Royal scholarship awarded to polar researcher Lisa Winberg von Friesen
Lisa Winberg von Friesen, postdoctoral researcher in ecology at Linnaeus University, has been awarded a scholarship of SEK 100 000 from King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50th Jubilee Fund for Science, Technology and Environment. The scholarship will fund a research trip to the Arctic and collaboration with leading international researchers on marine biodiversity.
The scholarship was presented on Thursday 12 June at a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. A total of 16 young, promising researchers each received a scholarship, aimed at promoting research, technological development, and entrepreneurship with a focus on the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of biodiversity.
“Being awarded this scholarship is a great honour! It’s fantastic that there’s support for us younger researchers – it gives us hope that we can continue working in Swedish research. And of course, getting to visit the Royal Palace to receive the scholarship from the king himself in such a ceremonial setting was really special”, says Lisa.
Exploring the link between ocean and climate
Lisa’s work focuses on understanding the connections between the biodiversity of ocean microorganisms, the functioning of marine ecosystems, and the Earth’s climate. Microorganisms such as bacteria and algae play a crucial role in how the ocean works. Among other things, they regulate nutrient levels and influence how much carbon dioxide can be absorbed from the atmosphere. More specifically, Lisa studies the smallest phytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean.
“This scholarship gives me the opportunity to continue developing as a researcher. It will help fund part of an expedition to the Arctic Ocean this autumn, where I’ll be joining the German icebreaker RV Polarstern. With the support of the grant, I’ll be able to collect samples which I’ll then analyse in Canada together with new research partners. It means I’ll get to learn new techniques that could later become an important foundation for building my research career”, she explains.
Expedition to key regions
The expedition will head to two areas north of Greenland that are very rarely visited: the Lincoln Sea and the Wandel Sea. These regions are important for understanding the Arctic ecosystem, as they contain the oldest remaining sea ice.
“We’ll also be entering several large fjords where the Greenland ice sheet meets the sea, to understand how the increasing melt is affecting the ocean.”
Lisa will be studying the smallest group of algae, known as picophytoplankton. They are less than three micrometres in size and are very common in the Arctic region.
“I’m going to try to find out what role picophytoplankton play in the carbon cycle by measuring how much carbon they fix through photosynthesis, how many of them sink, and which organisms use picophytoplankton as a food source” says Lisa.
More information
Read more about the King Carl XVI Gustaf 50th Jubilee Fund for Science, Technology and Environment on the Royal Court’s website.
Read more about Linnaeus University’s research on ecological and evolutionary interactions from land to sea on the page for the Linnaeus University Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial model Systems (EEMiS).
Photo credit: Karin Boo.