NOTE: SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, like COVID-19, SIT may have to modify programs. Visit the SIT website for more details.
Study climate models, carbon management, and the impact of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and societies and learn about practical adaptations to climate change amidst Iceland’s and Finland’s unique landscapes.
Program Highlights
- Witness the impact of climate change on ecosystems and communities in the Arctic and subarctic, where change is occurring faster — and with greater consequences for the entire globe—than anywhere else on earth.
- Visit glaciers, volcanoes, fjords, geothermal fields, lava flows, black sand beaches, waterfalls, and subarctic cities and villages to see ecological transformation and human adaptation firsthand.
- Spend 10 days in Finland, where you’ll meet climate change experts.
- Conduct fieldwork that introduces you to scientific methods and data collection and complete an original research project that has real-world applications.
- Get insider access to experts who work directly with monitoring, predicting, and planning for impacts of a changing climate.
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
Independent Study
During the final four weeks of the program, you can choose to use the academic knowledge you have acquired to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) on a topic of interest to you. Emphasis is placed on real-world relevance, interdisciplinary perspectives on climate change, and connecting with current research in Iceland. Working independently or in a small group, you will track climate change effects and/or design a method for protecting Arctic climate. You will also build collaborative partnerships with local scientific and indigenous communities to encourage innovation.
Sample topics:
- Thinning of ice sheets and glacier retreat
- Melting permafrost
- Ecosystem carbon sequestration
- Renewable energy
- Arctic air pollution
- Climate change impacts on traditional lifestyles
- Communicating climate science
- Arctic tourism and climate change
- Invasive species proliferation and altered migration patterns caused by climate change
Key Topics of Study
- An overview of Arctic climate, landforms, and ecosystems and how humans interact with them
- The impact of climate change on animal, plant, and human communities in the Arctic and how these communities adjust
- Climate modeling and trends, including a chance to develop your own climate models
- Renewable energy systems
- Carbon management
- Indigenous knowledge of changes in climate
- Communicating climate change and science
- How changes—from potential sea level rise to accessibility to resources previously under ice— will affect the globe
- The consequences of climate change and ideas to solve the problems it creates
- Scientific methods, data collection, and ethics of climate research
Money Matters
Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.
SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:
All educational costs, including educational excursions
- All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
- Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
- Health and accident insurance
Scholarships:
- SIT awards nearly $1.6 million in scholarships and grants annually.
- All scholarships and grants are need-based.
- Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
- The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.
- Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
Contact SIT Study Abroad