About BERA
Logistics and Research Centre on Svalbard “BERA” is a new infrastructure established in 2024. The name of the Centre – ‘BERA’- was chosen intentionally and is from the Old Norse language, which means female polar bear. BERA Centre was established to support Arctic science and research activities based on the organisation and logistics in Svalbard’s “capital” – Longyearbyen, where the Centre’s facility is located.
The BERA Centre is intended to benefit the entire international scientific community. The collaboration will include unification and synchronisation of long-term monitoring of the cryosphere and terrestrial and marine environments at Polish and Norwegian research centres on Svalbard as a backdrop for ongoing and future specific research projects on Arctic environment components. A better combination of ongoing and future research will provide more valuable data sets and coordinated results for the scientific community.
Increasing scientific activity in Svalbard and improving the quality of operations are active goals of Polish scientists, streamlined by the activities of the new infrastructure and logistical facilities of the BERA Centre. The Centre will save money by centralising and streamlining logistics and cargo storage (reducing the annual import and export of research equipment), minimising environmental damage, including carbon dioxide emissions and pollution. Develop international cooperation, especially with Norwegian partners, allowing new research horizons to be opened. An essential part of this infrastructure is also the cooperation with doctoral schools and the education and development of young researchers. The BERA Centre’s activities support Polish and international research entities, resulting in increased visibility and prestige for Poland in the international arena and promoting science diplomacy in the Arctic.
The main objectives
The main objectives of the BERA Centre are focused on operational aspects:
- supporting cargo transport logistics from Poland to Svalbard and back
- logistics, cargo storage, and access to workshop facilities in Longyearbyen
- supporting education and networking by providing a workspace for organising workshops and meetings
- cooperation in environmental monitoring, field research activities, and offering access to research infrastructure and equipment.
As a result of long-standing efforts by the Polish polar community to standardise logistical and scientific research activities performed in the Arctic, which were the main priorities indicated in the Strategy for Polish Polar Research – a concept for the years 2017–2027 and Polish Polar Research: Green-and-White Paper under the aegis of the Polish Polar Consortium was the establishment of a logistic and management centre in Longyearbyen to supporting polish polar scientific expeditions, and support the other Polish facilities like the field research bases on Spitsbergen. In 2024, there was a crucial step: the seven Polish scientific Institutions signed a Cooperation Agreement within the Centre for Polar Studies unit for a Logistics and Research Centre BERA on Svalbard.
Founding institutions
The Agreement was signed by:
- University of Silesia in Katowice,
- Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw,
- Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot,
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań,
- Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin,
- Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń,
- University of Wrocław.
All partners are co-funding the BERA Center’s activities to support its continuation in the coming years.
The Board of the BERA Logistics and Science Centre on Svalbard
Head of BERA
Dariusz Ignatiuk
- Centre for Polar Studies,
The University of Silesia in Katowice - Email: dariusz.ignatiuk(at)us.edu.pl
- Phone: (+48) 32 3689 281
Dariusz has been working as an assistant professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice since 2013. From 2012 to 2013, he was the Head of the XXXV Polar Expedition of the Institute of Geophysics PAN at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund in Spitsbergen; from 2014 to 2019, he was Head of the Centre for Polar Studies Office (CSP); from 2024, he is a President of the CSP, from 2019 to 2021 he was a Scientific Integration and Data Officer in Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS). Since 2024, he has been President of the Polish Polar Consortium and Board member (vice-chair) of the Svalbard International Consortium. He is also the Polish representative in the IASC Cryosphere Working Group co-coordinator of Research Priority Team 7: Technology, Infrastructure, Logistics, and Services in the ICARP IV 2022-2026 process (The 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning).
As a scientist – a geophysicist by profession, author and co-author of 26 publications in peer-reviewed journals, popular science publications, reports and chapters in books and monographs. Manager and implementer of over ten projects in the last 5 years (NCN, Research Council of Norway, EU Horizon, Polish-Norwegian Grants). Leader and member of more than 20 scientific expeditions of the University of Silesia to Svalbard.
As Head of the BERA Centre, he is responsible for fundraising and developing the infrastructure, the extension of national and international cooperation, and aspects of polar diplomacy, supervising the structuring of organisational, financial and administrative issues in collaboration with the BERA Centre Manager.
The Partners of the entities delegate one of their representatives to the Board of the BERA Team.
Mateusz Moskalik
The Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Sławomir Terpiłowski
The Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin
Wojciech Moskal
The Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot
Ireneusz Sobota
The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Krzysztof Rymer
The Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Mateusz Strzelecki
The University of Wrocław
About Staff
Manager of BERA
Katarzyna Stachniak
- Centre for Polar Studies,
The University of Silesia in Katowice - Email: katarzyna.stachniak(at)us.edu.pl
- Phone: (+48) 513 350 370
Katarzyna has been working in research units since 2018 when she graduated with a degree in earth and environmental sciences. From 2018 to 2019, she was a specialist meteorologist and participant in the year-long Polar Expedition of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences in the Polish Polar Station in Hornsund. In 2019 – 2022, she was a Communication Manager of the international project DEEPWATER-CE Interreg Central Europe within the framework of the UŚ partnership. From 2019 to 2020, she worked as administrative support at the Centre for Polar Studies Office until she started her doctoral studies in the same unit. Since 2015, she has contributed to seasonal polar expeditions, including five UŚ expeditions, independently organising one of them as Project Manager of the NCN Project Preludium (2023 – 2025), of which she is a leader; she also collaborated with two expeditions of the Maria Curie Skłodowska University, learning how to organise polar expeditions at the field station. A fast-developing experience of the polar world significantly influenced her experience of organisation and logistics of ongoing research and fieldwork in the Arctic.
As a scientist, geographer, and hydrologist, spec. in polar and mountain areas, she has continued her education at the International Environmental Doctoral School since 2020 by publishing research results, undertaking international scientific internships and taking an active part as a participant in NCN, NCBiR and Polish-Norwegian Grants projects.
As BERA’s Centre Manager, she is responsible for the administrative issues, organisation, logistics, and promotion of BERA’s infrastructure.
Board’s responsibilities
The BERA’s Centre Board responsibilities include:
- define the strategic direction of the BERA’s Centre activities,
- approve how the BERA’s Center is used and operated,
- define action programs, approve the goals of joint projects and evaluate the level of their implementation,
- review and approve the annual budget and make any necessary changes to it,
- approve the implementation reports submitted to the Center for Polar Studies President and the units’ authorities.
Find us here
Main building of BERA Centre
Adventpynten, Hotellneset
cadastral no. 22/531, 9170 Longyearbyen
(out-of-town area near the airport and coal port)
Storage facility in the city centre
Old wooden building used as a warehouse in the centre of Longyearbyen (78°13’27.3″N 15°37’40.5″E)
Send us a message!
Administrative Office of BERA Logistics and research Centre on Svalbard
DARIUSZ IGNATIUK
Katarzyna Stachniak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
