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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Plastic pollution; global sources causing consequences for the Arctic, Towards international state-of-the-art understanding and education

Alternative title: Plast forurensing; globale kilder har konsekvenser for Arktiske strøk, mot internasjonal forståelse og utdanning

Awarded: NOK 10.0 mill.

We find marine plastic waste everywhere, but there are still large knowledge gaps about geographical distribution and sources, as well as effects on the ecosystem and which methods work best to identify and count plastic pollution. The Arctic Ocean and adjacent sea areas are well connected to the Fram Strait and the Bering Strait, which increase the problem of marine plastic pollution in the Arctic. In order to understand the distribution and find solutions to reduce plastic pollution in the Arctic, knowledge of local sources in the Arctic is just as important as an understanding of the transport routes from densely populated areas further south. By collaborating with Chinese and American research groups, we will also be able to better understand global plastic emissions as well as share state-of-the-art methodology with the countries. The development of master's courses, field trips and seminars in all countries involved will contribute to a harmonized knowledge transfer and form strong ties between the research groups. With a lack of data on sources, emission sizes and exposures throughout the marine ecosystem, there are still many unanswered questions. However, some crucial groundwork has been done in the JPI Ocean projects FACTS and ANDROMEDA, which collaborate closely with PlastPoll2021. We use this knowledge in both teaching and practical training of students and young researchers, while at the same time developing and improving the methodologies for use in Arctic regions. We do this by arranging both winter and summer schools in China and in Norway, exchange of students, field trips, etc. We also contribute to scientific publications and international conferences to share our findings with other research groups.

Being a fast developing field of research of increasing complexity, education and training on the impact and fate of MP pollution is lacking behind both in teaching state-of-the art research as well as methodology. After 2 years of the first phase project PlastPoll, this objective has become even more crucial, acting on the increase of available methodology and understanding of the impacts of nano- and microplastic pollution, as a global challenge impacting even remote and fragile regions as the Arctic. An overall goal is to train students in combining theoretical, experimental and field approaches for an excellent and sound scientific understanding of relevant processes and observations while at the same time contributing to the understanding of the fate and impact of MPs in the environment by developing this still young field of research on a global scale together. An invaluable added value to the underlying JPI projects ANDROMEDA and FACTS will result in the evolution of the scope from temperate regions to arctic and high arctic regions. The continuation the successfully established collaboration between Norway, China and USA will support the strong interaction between not only the supervisors, but also the students themselves will be both encouraged and facilitated by exchange visits, webinars and winter-/ summer schools including from the ANDROMEDA and FACTS consortia. We will additionally offer master student projects in all three locations, which will create additional opportunities for students to participate in specific parts of this project. At the same time, the exchange of experts will ensure the direct transfer of recent knowledge, leading on arctic research of MP in the environment. The unique combination of participating research institutions (NILU, NPI) and universities (UiT, UCSF, TU) is complementary in scientific quality, academic programs, experience and qualification.

Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research