About SITES
SITES (Swedish Infrastructure for Ecosystem Science) is a national infrastructure for terrestrial and limnological field research. SITES aims to promote high-quality research through long-term field measurements and field experiments, and by making data available.
The core of SITES is nine field research stations that represent a variety of Swedish climate zones and ecosystems, including agricultural land, forests, wetlands, lakes and streams. The purpose of SITES is to offer researchers, regardless of institution, well-functioning and infrastructures for field research. SITES also runs several long-term data collection programmes that provide researchers with contextual data.
The collaboration is regulated by a consortium agreement between the principals. SITES is governed by an independent steering group and the daily work is led by a scientifically well merited director.
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SITES Background and Formation
The Council for Research Infrastructures (RFI) at the Swedish Research Council published a report on the current state of research stations and other field-based infrastructure for ecological and environmental research in terrestrial and freshwater environments in 2012.
The report showed that there was a large number of stations with the potential to serve as a national resource for research. Based on the report RFI decided to allocate funds for a national infrastructure of field-based research facilities and research stations for terrestrial and freshwater ecology and environmental research. A call was made in 2012 in which universities and other research organizations were to nominate stations to be included in the infrastructure. The nominations were reviewed by a panel of international experts, who gave recommendations on which stations qualified to be part of the collaboration and how the infrastructure should be developed.
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Vision
SITES contributes to long-term, field-based ecosystem research at world-class level by offering a unique infrastructure and competence in a way that attracts Swedish as well as international researchers.
Principals of SITES
University of Gothenburg
Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Uppsala University
Steering group (2021-03-01 – 2024-02-29)
- Anna Gårdmark, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, chair
- Anders Hedenström, Lund University, vice-chair
- Jan Bengtsson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Johan Bergh, Linneaus University
- Inger Kappel Schmidt, University of Copenhagen
- Jan Karlsson, Umeå University
- Hanna Silvennoinen, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Scientific Advisory Board (2021-02-01 – 2024-02-01)
- Mari Kallersjö, chair
- Göran Ståhl, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, vice-chair
- Klaus Steenberg Larsen, University of Copenhagen
- Gerlinde de Deyn, Wageningen University & Research
- Kathleen Weathers, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Funder
Partners
