Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)
The Antarctic region is a unique “planetary laboratory” for the study of fundamental changes in the environment, the consequences of which affect the course of processes in other regions of the planet.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) was created in 1958 as an interdisciplinary committee of the International Scientific Council.
The committee initiates, develops and coordinates high-quality international scientific research in the Antarctic (including the Southern Ocean). SCAR’s mission is to deepen scientific knowledge about the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. In addition, SCAR provides science-based recommendations to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other international organizations on the management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean on the basis of balanced sustainable development.
A significant part of SCAR research is carried out within the framework of complex research programs, the implementation of which cannot be ensured by the efforts of one country, a scientific team, or even more so by individual scientists. The implementation of such programs is coordinated by SCAR’s subsidiary bodies – permanent scientific groups, expert groups, initiative groups, advisory standing committees and scientific groups funded jointly with other interested organizations.
SCAR’s Science Groups are responsible for:
- sharing information on disciplinary scientific research being conducted by national Antarctic programmes;
- identifying research areas or fields where current research is lacking;
- coordinating proposals for future research by national Antarctic programmes to achieve maximum scientific and logistic effectiveness;
- identifying research areas or fields that might be best investigated by a SCAR Scientific Research Programme and establishing Scientific Programme Planning Groups to develop formal proposals to the Executive Committee;
- establishing action and expert groups to address specific research topics within the discipline.
Currently, SCAR has three permanent scientific groups – Earth Sciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences. Within these groups, more than 30 scientific teams are involved, which focus on various aspects of Antarctic research.
Ukraine's membership in SCAR
In 1994 Ukraine became an associate member of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research. Since 1996, as an independent country, it has been conducting systematic research in the Antarctic at the “Akademik Vernadsky” station. Thanks to active scientific activity on the icy continent, Ukraine was able to become a full member of SCAR in 2006.
In reports to SCAR, Ukraine presents key results from the following areas of research: geological-geophysical, hydrometeorological, geospatial, biological, medical-physiological, oceanographic, as well as processed results of the National Antarctic Data Center.
Thanks to membership in SCAR, Ukrainian scientists have the opportunity to participate in the committee’s annual grant and scholarship competitions.
For example, every year SCAR awards several (no more than 5) scholarships for young scientists who are engaged in the most relevant and promising research, but need resources that can be obtained only through international collaboration.
Until now SCAR scholars from Ukraine have become:
Visiting Scholars
1. Samchyshyna Larysa, leading researcher of the scientific and organizational department of NASC
2. Andrii Fedchuk, Head of International Scientific & Technical Cooperation Department of NASC
Fellowship
1. Pavlovska Mariia, junior researcher of the Department of Biology and Ecology of NASC
2. Prekrasna-Kviatkovska Yevheniia, senior research fellow of the Department of Biology and Ecology of NASC
3. Yevchun Hanna, junior researcher of the Department of Biology and Ecology of NASC