Center for Educational Excellence
In December 2019, iEarth achieved the status of a Center for Outstanding Education (SFU) (external link), and in the years to come will push the boundaries of geoscience education in the country. iEarth has its own website, which can be found here iEarth.no (external link)
iEarth is a national consortium with the goal of revolutionizing geoscience education in Norway. Through student-active and learning-based practice, the next generation of geoscientists will be educated to meet the societal challenges we face today and in the future. The center includes the Department of Geosciences at UiB, the Department of Geosciences at UiO, the Department of Geosciences at UiT and the Department of Arctic Geology at UNIS, which together achieved the title of Center for Outstanding Education in 2019.
GEO is/has been affiliated with four Centres of Excellence:
- Bjerknes Centre (external link) (2003-2012)
- CIPR - Centre for integrated petroleum research (2003-2012)
- Centre for geobiology (2008-2017)
- Centre for early sapiens behaviour ((2017-2027)
New centers originating from our former SFF centers
After the SFF period was over for the Center for Geobiology, a new center was officially opened on May 29, 2017-2021: the K. G. Jebsen Center for Deep Sea Research. The center will take a leading role internationally in exploring the depths of the ocean. The K. G. Jebsen Center for Deep Sea Research (external link) was founded in 2017 as a result of a generous contribution from the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Foundation. In 2021, the Center for Deep Sea Research was founded as a result of a generous contribution from the Trond Mohn Foundation (external link). The center builds on the expertise of the former Center for Excellence in Geobiology (2007-2017) and the subsequent K. G. Jebsen Center for Deep Sea Research (2017-2021)
In his opening speech, Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen emphasized that the research and new knowledge from the center will be important for Norway and the world in the future, by providing scientific insight into processes and the environment in the deep sea, and added that:
The opportunities that the ocean holds also pose some challenging questions for us: Can we create even more from the ocean, and in a new way? And what do we need to take special care of? Knowledge is the foundation of the sustainable management we need. The future growth we will have in this country, the blue growth, is dependent on good environmental conditions and rich natural diversity, even where we do not even know the diversity. And research and knowledge development play a central role in this.
Before the SFF period expired for the Bjerknes Centre, 20 million kroner was allocated from the state budget in 2010 to establish a climate research centre in Bergen. This ensured a continuation of the research and expertise that had been built up through the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. Bergen became the climate research capital in 2010. The centre is organised at the University of Bergen, with the Nansen Centre, the Institute of Marine Research and NORCE as partners. The centre is secured long-term funding for 12 years.
SapienCE - Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SFF)
Researchers at GEO are from 2017 partners in SapienCE - Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (external link) a Centre for Excellence (SFF) headquartered at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural and Religious Studies (AHKR) at the University of Bergen (UiB). With GEO and the Department of Social Psychology and the Department of Biological and Medical Psychology as partners at UiB, in addition to foreign partners in the UK, France, Germany and South Africa.
The centre's goal is to consolidate UiB and Norway's position as world leaders in research on the origins of early humans.
GEO is a partner in the following centers:
Centre for Deep sea Reserach (2021->)
Centre for Mountains in Transition (2026->)