Thank you for a great 8th Baltic Earth Winter School!

From March 23 to 27, 2026, the 8th Winter School of the Baltic Earth research network was held in Tallinn, Estonia. The school was co-organized by the Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Tartu and partly funded by the Estonian Doctoral School. During the Winter School, 41 international early career scientists from Bachelor's to Postdoc level learned about topics regarding 'Earth System Science for the Baltic Sea Region' in various lectures. Among the participants were one Bachelor student, four Master students, 33 PhD students and three Postdocs from Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

This year, lecturers came from the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), the University of Tartu (Estonia), the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW, Germany), the University of Leipzig (Germany), the EUMETSAT (Germany), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the University of Helsinki (Finland) and the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN, Poland). The topics which were taught covered a wide range of Baltic Earth topics ranging from climate change, climate physics, physical oceanography, biogeochemistry and coastal erosion to satellite remote sensing. Therefore, the participants were able to get to know different research areas and broaden their horizon.

Furthermore, the participants presented their own research projects during talks and on posters and received valuable feedback. Their areas of expertise included topics like marine pollution, education, citizen science, biodiversity, marine heatwaves and agroecosystems.

During the winter school, the participants could participate in an excursion to the Estonian Maritime Museum where they learned more about Estonian history and the shipbuilding industry during two guided tours. According to the participants, they particularly enjoyed the international atmosphere and the diversity of lectures during the Winter School.