ARICE’s overall aim is to provide Europe with better capacities for marine-based research in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean with the existing polar fleet.

In this context, ARICE has provided researchers with transnational access to a set of six research icebreakers in two calls for proposals.

Another main goal of ARICE is to use the increase in vessel traffic in the Arctic Ocean to foster the availability of environmental data for research purposes. Through the project’s established dialogue with the maritime industry, the project aims at supporting a “ships and platforms of opportunity programme” in this area. The call for ship-time on Le Commandant Charcot is the first joint initiative between ARICE and the maritime industry under this “ships and platforms of opportunity programme”.

“Le Commandant Charcot” is a polar expedition ship state-of-the-art icebreaker (PC2 Class) owned and operated by the company PONANT (France). The vessel is equipped with scientific laboratories and facilities and offers to host up to four scientists to participate in their regular cruises to perform scientific projects.

ARICE is managing the application process, the proposal's evaluation and shortlisting for a posterior logistic evaluation by PONANT.

The scientific berths are offered free of charge, travel and shipping expenses to the port of departure/arrival are at the participant’s cost.

We are now inviting the science community to submit ship-time proposals requesting access to:

Polar expedition ship “Le Commandant Charcot”, owned and operated by PONANT, France

to carry out ship-based research activities within any field of marine based science (restrictions may apply).

This call will remain open until the 19th of January 2022, 12:00 CET. 

Successful proposals can expect an implementation from the Arctic season 2022 on.

Access is planned for individual or consecutive legs. A collaboration in one and up to five seasons is sought. 

Scientific berth availabilities are shown in this table:

A detailed itinerary overview can be downloaded here.

Station work: Generally the vessel is stopping at least 4h per day for passenger activities. One station of up to 7h per leg would be possible, in addition to the 4h daily stations.

Station time at the North Pole is 12h.

Access is regulated according to the Excellence-driven access mode. This mode of access is dependent on the scientific excellence, originality, quality, technical and ethical feasibility of an application evaluated through peer review conducted by a panel external to ARICE.

In preparation of their respective proposal, applicants should consult the technical capabilities and availability of scientific equipment of the icebreaker "Le Commandant Charcot". 

Technical information available in Downloads.

Access will be provided to selected ‘user-groups’, i.e. teams of one or more researchers (users) led by a ‘user group leader’ of up to 4 members. Proposals for access to ARICE Research Icebreakers will be accepted for evaluation if they meet all the following criteria:

1. Expertise: The designated cruise leader of a proposal must have the appropriate scientific/technical expertise to conduct on board research surveys, with proven excellent record (CV to be provided by all participants at the time of submission).
2. Outreach: Applicants must be willing to perform outreach activities related to their onboard research.
3. Dissemination: Only user groups that are entitled to and willing to disseminate the knowledge they will generate under the project are eligible to benefit from access free of charge. User groups must agree to comply with the ARICE data policy.

The non-fulfilment of any of the previous criteria implies the non-acceptance of the proposal for further evaluation.

1. Four scientific berths on board the vessel “Commandant Charcot” are provided free of charge by the company PONANT in single or multiple legs.

2. Travel and shipping expenses to and from the port of departure/arrival to the institutes of origin must be covered by the applicants.

3. Navigation in these extreme lands is at the mercy of weather and ice conditions. Navigation will be determined by the type of ice the vessel come across; itineraries may vary.

4. Grantees will not invoice the ARICE Consortium or PONANT for any additional or third-party costs, such as salary costs, equipment manufacture, repair and rental of equipment, consumables, sub-contracting and assistance, publication costs and overheads.

5. If the number of days is reduced by PONANT for any reason or if the vessels are prevented from working (e.g. by poor weather or technical difficulties) no form of compensation shall be payable in respect of any time lost. Please note that cruise schedules could change during the year.

6. Vessel users should note that installation and operation of any equipment that they bring on board the vessels is done at their own risk, even when it is carried on board or deployed from the vessel. Further details will be provided during the negotiation phase.

7. The Principal Investigator must submit the data generated together with sufficient metadata to ARICE within two months after cruise completion.

8. A contract will be signed between the PI’s institution and PONANT laying out terms and conditions of access, including the support granted, reporting, liability, applicable safety/security regulations and other topics under consideration.

Access will be provided to conduct research, with an exclusive focus on civil applications and comply with ethical principles. Access may be limited, amongst others, by the following: national security and defense, privacy and confidentiality, commercial sensitivity and intellectual property rights and ethical considerations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Proposal submission must include a single pdf file composed of:

1)    Application document: using the dedicated application template.

This document should be short and concise. A Times New Roman 12pt should be used with 14pt spacing. 

2)    The CVs of PI and the participants who will board the vessel using the dedicated CV template. 

3)    A letter from the PI’s institution authorized representative confirming that the PI is allowed to lead/participate in this cruise.

Proposals must be submitted to info@arice-h2020.eu 

Incomplete proposals or proposals not following the template will be rejected.

All templates and related call documents are available at https://arice-h2020.eu/industry-science-cooperation/.

The evaluation of proposals will be based upon the information provided in the completed application form, which should be correct, sufficient and adequate for this purpose.

Proposals must be received by the 19^th of January 2022, 12:00 CET. 

Following completion of a funded cruise the PI must submit a Cruise Report (as pdf, in English) to the ARICE Evaluation Office, within two months after completion of the cruise, designed to report on the science carried out during the cruise. It must explicitly refer to and comment on the fulfilment of the points of the work plan outlined in the proposal. 

ARICE aims at its research data to be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR).

Data management in ARICE is coordinated with relevant Arctic and oceanographic data management systems and adopts the Arctic Data Committee standards. The Arctic Data Committee can be visited at https://arcticdc.org/  

The Principal Investigator must submit the data generated together with sufficient metadata to ARICE within two months after cruise completion. Data sets submitted should be quality assured and information on applied QA/QC procedures should be part of the metadata information provided. ARICE, through its data management system, will assure data sets are interoperable and accessible in full compliance with an open data policy.

ARICE will then make sure that the data sets are shared with the respective IODE National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs)[1] and linked to the metadata of the respective cruise.

The ARICE data management team can be contacted at the e-mail address data-management@arice-h2020.eu for data submission and data-management related technical support.

All results/publications/presentations/publicity arising from an ARICE funded cruise should carry an acknowledgment to PONANT and to ARICE Grant Agreement no. 730965. 

A copy of every publication arising from this cruises must be sent to info@arice-h2020.eu for the project records.

Personal information supplied to the ARICE Consortium will be stored by electronic means (e.g. database) for use only in connection with the handling of proposals. All personal data supplied to the ARICE Consortium shall be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. You have the right to access and update the personal information about you and to ask for such information to be deleted.

All applicants who wish to query the outcome of their application and/or regarding the treatment of personal data may contact ARICE at info@arice-h2020.eu

The information contained here and in the related documents is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. ARICE disclaims any and all liability, including any express or implied warranties whether oral or written for third party services such as the access to a vessel out of the ARICE consortium. 

General information for applicants updated 10.12.2021

Proposal template

CV template

“Le Commandant Charcot”, itineraries Arctic

Science operations “Le commandant Charcot”- updated 09.12.2021

Appendix to science operations- updated 09.12.2021

F.A.Q.- will be continuously updated