On 6 and 7 October 2022, SCOPE took place for the second time at the University of Svalbard. This year SCOPE was a 2-day long conference within total 75 people participating. SCOPE is a conference organized for students by students, which makes it a very low-pressure environment. There were various presentations about marine biology, space physics, Arctic technology, science communication and geology. We also had a presentation from Svalbard Folkehøgskole sharing their findings of their project Thrash busters – Where does beach-rubbish in Isfjorden come from? We got very positive reactions from the students and the teacher; they would like to participate every year.
New this year was the poster session, the conference dinner and on Friday the Pecha Kucha night. During the breaks and poster session students got the time to talk, discuss and meet new people, which many students appreciated. SCOPE ended with a Pecha Kucha and quiz night, we opened the doors of the University Centre in Svalbard for locals and all other students to join this. The Pecha Kucha consisted out of short talks from 5 PhD students in which we learned about their research. We had to pay attention because this is what the quiz was about. People were enthusiastic and eager to win the quiz, it was a great way to end SCOPE 2022.
Happy, proud, inspired and cosy that is how we as organizers would describe SCOPE. We are happy and proud that the second edition of SCOPE went so well, with no experience in organizing an event this big. It went amazing. We got inspired by all the different talks that were given by the students and key-note speakers and are happy we could provide such a diverse program this year. Presentations were longer than last year with more room for questions and discussion, this was sometimes not enough time showing the engagement of students in each other's projects. Cosy and laid back that is how students described SCOPE this year. This would not have been possible without the people that supported the SCOPE team this year. We would like to thank bioCEED - Centre for Excellence in Biology Education and iEarth that funded the conference, Svalbox that sponsored the participation fee for students, as well as APECS Norway that sponsored the award for the best presentation and posters. Without their help, support and sponsoring SCOPE would not have been possible!
