PermaIntern Platform Expands with Student Stories, Educational Resources, and Frozen-Ground Cartoons

The PermaIntern website has undergone a major expansion, adding student internship experiences, and a collection of frozen-ground cartoons, videos, a board game and augmented reality app, all in one integrated hub for permafrost training and education.

The platform now showcases nine student experience stories, including internship narratives from the University of Montreal, Sherbrooke University, the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and PermaChile. Each profile includes the student's background, project description, learning outcomes, and reflections on bridging academic theory and professional practice.

"Participating in laboratory work provided me with invaluable hands-on experience, which I will undoubtedly apply in the next stages of my education. says Anna Stasiewicz, who interned at the University of Montreal. "Joining the "PermaIntern" internship program not only allowed me to expand my international network of contacts but also gave me the opportunity to collaborate in an academic environment and contribute to ongoing research."

The global expansion of the internship placements has been accompanied by integration of the PermaIntern website, SEDNA (the Student Education, Development of Professional Skills, and Networking across the Arctic Permafrost Networking Platform), and the Frozen Ground cartoon resources, including the board-game, the augmented reality application, and educational videos. These accessible educational resources were designed to make Arctic geoscience concepts engaging and memorable for students and the public and are being used extensively by faculty around the world in their teaching and outreach activities. By hosting these resources on the PermaIntern website, UArctic is ensuring these valuable resources, available in ten languages, remain accessible to educators and the wider public for years to come.

 Thanks to UArctic networks in Canada and in Denmark, travel funding is still available (until March 2026) to support permafrost internships at the national and international level. The SEDNA program can fund travel and accommodation costs (but no salary) for all interested students. Just reach out!

Supported by Memorial University and the University of the Arctic (UArctic) through the Global Arctic Leadership Initiative - Indigenous and Northern Collaborative Research and Education Fund, the SEDNA project brings together multiple permafrost professionals, research centers and groups, as well as governmental agencies and companies with the mission to provide opportunities for real-world experiences of professional work on permafrost. Building on previous work conducted across the Nordic region (PermaIntern 2022-2024), the SEDNA Permafrost Networking Platform integrates partners from Canada, including Northern/Indigenous community members.

Both projects are part of the activities of the UArctic Thematic Network on Permafrost.

The Frozen Ground Cartoons project received support from the International Permafrost Association (IPA) as a targeted ‘Action Group’, and subsequently received support from six additional sponsors, including Horizon 2020 funding through the Nunataryuk grant No. 773421.

Photo caption: Anna Stasiewicz modelling the impact of rainfall on the occurrence of active layer detachment slides on laboratory samples replicating permafrost in a cold chamber at the University of Montréal.