as the local museums and research institutions.
Research possibilities for the fellow - topical frame: The postdoctoral fellow positions are connected to the thematic areas of Greenland ice sheet dynamics, ice-ocean interactions, and sea level impacts. The positions are part of the Climate Narratives project combining natural science, social science, and art together with local indigenous knowledge to identify challenges and possibilities in the face of current and as well as future climate changes. Within this main topical frame there are two available positions open for research on the following sub-topics:
- Position 1: Ice-ocean interactions and the impact of Greenland outlet glaciers on fjord circulation, hydrology, and ecosystems
- Position 2: Ice sheets and sea level dynamics
Both positions employ numerical models and include knowledge of climate dynamics, preferably also experience in ice sheet, sea level or glacier modelling. Key to the success of the projects are close interactions with the social scientists and artists affiliated to the ClimateNarratives project. This includes joint multi-disciplinary project work and workshops throughout the postdoc period.
Applicants must specify clearly which of the positions the application is aimed at. If there are more than one qualified applicant for one of the positions, and no qualified applicants for the other one, UiB will consider employing two fellows within the same research area.
Supervisory team: In addition to the core supervisory team, candidates are encouraged to include a co-supervisor form the ClimateNarratives project with a background from either the arts or social sciences. For further details about the research possibilities and choice of co-supervisors please contact Professor Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu (kerim@uib.no).
International linkages and collaborators: Nataly Gomez (McGill, Canada) on ice sheets, sea level and solid earth interactions, Fiamma Straneo (Scripps, USA) on physical oceanography, field methos and ice-ocean interactions, Camilla Snowman Andresen (GEUS, Denmark) on past variability in Greenland fjords and glaciers, Andreas Hoffmann (Arctic Culture Lab, Greenland) on multidisciplinary artistic research in the Arctic, Torkel Gissel Nielsen (DTU Aqua, Denmark) on Greenland fjord ecosystems, and Patrick Heimbach (University of Texas at Austin, USA) on ocean modeling and inverse methods, as well as colleagues at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji and Cook Islands) and the Oceania Center for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies (Suva, Fiji).
Possibilities for collaboration with other sectors: Candidates are encouraged to study the impacts of climate change and their local narratives in Greenland and in low lying Iceland states in the Pacific. Key partners will be art institutions, local and national governmental representatives, educational institutions (from kindergartens to university,) as well as organizations representing fisherpeople, educators and the elders.
Potential for policy impact: There will be ample opportunities to provide science-based guidance for policy makers and decision makers concerning risks and impacts to marine ecosystems and indigenous communities associated with human driven changes to the Earth system, individual vs. international mitigation measures, legal aspects of ecosystem damage, and the conservation of natural heritage, and food production for a growing world population.
