team NTNU

NTNU is the largest university in Norway, creating knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life. The university has an international focus with its main office in Trondheim and campuses in Ålesund and Gjøvik. NTNU main profile is in science and technology, with study programs also in the humanities, social sciences, economics, medicine, health, educational, architecture, entrepreneurship, art and artistic subjects. NTNU’s transdisciplinary activities in research and education focus in four strategic areas: Sustainability, Energy, Oceans and Health. The strategic research area ‘NTNU Oceans’ is an access point to NTNU’s expertise in the field. NTNU Oceans coordinates and initiates new multidisciplinary activities within research, education and innovation; contributes to increase the knowledge base in the maritime, green energy & mariculture industries; identifying and developing future knowledge needs in shipping, deep ocean and artic exploration, seafood production, marine resources and energy, marine environment and society, through basic research and joint projects with the industry. Research efforts in natural science, marine engineering, humanities and social sciences are combined to create new multidisciplinary solutions. Prof. Ardelan initiated and leads the Marine chemistry & biogeochemistry group in NTNU, which studies the waters of Antarctic, Arctic, Mediterranean and the Black Seas, the coastal waters of Norway, and Patagonia. Main Focus of the group is trace and heavy metal biogeochemistry, the impact of CO2 acidification on biogeochemistry of sediment-seawater interface and, organic matter characterization in the water column and sediment related to biological and microbial carbon pumps. He is also working on developing autonomous systems for year-round, clean sampling in harsh environments, (e.g. the Arctic) and optical monitoring techniques to detect biogeochemical signatures at the sediment surface. Dr. Ardelan has experience as project initiator, leader and active collaborator in several EU-projects and projects funded by NRC (EEA CLISED, EEA CO2Marine, CLIMIT-TrykkCO2, EU-Ocean Certain, etc). His group has initiated S4S platform together with Prof Martin Hassellöv, UGOT. María Azucena Gutiérrez González specializes in organization development focusing on the creation of interdisciplinary research groups and applying knowledge management to international projects and outreach activities within ocean sciences. In her current position as coordinator for research & education at NTNU’s strategic research area of Oceans (NTNU Oceans), she acts as a knowledge broker on interdisciplinary work, initiating and facilitating the creation of new projects & aligning NTNU Oceans activities with rapidly changing & complex research environments and new areas of Ocean research at NTNU. She provides a generalist and holistic perspective to the strategic area of Oceans at NTNU, bringing her strong international background and years of experience in organizational learning, knowledge brokage, marketing and communications to the team. NTNU will provide training and support capacity building (e.g. projects MININGIMPACT 2, SALT-MINE, Coast-Lab, and BC5 Building Capacity to Crosslink Coastal Pollution with Climate Change).

NTNU researchers are leading citizen science projects with a global perspective, such as the sailing4science initiative, while also maintaining strong analytical capabilities for studying climate related changes in the marine environment. Dedicated tools for the analysis of bio-essential and toxic elements are also developed with state-of-the-art processes and instrumentation, which will be part of knowledge transfer activities to NKUA researchers.