President , 2017 – 2018

Background

I have a Master’s in Climate Science & Policy from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University, New Delhi and Bachelors in Biological Sciences from the University of Delhi (India).  A summer internship and Master’s dissertation at National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa on the study of organic carbon and dust in Antarctic snow sparked my interest in the field of polar sciences. Further, I was selected as a student researcher for the 33^rd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica to study the biogeochemistry of blue ice and cryoconite holes, in which I spent 4 months in Antarctica carrying out field work and collecting samples (Dec 2013 – April 2014). Needless to say, I fell in love with the polar regions! Thus I decided to pursue a PhD in polar research!

Current Research

I am now in my 3^rd year of PhD at the University of Sheffield (Dept of Geography), funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship. I spent a good part of last summer in Svalbard (4 months) carrying out my field work on the seasonal ecology of snow and also attended 2 amazing courses at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). Contrary to popular belief, snow and ice ecosystems are teeming with microbial life and have an extremely important role to play in the Earth’s climate system. I am having an amazing time studying these pristine environments and through UKPN, I would really like to share my enthusiasm and excitement for polar research! In addition, I was also an APECS Council member from 2013-17 and the Vice-President at IPRN (Indian Polar Research Network, 2014-16). I also represent UKPN on the Antarctic Science Ltd and UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnership Committees (2017-18).

 

Contacts

Email: archana.dayal@polarnetwork.org

Twitter: @snowecology

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/archana-dayal-68ba93b7