By Imke Smit, PhD Student at the University of Pretoria My experience as a PhD student from South Africa visiting the BTF lab. When I started my PhD in 2025, I was elated to hear that there is funding available for me to go on a research visit to the BTF lab. The day finally READ MORE
Category: Blog
Attending EGU26 in Vienna: My First Scientific Conference
Hi! I’m Anna, a master’s student in the BTF group. I will be writing my master’s thesis on interaction of global change drivers on carbon dynamics in Afromontane grasslands, with Aud Halbritter as my main supervisor. In May (3–8 May), I had the opportunity to attend the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU) in READ MORE
Fieldwork in the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa
Hello! I’m Anna, a master’s student in the BTF research group. I’m currently writing my master’s thesis as part of the NatuRA project, which has established an experiment at 2000, 2500 and 3000 m above sea level in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. In January, during Norway’s shortest and coldest days, me and two of READ MORE
Intern blog: Chasing blueberries above the Arctic Circle
By Vendula Špačková, Applied Ecology student, CZU Prague I am a Bachelor student of Applied Ecology at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. As part of my studies, I wanted to complete an internship abroad and actively searched for opportunities that would combine ecology, fieldwork, and international experience. After applying and successfully passing READ MORE
Fieldwork for the DURIN project – from north to south, east to west
By Mika Kirkhus In September 2025 Jeanne, Sonya, Léo, Vendy, Kristine, Elias, Inge, and Mika of the Between the Fjords research group carried out one of its final field campaigns for the DURIN project. DURIN aims to understand how dwarf shrubs in boreal, alpine, and arctic ecosystems respond to a changing climate. To study this, READ MORE
Vigdis Vandvik to be Coordinating Lead Author on next IPCC report
After her role as coordinating lead author for the IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment, Vigdis Vandvik will now contribute to the upcoming seventh IPCC report and be co-responsible for a chapter on how climate change affects biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services on land and in freshwater. The Coordinating Lead Authorship will be shared with Denis J. READ MORE
Field season 2025: it’s (almost) a wrap!
Whilst most of Norway calms down when the summer approaches; in our discipline of field ecology the months of June, July and August are the highlight of the action. This summer has seen yet again a great amount of project planning, data collection, identifying sedges without flowers, cooking leaves, and hiking across Bergen municipality. For project READ MORE
Fieldwork blog: My trip around Norway
Picture from front left to right: Kristine Birkeli, Viljar Storvik, Vendula Spackova, Elias Skaslien Hi! I’m Elias Eide Skaslien, and I am a master’s student in Between the Fjords. For my master’s project I have been travelling with Kristine Birkeli and Durin around Norway to investigate diurnal fluxes in different macro- and microclimates in Norwegian READ MORE
New PhD student: Hanif Kawousi
Hello! My name is Hanif Kawousi. I’ve lived in Bergen for the past seven years, the last five with my wife and dog. Some of you may recognise me from classes or the hallways, as I recently graduated from BIO. I am excited to extend my journey at BIO as a PhD student with the READ MORE
A Tool Box for Early Career Researchers going to big conferences
By Joseph Gaudard The European Geosciences Union Annual Meeting is a major conference in natural science, and a good place to present “almost finished work”. It is also a terrifying event, with about 20’000 participants on site. In 2024, I was a first time attendee going there alone. It was a lonely week of READ MORE