What is IAI?
The International Antarctic Institute (IAI) is an international, multi-campus program in cryosphere science education. This institute was first proposed by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and now the IAI has partners from nine countries, including Japan. Within the IAI, many academic institutes offer courses in cryosphere sciences.
The field of cryosphere science is very broad, including mountain glaciers, polar ice sheets, sea ice, physical properties of snow and ice, permafrost, and more. It is therefore difficult for a course in only one institute or one country to cover the whole field. It is important to bring together many international academic institutes. The various institutes can cooperate to cover the entire field while each international academic institute can consolidate its efforts and focus on specific aspects of cryosphere science education. With this underlying principle, the IAI aims to provide an educational program with a high level of international cooperation.
The Graduate School of Environmental Science at Hokkaido University started an international educational curriculum as a partner of the IAI project. The IAI project provides an international standard educational program in connection with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and the University of Tasmania (UTAS), and also with Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.
News (2024/10/01 Update)
With lecturers from Switzerland, Germany, and the United States,
The Special Lecture on Antarctic Studies II was held from September 12 to 27.
The course was offered as a Hokkaido Summer Institute course,
Seventeen graduate students, including some from overseas universities, participated in it.
They learned the basics and state-of-the-art of Antarctic and polar science.
The Glacier Field Course in the Swiss Alps was held from August 24 to September 7.
In addition to four days of field observations on Rhone Glacier,
eight graduate students engaged in glacier tours in various locations, and lectures at Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.
