What happens after the glacier retreats? This was the main question of the BeyondIceFutures workshop held at the Universitätszentrum Obergurgl. 34 scientists from 15 countries met to discuss pathways to positive futures in deglaciating areas worldwide.
At the beginning of October, the international BeyondIceFutures workshop on the future of proglacial landscapes was successfully held in Obergurgl in the Austrian Alps. It was organized by Arnaud Temme (University of Innsbruck), Jana Eichel (Utrecht University), Anaïs Zimmer (Institute of Research for Development IRD), Michele Freppaz (University of Turin) and Sophie Stoffl (University of Innsbruck), and funded by the Mountain Research Initiative, the University of Innsbruck and the Tierras Nuevas project.
The organisation team hostet the workshop at the Universitätszentrum Obergurgl.
34 scientists from 15 countries, spanning a wide range of disciplines, met to discuss pathways to positive futures in deglaciating areas worldwide. A report on the rapid and concerning retreat of Swiss alpine glaciers, published at the same time, highlighted this need even more.
The three-day workshop aimed at identifying key research gaps in proglacial areas and possible solutions to address them, ultimately enabling us to shape positive futures for the thousands of square kilometres of new land left behind by vastly and rapidly retreating glaciers around the world. Workshop participants were selected from researchers who took part in the BeyondIceFutures online survey in spring 2026, ensuring diversity across gender and career stages and a wide global representation. Participants' research covered proglacial areas in the European Alps, Scandes, Svalbard, Rocky Mountains, Andes, Southern Alps, Pamir and the Himalayas.
What remains when the glacier ice melts? The scientists did not only address this question in theory...
..but also on excursions directly in deglaciated terrain in the Ötztal Alps.
..but also on excursions directly in deglaciated terrain in the Ötztal Alps.
One of the key objectives of the workshop was to create opportunities for multi- and transdisciplinary knowledge exchange between the participants. This was facilitated by a unique multidisciplinary combination of keynote presentations from geomorphology and hydrology (Stuart Lane - University of Lausanne, Tobias Heckmann - Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), ecology (Brigitta Erschbamer - University of Innsbruck), soil science (Michele d'Amico - University of Milan) and proglacial area conservation (Jean-Baptiste Bosson - Marge Sauvage). Key results from the BeyondIceFutures survey in spring 2026 were shared, and a subsequent excursion to the Gaisbergferner proglacial area enabled participants to experience together both the beauty of a glacier and the geomorphological, ecological and hydrological challenges its quick retreat brings. New insights from the keynotes were taken into the field, where individual and disciplinary perspectives were shared, exchanged and widened.
"It was amazing: Geomorphologists naturally talked about vegetation succession, plant ecologists about sediment dynamics and hydrologists considered the role of microorganisms."
In the second part of the workshop, the participants got to work. Together, they evaluated lead questions proposed for the workshop and answered by everyone, such as key research gaps, data and methods needed to address them, and the spatial and temporal scales at which action needs to be taken. In a collaborative approach, the aim, objectives and structure of a multidisciplinary perspectives paper were developed.
After a "wonderful" and "perfectly organized" workshop, everyone headed home with a head full of new ideas, connections and many new opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborations. The organizers thank all workshop and survey participants, keynote speakers and funders for creating this unique experience and are excited to take the next steps, synthesizing the workshop outcomes into a perspectives paper over the next half year.
