bioCEED UNIS - Centre of Excellence in Biology Education

Are you a bachelor student at UNIS and would like to gain some more practical experience in the field of biology on Svalbard? Then have a look at our UNISprout platform, where students can gain practical training within 40 hours. For more information on available projects, visit UNISprout at http://unisprout.w.uib.no or contact Sil Schuuring ([email protected]) and Tina Dahl ([email protected]).

*** UPDATE UNISbreakfast ***
Due to the current covid situation and so many sick among us we will postpone UNISbreakfast (usually planned monday 21st of feb).
We will keep you updated upon a new date as soon as we have more information.
Stay happy and healthy!!!
Your bioCEED and iEarth student representatives

Fieldwork without getting cold feet - UNIS By introducing virtual field guides, the Arctic Biology Department at UNIS is trying increase learning outcome from fieldwork. By using elements of virtual reality technology they reduce the gap between theory and reality. Thus, they enable both better preparation of fieldwork and possibilities for....

Dear science and buns enthusiasts!

On Monday, the 21st of February, 11-12. am, we host a unisBREAKFAST in Møysalen during lunchtime.
Free sandwiches and cinnamon buns are served to all participants while learning about ongoing research in the Arctic Biology and Arctic Geophysics department at UNIS. Two PhD students present their recent projects:

Samantha Paige Dwinnell on
Spatial ecology of Svalbard reindeer

Daniel Kramer on
How software and technology is blurring the line between virtual and reality

Please reply to the FB event (https://www.facebook.com/events/4935353816544010 ) and sign up on the following link if you would like to attend.
https://doodle.com/poll/hh58agxcr8b2a2y9?utm_source=poll...

We look forward to see you all there,
Your bioCEED and iEarth representatives

bioCEED and iEarth would like to invite to a lunch seminar on Wednesday 15th of December with Aga Nowak on Tips and tricks on how to get your course match your students.

Aga will share her approach to preparing and executing courses while making sure the level is appropriate for all students in the group. She will show examples of how to involve students in coursework and make them aware of their learning base. The talk will have 3 parts:

What to do:

1. before the course starts

2. while the course lasts - value of mid-course assessment and discussion-based teaching

3. when the course ends

Based on this presentation we will have a short discussion/exchange of ideas at the end of the seminar.



Aga Nowak is an environmental scientist and an adjunct associate professor in Arctic hydrology in the Dept. of Arctic Geology at UNIS. She has been creating, leading, and executing courses at UNIS, HVL and University of Sheffield for over twelve years now.

Where: Kapp Mitra and Webex. Aga will held this presentation from Tromsø but for those of you who would like a social lunch seminar we will meet in Kapp Mitra.

When: 15. December 12:00-12:45

Please bring your lunch and your mug! There will be coffee/tea and some sweet served, so let me know if you are physically coming to Kapp Mitra.

Welcome!

On the behalf of the bioCEED and iEarth teams

Today’s breakfast: Macro zooplankton and solar protons on waffles | bioCEED news Today’s breakfast: Macro zooplankton and solar protons on waffles In the morning of 9th of November, 49 UNIS students gathered in Møysalen to participate in this autumn’s unisBREAKFAST. Provided with sandwiches, waffles, and fruits, we were given two engaging talks from PhD students of the Arct...

Check out the UNIS news 🧐

SCOPE 2021: First student-led conference at UNIS - UNIS In October, the first student-led conference on polar environment, SCOPE was held at UNIS. The organisers are satisfied with the outcome and will pass on the experiences to future students.

SCOPE 2021 – the 1st Student-led Conference on Polar Environment was a full success!

On the 15th of October, SCOPE – the 1st Student-led Conference on Polar Environment took place for the very first time at the University Centre in Svalbard.
In total, 65 persons participated in the physical event and 87 persons watched the online stream. Among the participants were 6 students from the local Folkehøgskole. There were 20 presentations from Bachelor, Master and PhD students covering all spheres of Svalbard.

Check out the bioCEED Newsletter:
https://bioceednews.w.uib.no/2021/10/25/scope-2021-the-1st-student-led-conference-on-polar-environment-was-a-full-success/

From Tuesday, October 5th to Thursday, October 7th, the eighth UNIS Learning Forum took place with 95 participants (80 on-site and 15 online) from all departments, as well as a group of 10 students. bioCEED was well represented during the Learning Forum, with several staff and students travelling from Bergen to attend the forum and join internal bioCEED meetings.

The bioCEED team from UiB brought a portable Escape room. The 10 participating students were divided into groups and had 30 minutes to solve the “scientific Escape room”. All the teams succeeded and learned how diverse working in a group can be, and what the most important factors are, indicating a good group work.
The second workshop was held by Maria Philippa Rossi, information adviser at UNIS. She gave an interesting talk about how to make science accessible and interesting for non-scientific people.

This year, not only the local student representatives from bioCEED and iEarth were invited, but also the representatives from Bergen. It was a great experience for students to exchange thoughts and ideas and talk about future collaborations.

The poster session was a nice experience with 11 posters presented by staff, students and bioCEEDsters from UiB. It gave the opportunity for presenters to tell the audience about their educational research, small SoTL projects as well as advertising for student led projects on teaching and learning. The session was organised with small groups travelling between the different posters. Each poster presenter had then 3 minutes to give a short presentation, thus allowing all participants to hear about all the different ongoing projects.

The participation from bioCEED added a large input to this year programme with 8 posters, 3 workshops, and 2 sharing sessions, as well as participation in a panel debate.

Read more about the Learning Forum 2021 at https://bioceednews.w.uib.no/2021/10/22/about-assessment-and-the-development-of-teaching-learning-forum-2021/

New faces in the bioCEED UNIS family!
Welcome Marlena Wegner and Samira Terzenbach, the new bioCEED student representatives at UNIS during the fall semester.

New faces in the bioCEED UNIS family! | bioCEED news New faces in the bioCEED UNIS family! Marlena Wegner and Samira Terzenbach are the new bioCEED student representatives at UNIS during the fall semester. Marlena Abril Wegner is currently a bachelor’s degree student in Biology. Her home university is the Freie Universität in Berlin. Since July, sh...

Dear Bachelor, Master and PhD students,
Dear mingle-appreciators and collaboration-enthusiasts,

SCOPE – the student-led conference on polar environment, arranged by bioCEED and hosted at the Svalbard Science Centre (UNIS), will take place in only a few weeks from now, on 15th October.

From today and until the 10th October, you will be able to register HERE (https://scope-conference.weebly.com/registration.html) as a participant to the conference.

Our team has worked for the past year to shape this year's conference for our student community on Svalbard and are excited to finally welcome you in person to this event. We are glad that we can have the real feel of a conference this year after discussing the necessary health and safety measurements with the UNIS administration. You will be able to interact with the other participants, keynote speakers and presenters at the physical conference and ask your questions directly during the sessions.

The conference will be from 9 am to 17 pm. Coffee, snacks and lunch will be served. In the evening, we will have a Friday Gathering with food and beverages around the fireplace in the UNIS cantina.
For students currently not on Svalbard, not able to enjoy SCOPE in person, we will provide a streaming option to follow the contributions online. A link will be made available for that.

You can find more information on SCOPE, the program, and the registration on our fresh and newly launched website:
https://scope-conference.weebly.com/

We are amazed by the many contributions that have reached us over the past weeks. With all your effort, we are able to fill a conference day with inspiring talks and discussions surrounding the Arctic and environmental processes therein. Please note that the deadline for contributions was yesterday and we cannot register new speakers / presenters at this year’s SCOPE.
We are looking forward to all the contributions and our first SCOPE event hosted at UNIS. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend!
Your SCOPE steering committee 😊

SCOPE is arranged by bioCEED and kindly supported by UNIS Svalbard and APECS Norway