Summer school increases knowledge of the Baltic Sea Region's future climate

Starting next week, the BONUS research programme will host a summer school, which will bring around 30 young researchers together for an interdisciplinary exchange, which will focus on the Baltic Sea. Researcher Helén Andersson from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) will participate, and will share her knowledge about the Baltic Sea's future climate.

The summer school will allow doctoral students and young researchers to learn more about the Baltic Sea from different perspectives to those of their own research area.

Helén Andersson
Helén Andersson, researcher oceanography, SMHI.

“I'll be sharing my knowledge of climate models and what they can say about the future regional climate – as well as the limitations of climate models,” says Helén Andersson.

“Knowing about oceanography is really important for understanding development within other closely related areas. We need to understand how future climate conditions will alter the Baltic Sea so that we can see how this affects the ecosystems, the sea, and the surrounding areas."

Interdisciplinary network

Around 30 doctoral students and young researchers from around the Baltic Sea region will participate in the summer school. As well as being an important knowledge base, the summer school provides the opportunity for researchers to build their networks and develop their research.

SMHI conducts research within the project financed by the BONUS Programme and is also part of the Baltic Earth research network. The Baltic Earth network links scientists from various disciplines within Baltic Sea research, so that they can develop knowledge of the Baltic Sea’s future together.

“The future’s complicated. It’s often not enough to be good within your own research area – you need to be part of the bigger picture so you can ask the relevant research questions and create new knowledge that can be used by society. This is what we hope these scientists will become better at,” says Helén Andersson.

The summer school will be arranged in Kiel between 5 and 11 July by the BONUS Programme and the three BONUS projects, BIO-C3, BAMBI and INSPIRE.

The annual BIO-C3 project meeting within the BONUS Project will be held in conjunction with the summer school. Researchers from the SMHI participate in the project, which maps the changes to the marine environment and ecosystem that have taken place since the turn of the 20th century, in order to understand the changes that may take place over the next 100 years.