The 2026 Mountains in a Changing World summer school: A unique edition with UGA's strategic partners

Summer school Headlines
MCW 2026
The 2026 session of the Mountains in a Changing World summer school welcomed nearly twice as many students as in previous years, with strong interest from Tsukuba University, a strategic partnership of UGA that will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.
During the first week of July, 30 international students attended the summer school offered by the UGA's Faculty of sciences, titled “Mountains in a Changing World.” There, they were introduced to the scientific issues associated with climate change in the complex and vulnerable environment of mountain ranges, using the Alps as a case study.

The lectures and field activities were led by climatologists, glaciologists, geologists, hydrogeologists, ecologists, and geographers from the Université Grenoble Alpes' laboratories. The Design Factory@UGA also added a societal dimension to this exciting week.

Throughout the seminars and field trips, students were encouraged to reflect on a number of questions: Why are mountains defined as complex environments? Why are they particularly sensitive and vulnerable to ongoing changes? How can we anticipate their evolution to prevent associated risks? What tools do we have at our disposal to address these changes and propose solutions?

Students from across the globe

The group consisted of master’s and doctoral students from National Taiwan University (3), the University of Tsukuba (11), partner universities of the European Unite! alliance (5), and, of course, the University of Grenoble Alpes (11).

This 6th edition of Mountain in a Changing World was made possible thanks to funding from:
- the Graduate School@UGA (TERRA thematic program)
- the NTU-UGA-UT Trilateral Center
- the UGA/University of Tsukuba Strategic Partnership
- the Japanese DOJO program

As well as to Pascale Huyghe for developing and organizing the program, and to the administrative teams at the Faculty of science and PhITEM.
Published on  July 24, 2026
Updated on  July 24, 2026