06 de June del 2018

About Us

GAIA ANTARCTICA RESEARCH CENTER (CIGA)

UNIVERSIDAD DE MAGALLANES

Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG) is committed with a sustained effort to become one complex university with a strong emphasis in research. For this purpose, UMAG defined four main strategic research lines: Antarctic and Subantarctic science, Energy and Environment, Human Peopling in High Latitudes, and Human Development. Because of this effort, in 2015 our university was accredited for the first time in research. To sustain that achievement, it is necessary to maintain and increase the number of high-qualified researchers to full-fill indicators of productivity such as number of peer-reviewed and well-cited publications, number of research-funding grants, number of graduate and undergraduate theses, among others.

CIGA is a Research Center that seeks to reinforce the capabilities of Universidad de Magallanes in Antarctic and Subantarctic sciences, collaborating closely with another UMAG academic units that develop research on these topics. Our geographic scope is the Antarctica and its area of influence, including the Southern Ocean, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. We perform teaching, outreach and research activities associated with our strategic research line, aiming to contribute to the regional and national needs on these matters. Those activities include the organization and development of two Master and one PhD programs in Antarctic and Subantarctic Sciences, one Diploma on Antarctic issues open to the regional community, one Minor on Antarctic contents for undergraduate UMAG students, outreach programs on Antarctic issues for school and pre-school institutions, national and international scientific meetings, and research projects. All these activities are supported by a strong network of collaboration with national and international colleagues and institutions.

Our research center comprises 21 members including 12 full-time researchers, 5 part-time researchers, 1 teaching coordinator, 1 outreach coordinator, 1 administration coordinator, and 1 secretary. Research topics include glaciology, marine biology, genetics, paleoclimatology, climatology, modelling, geochronology. Besides this work team we are associated with another 15 UMAG researchers of different academic units through specific research, teaching or outreach projects.