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Climate Change Resilience in an Aquatic Bright Spot: Lakes and Rivers of Northern Mongolia - an NSF-IRES Project
Funding from the National Science Foundation's International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program will support the participation of 8 US students per year (4 grad, 4 undergrad) in a 6-week field research experience on Mongolia's Eg River and Lake Hovsgol in summers 2026-2028. Students will work in three-person teams (two US students: one grad, one undergrad and one Mongolian student) to conduct ecological research related to understanding the factors that support resilience of Mongolia's aquatic ecosystems to climate change.
Learn more about the project:
Learn more about the project:
The project goals are to:
- Increase our understanding of the factors that make some ecosystems relatively resilient to climate change. Despite experiencing some of the fastest rates of climate warming in the world, Mongolia's lake and river ecosystems have proven to be surprisingly resilient. Are there lessons that can be learned here that will help us increase the climate resilience of aquatic ecosystems elsewhere?
- Provide student participants with training in the whole research process from designing a study, planning and conducting field observations and experiments, analyzing data, and communicating results to a range of different audiences.
A six-week field research experience in Mongolia during the Summers of 2026-2028. The field research is preceded by a required distributed seminar to prepare students to design and conduct field ecology research. The seminar meets one evening per week during the Spring semester before the summer field research. Participants also need to budget time in the Fall semester after the field research for data analysis and communicating research results.
Participant's travel and living expenses are covered during the trip and all participants are given a stipend to help offset the cost of personal field gear and to reduce financial barriers to participation
Participant's travel and living expenses are covered during the trip and all participants are given a stipend to help offset the cost of personal field gear and to reduce financial barriers to participation
Who: Applicants must be citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States and must still be a student (graduate or undergraduate) at the time of the field research. That is, students who expect to graduate before the summer are ineligible (NSF rule). Mongolian participants are supported through separate funding and should email Dr. Olaf Jensen for more information.
What: The field research experience is a wilderness adventure full of sunrises over river valleys with a steaming cup of tea in hand, wind and spray in your face as you jet boat up the river, and shivers when you hear your first wolf howl. There are cultural adventures too, like sitting on the floor of a herder's ger (felt-covered tent) accepting a cup of pungent milk tea and dried yogurt chips.
However, there are also plenty of physical discomforts. For six weeks, we will be living in tents, eating Mongolian food (mostly boiled mutton), showering with a cold bag of river water hung from a tree, using an outhouse full of mosquitoes, and sometimes working outside in the rain for days at a time. There are social and emotional challenges as well, like often being the only one in a group who doesn't speak the same language, not knowing what's happening next or why we're still stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire. We will be mostly without internet or phone access except for a satellite phone used to make occasional short staticky calls home to check in.
For many people, these discomforts would make the field experience unbearable. If you are concerned that this might be true for you, you're welcome to apply to participate in the distributed seminar or conduct research with our long-term data sets without having to come with us to Mongolia and endure the rain, mutton, and outhouses.
Participants will be provided with a stipend of $3,600 and all travel and living costs will be covered during the field experience.
When:
Where: The field research will take place at camps on the Eg River and Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia. The research sites are 1-2 days by van from Mongolia's capitol, Ulaanbaatar. We will spend a day or two on either end of the trip in Ulaanbaatar.
What: The field research experience is a wilderness adventure full of sunrises over river valleys with a steaming cup of tea in hand, wind and spray in your face as you jet boat up the river, and shivers when you hear your first wolf howl. There are cultural adventures too, like sitting on the floor of a herder's ger (felt-covered tent) accepting a cup of pungent milk tea and dried yogurt chips.
However, there are also plenty of physical discomforts. For six weeks, we will be living in tents, eating Mongolian food (mostly boiled mutton), showering with a cold bag of river water hung from a tree, using an outhouse full of mosquitoes, and sometimes working outside in the rain for days at a time. There are social and emotional challenges as well, like often being the only one in a group who doesn't speak the same language, not knowing what's happening next or why we're still stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire. We will be mostly without internet or phone access except for a satellite phone used to make occasional short staticky calls home to check in.
For many people, these discomforts would make the field experience unbearable. If you are concerned that this might be true for you, you're welcome to apply to participate in the distributed seminar or conduct research with our long-term data sets without having to come with us to Mongolia and endure the rain, mutton, and outhouses.
Participants will be provided with a stipend of $3,600 and all travel and living costs will be covered during the field experience.
When:
- Spring: one evening per week distributed seminar
- Summer: six-weeks in the field - typically early July to mid August
- Fall: sufficient time to follow-up on your research and communicate it through publications and presentations.
Where: The field research will take place at camps on the Eg River and Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia. The research sites are 1-2 days by van from Mongolia's capitol, Ulaanbaatar. We will spend a day or two on either end of the trip in Ulaanbaatar.
Graduate Students: Applications due December 15, 2025. Please email Dr. Olaf Jensen with a single PDF containing:
Undergraduate Students: Applications due January 15, 2026. Please apply via the NSF ETAP portal and email Dr. Olaf Jensen with a single PDF containing:
- A brief cover letter describing your interest in this program, your experience and comfort level with field research as described above, and how you will contribute to a positive and supportive environment within the field team. Graduate students who are proposing to conduct research that will become part of their thesis or dissertation are given priority. If you are able to commit to making your project a thesis/dissertation chapter, please mention this in your cover letter.
- A CV
- A 3-page research proposal including a brief (0.5 p) introduction, a clear statement of research questions, and field methods. If the project will require materials and supplies, please list these and indicate how they will be obtained. Up to $2,000 per project will be available for materials and supplies if well justified and not otherwise available.
Undergraduate Students: Applications due January 15, 2026. Please apply via the NSF ETAP portal and email Dr. Olaf Jensen with a single PDF containing:
- A brief cover letter describing your interest in this program, your experience and comfort level with field research as described above and how you will contribute to a positive and supportive environment within the field team.
- A CV
- Academic transcript(s) (unofficial is fine)
- A 2-page statement of your interests and qualifications for each of the 2026 planned research projects that interest you. If any of the projects are not of interest, feel free to indicate this.
To be added soon
