INTPART prosjektet AKMA (Avansert Kunnskap om Metan i Arktis) har som hovedformål å utvikle og etablere tverrfaglig utdanning og forskning med fokus på Arktiske metankilder. AKMA skal utdanne framtidige eksperter i Arktisk marin forskning spesielt knyttet til klimagass problematikk.
Utdanning og forskning i prosjektet er basert på et samarbeid mellom Senter for fremragende forskning CAGE (Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate) ved UiT Norges Arktiske Universitet, Tromsø, Norge og Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Massachusetts, USA. I samarbeidet inngår vitenskapelig og teknisk utveksling mellom partnere og utvikling av nye studietilbud på Master/PhD nivå i Arktisk geokjemi inkludert utdanningstokt i Arktis.
AKMA skal gi grunnlag for langsiktige samarbeidsrelasjoner mellom de involverte institusjonene og etablering av nye permanente studietilbud ved UiT Norges Arktiske Universitet.
The INTPART AKMA (Advancing Knowledge on Methane in the Arctic) project will support education and research collaboration between the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE), at the Department of Geosciences, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. With a teaching oceanographic cruise and an intensive course, we will engage graduate students from Norway, USA and other countries in exploring science questions related to Arctic Ocean microbe communities related to the release of the greenhouse gas methane from the seafloor. Established students will participate in a two-weeks teaching cruise when they will receive instruction during transit to the sampling sites, and be active members of the scientific party, being involved in data collection and all other activities at sea. Also, AKMA will develop an intensive two-week course centered on Arctic cold-adapted microorganisms, the global methane cycle, and oceanographic processes to give a different set of students in depth knowledge about theory and methodology. To sustain this effort beyond the duration of the project, we assure that the course will continue at both MSc and PhD levels beyond 2022 and be included in the UiT course catalogues, offered every second year. This application is affiliated with CAGE (http://cage.uit.no), a SFF Centre of Excellence, conducting world-class research in the Norwegian Arctic, primarily in the field of gas hydrate and affiliated studies. The INTPART program will leverage involvement of CAGE partners, such as researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway.