Organising Committee
- Ines Barrenechea Angeles (IBA) — UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (*)
- Giuliana Panieri (GP) — UiT – The Arctic University of Norway; CNR-ISP (Institute of Polar Sciences), Italy
- Freya Sykes (FS) — UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (*)
- Joost van Genuchten (JVG) — UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (*)
- Ngoc-Loi Nguyen (NLN) — Tsinghua SIGS, Shenzhen, China (*)
Organizers: Department of Geosciences, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Training venue: Department of Geosciences, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Dramsvegen 201, 9010 Tromsø, Norway
Lecturers & Trainers
- Tomas Cedhagen (TC) — Aarhus University, Denmark
- Andrew J. Gooday (AG) — National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
- Maria Holzmann (MH) — University of Geneva, Switzerland
- Jan Pawlowski (JanP) — Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN), Sopot, Poland
- Anna Sabbatini (AS) — Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy (online)
- Irina Polovodova Asteman (IPA) — University of Gothenburg, Sweden (online)
- Magali Schweizer (MS) — University of Angers, France (online)
- Joanna Pawlowska (JP) — Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN), Sopot, Poland (online)
- Elsa Girard (EG) — Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands (*)
- Ines Barrenechea Angeles (IBA) — UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (*)
- Ngoc-Loi Nguyen (NLN) — Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (Tsinghua SIGS), Shenzhen, China (*)
(*) Early Career Researcher
Workshop Schedule
Daily Notes
- ☕ Morning coffee: 10:00–10:15
- 🍽️ Lunch: 12:00–13:00
- ☕ Afternoon coffee: 15:00–15:15
- 🍽️ Dinner: Provided at Tromsø Lodge (except Day 1 and Day 5)
- 🎓 Standard lectures: 30 min presentation + 15 min Q&A
Day 1 – Sunday, 30 August 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 15:00–15:30 | Welcome | Arrival & Welcome | Organisers |
| 15:30–16:00 | Orientation | Practical information & sampling logistics | Organisers |
| 16:00–16:45 | Lecture | The foraminiferan as a living cell and organism | TC |
| 16:45–16:50 | Break | — | — |
| 16:50–17:35 | Lecture | Benthic foraminifera barcoding: from isolation to DNA extraction and amplification | MH |
| 17:35–18:35 | Short Introduction and
Discussion | Participant introductions
(max. 7 min each) | All participants |
| 18:35–21:30 | Social | Ice-breaking apéro & networking | All participants |
Day 2 – Monday, 31 August 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:00–18:00 | Fieldwork | Field trip & sampling (Group 1) | TC, IBA |
| 09:00–17:00 | Laboratory | Sieving, wet picking & DNA extraction (Group 2) | All trainers |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Recap & discussion (Group 2) | NLN, AG, MH, JP |
Day 3 – Tuesday, 1 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:00–18:00 | Fieldwork | Field trip & sampling (Group 2) | TC, IBA |
| 09:00–17:00 | Laboratory | Sieving, wet picking & DNA extraction (Group 1) | All trainers |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Recap & discussion (Group 1) | NLN, AG, MH, JP |
Day 4 – Wednesday, 2 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:30–09:15 | Lecture | Foraminiferans’ adaptations | TC |
| 09:15–10:00 | Lecture | Monothalamids: biodiversity and importance in marine ecosystems | AG |
| 10:15–11:00 | Lecture | AI for identifying monothalamids | AS (online) |
| 11:00–11:45 | Lecture | ONT overview & practical briefing | NLN |
| 13:00–17:00 | Laboratory | Sieving, specimen identification & DNA extraction | All trainers |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Discussion & recap | All participants |
Day 5 – Thursday, 3 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:15–09:15 | Laboratory | Complete DNA extraction & start PCR | All trainers |
| 09:15–10:00 | Lecture | Foraminiferans: ecological importance | TC |
| 10:15–11:00 | Lecture | Updates and challenges in molecular classification of benthic foraminifera | JanP |
| 11:00–11:45 | Lecture | Challenges associated with mitochondrial DNA in foraminifera | EG |
| 13:00–17:00 | Laboratory | PCR practical (barcoding & metabarcoding) | All trainers |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Discussion & recap | All participants |
| 18:00–21:30 | Social | Art session: Art & Science outreach creation | All participants |
Day 6 – Friday, 4 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:15–09:05 | Lecture | Biomonitoring in fjords | IPA (online) |
| 09:10–10:00 | Lecture | Trophic preferences of neritic foraminifera inferred from microbiomes (16S & 18S rDNA), with a focus on monothalamids | MS (online) |
| 10:15–11:05 | Lecture | SedaDNA applications to paleoreconstructions | JP (online) |
| 11:05–17:00 | Laboratory | ONT library preparation & sequencing | IBA |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Discussion & recap | All participants |
Day 7 – Saturday, 5 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:15–12:00 | Computer practical | Sequencing monitoring & preliminary analyses | IBA, NLN |
| 13:30–17:00 | Computer practical | Barcoding & metabarcoding analysis | IBA |
| 17:00–18:00 | Discussion | Discussion & recap | All participants |
Day 8 – Sunday, 6 September 2026
| Time | Session | Activity | Speaker |
|---|
| 08:15–10:30 | Computer practical | Barcoding & metabarcoding analysis | NLN |
| 10:45–11:30 | Presentation | Group presentations (Groups 1 & 2) | Participants |
| 11:30–12:00 | Closing | Workshop summary & closing remarks | All participants |