D EPARTMENT OF A RCTIC G EOLOGY

KEY METRICS

No. of Professors 4

No. of Associate Professors 3

No. of Professor II 5.75

No. of Doctoral students: current 4 No. of PhD students graduated 2007-2009 4 No. of MSc Students graduated 2007-2009 15 No. of Postdoctoral Research Fellows 1 No. of Non-tenured Researchers

No. of Technical/Admin. Staff members

Research Groups GRADE

1. Sedimentary Bedrock Geology 2-3 2. Quaternary and Marine Geology 2-3

3. Cryosphere 4

This is a small department with only 7 permanent academic staff members; 6 of whom were appointed in the period 2005-2009. There is a good gender balance amongst the academic staff. More than 50% of the staff are international. Management is very democratic and decisions are made at department level by consensus. UNIS has an excellent sabbatical system which guarantees 3 months leave per year of full-time employment. From 2009-2011 at least 3 staff members will be on sabbatical at collaborating universities in Norway, USA, Canada and Denmark.

The previous review of Earth Sciences in 1998 took place when UNIS was in the early stages of its development. Recommendations at that time about the need for permanent positions, adjunct professorships and the strengthening of glaciology research have all been followed.

The Department consists of three research groups: sedimentary bedrock geology, Quaternary and marine geology, and cryosphere research; these were established in 2006.

Major investments in research infrastructure, particularly logistical support for field research, were made in 2006 when the department moved into the Svalbard Research Park. Significant further investment will be required in the near future. Excellent logistical support is provided by UNIS to support fieldwork; however, skilled technical support for field and laboratory work is lacking. Marine geological research is currently limited by the need to charter external research vessels or to hire instruments to be deployed from the UNIS-owned small fishing trawler.

The Department will contribute to the EU ESFRI research infrastructure projectSvalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System(SIOS) and there are plans to establish an International Centre for Cryosphere Research. Involvement inInternational Polar Year (IPY) projects has provided significant momentum for these initiatives. The Department is also participating in two NordicCentres of Excellenceprojects - SVALI and DEFROST. A number of internationally outstanding field research laboratories have been developed, including the Longyearbyen CO₂storage facility, which are used by all 3 research groups.

Their future development will form part of the SIOS project in collaboration with national and international partners.

Publication and citation rates vary within the different research groups reflecting the stage in their development. The Cryosphere group is very strong, with an above average number of publications in good journals, whereas the other two groups are proportionately weaker.

4.6.1.1 Sedimentary Bedrock

The group currently consists of 2 Professors, 1 Associate Professor, 2.5 Professors II, 0 Postdoctoral fellow and 1 PhD student. 1 PhD student and 5 Masters students have graduated since 2007.

The main research focus of this group is on the High Arctic sedimentary basins including their tectonic setting and mode of formation, fluid flow characteristics and sequence

stratigraphy of the basin fill. The Longyearbyen CO2laboratory is coordinated by this group, facilitated by support from industry (e.g. ConocoPhillips, Statoil) and other research partners (e.g., SINTEF, NGI, IFE, NORSAR). Research activities fall mainly under the headings of structural geology/tectonics and sedimentology/petroleum geology. A high-profile project to excavate complete skeletons of Jurassic marine reptiles has been underway since 2004 in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, Oslo, facilitated by an adjunct professor.

ASSESSMENT& GRADING

This group is still relatively immature and they need to work actively to develop their long-term strategy and vision for the future. Their current range of research projects is rather diverse (ranging from CO₂storage to Mesozoic vertebrate fossils) so that they may not have sufficient critical mass to develop all of these fully. They have a good mix of funding from industry and RCN. There are good national collaborations with the universities of Bergen (CoE CIPR) and Oslo and with the Natural History Museum, Oslo. International

collaboration is growing and important research links exist with the UK, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Sweden and Egypt.

Publication rates are very low with low-average citations. However this may not necessarily be a good performance metric given that staff have not been in their posts for very long.

OVERALLGRADE:2-3 RECOMMENDATIONS

Strategic planning for the future needs to be undertaken on a 5-year cycle with an emphasis on the major research questions to be addressed. This will require strong leadership.

A solid earth geophysicist and a scientific technician are required to support the group.

4.6.1.2 Quaternary and marine geology

The group currently consists of 0 Professors, 2 Associate Professors, 2 Professors II, 0 Postdoctoral fellow and 1 PhD student. 1 PhD student and 1 Masters student have graduated since 2007.

The research interests of this group mainly concern the reconstruction of Quaternary glaciations and Holocene environmental change.

ASSESSMENT& GRADING

This group essentially consists of only two permanent members of staff, who focus on the terrestrial and marine record respectively; they are the most recently established, and

smallest, research group in the department. Considerable progress has been made in planning an impressive range of research projects with collaborators and preparing funding

applications; however, this research is only in its start-up phase and therefore difficult to evaluate.

Publication rates are very low with average citations. Given that the group is small and newly established, the Evaluation Committee does not consider this a particularly relevant

performance metric.

OVERALLGRADE:2-3 RECOMMENDATIONS

This group is very much at the developmental stage and clearly has sub-critical mass with only two permanent academic staff. They are involved in a challenging number of research projects and will need to focus on a sub-set of the most important ones to avoid becoming overwhelmed. They should perhaps emphasise those projects which have a Svalbard focus and plan their collaboration with outside researchers very carefully.

4.6.1.3 Cryosphere

The group currently consists of 2 Professors, 0 Associate Professors, 1.25 Professors II, 1 Postdoctoral fellow and 2 PhD students. 2 PhD students and 9 Masters students have graduated since 2007.

The research interests of this group focus on modern-day High Arctic and High Altitude earth surface processes and their climatic controls.

ASSESSMENT& GRADING

The group is highly productive with a dynamic leader and a long-term strategic vision. They have focused their efforts on fully exploiting the scientific opportunities offered by Svalbard as a field laboratory; this strategy has clearly paid off. They have established a good network of national (Oslo, Tromsø, NGU) and international (UK, Denmark, Spain, Finland, USA, Canada, Poland, Nepal, Japan) research collaborators.

Publication numbers are well above average, though citations are perhaps slightly low.

OVERALLGRADE:4 RECOMMENDATIONS

This group is definitely on a steep upward trajectory towards an internationally leading position in this field of research. They are not limited by their ambition - only by their lack of critical mass. Consideration should be given by UNIS to hiring some new Associate

Professors. A lack of appropriate administrative support for research has made it difficult for them to coordinate EU and other large projects. UNIS needs to address this issue and also the general lack of skilled technical support. UNIS should consider whether there are merits in

having an integrated Department of Arctic Earth Sciences, rather than two smaller

departments of Geology and Geophysics. Such a strategy could provide economies of scale in the provision of administrative and technical support, and improve the critical mass in some groups.