{"id":227,"date":"2013-11-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-24T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/cage\/2013\/11\/25\/cage-is-officially-opened\/"},"modified":"2023-04-04T10:37:06","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T08:37:06","slug":"cage-is-officially-opened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/cage\/2013\/11\/25\/cage-is-officially-opened\/","title":{"rendered":"CAGE is officially opened"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAGE was officially opened on Friday November 22.
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The official Norwegian Centre of Excellence plaque was presented to Centre Director J\u00fcrgen Mienert<\/a> from Senior Adviser Liv Furuberg from The Research Council of Norway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The CAGE projects are high quality, exciting and beneficial from a societal perspective. This centre also has an excellent timing and an excellent geographical location”, said Furuberg.<\/p>\n

These are some of the reasons why CAGE was given the Centre of Excellence title, after a long and severe competition where 139 research centres participated.<\/p>\n

\u2013 A big day<\/h2>\n

Researchers, students, representatives from the industry and others showed up to celebrate CAGE . The director himself described the opening as a great day for UiT The Arctic University of Norway and for Troms\u00f8 – the ‘arctic capital’.<\/p>\n

“A Centre of Excellence is now opened, with an extensive budget over ten years and more than 40 employees. CAGE will be a national and international centre of gravity for arctic research”, he said in his speech for the day .<\/p>\n

CAGE is one of thirteen new Norwegian Centres of Excellence (CoE ) opening this year. There are great expectations for how the centre will contribute to climate research.<\/p>\n

“Remember that the world’s leading scientists took 20 years to find out that El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o in the Pacific Ocean affect the climate system in the northern hemisphere . We have ten years to understand the effect arctic gas hydrates have on the environment and climate in the north. We will use this time to build a world-class international research centre”, said J\u00fcrgen Mienert.<\/p>\n

CAGE brings the world to Troms\u00f8<\/h2>\n

UiT’s rectorate was present at the opening , and Rector Anne Husebekk expressed both pride and great expectations for university’s third Centre of Excellence .<\/p>\n

Pro-Rector for Research and Development Kenneth Ruud believes that this centre is a result of the Department of Geology and Faculty of Science and Technology ‘s systematic quality work .<\/p>\n

– A Centre of Excellence is a great achievement that offers huge opportunities, puts the academic community and Troms\u00f8 on the map, and allows you to recruit the best researchers in the world . It is also a motivation for the world to come to Troms\u00f8, stated Ruud.<\/p>\n

Gold medal<\/h2>\n

Dean Morten Hald at the Faculty of Science and Technology, UiT, said that to succeed in the Norwegian Centres of Excellence competition is like winning a gold medal.<\/p>\n

– I feel sure that CAGE will have a generous and inclusive role as a leading research centre , he said.<\/p>\n

Department Director Jan Cramer greeted from CAGE partner The Geological Survey of Norway<\/a> (NGU).<\/p>\n

– The Department of Geology has for many years provided good research and should be considered as a flagship for UiT. It was therefore no surprise when CAGE got the Centre of Excellence title – it was a correct and timely decision, said Cramer .<\/p>\n

Jarle Huseb\u00f8 from Statoil, former NASA employee Eric Kort from the University of Michigan and Alina Stadnitskaia from the Royal Netherlands Institute contributed with popular science presentations on energy, climate and environment. The Troms\u00f8 based electronica duo Frost performed at the opening.<\/p>\n

See what the media wrote about the opening<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Click on the images to enlarge:<\/strong><\/p>\n