The BeyondIceFutures synthesis workshop will bring together interdisciplinary scientists working on recently deglaciated landscapes to explore how these rapidly emerging environments can develop into positive futures for nature and people.

As glaciers retreat worldwide, glacier forelands and other proglacial landscapes are expanding quickly. These newly ice-free areas hold significant potential for biodiversity, ecosystem development, and human use, yet key scientific and societal questions remain unresolved.

This workshop, organized within the BeyondIceFutures project funded by the Mountain Research Initiative, will synthesize results from a global survey of scientists working in recently deglaciated landscapes. Participants will collaboratively identify major knowledge gaps, discuss nature’s contributions to people (NCPs), and develop interdisciplinary perspectives on future research and management of proglacial environments.

Workshop outcomes will contribute to a peer-reviewed synthesis paper and a brochure for stakeholders, practitioners, and policymakers.

The workshop will be held 1–3 October 2026 at Innsbruck University’s University Center Obergurgl in the Austrian Alps. 

Keynotes will also be accessible by livestream.

For more information about this event, please contact Jana Eichel: j.eichel(at)uu.nl

---

Keynotes

Expanding Proglacial Margins and the Mountain ‘Sediment Factory’
Speaker: Stuart Lane | Time: 8pm, Wednesday 30 September 2026
Stuart Lane is professor at the University of Lausanne at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics. His research combines hydrology, sediment dynamics, and geomorphology. One of his main study areas is the forefield of Otemma glacier in Switzerland.

Life After Ice: The Birth and Evolution of Alpine Soils
Speaker: Michele d’Amico | Time: 8:30am, Thursday 1 October 2026.
Michele d’Amico is associated professor at University of Milano, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. His research focus lies on soil chronosequences in proglacial areas, particularly at Lys and Verra Grande Glacier in the Italian Alps.

Drivers and Limitations of Plant Colonization on the Glacier Foreland
Speaker: Brigitta Erschbamer | Time: 10am, Thursday 1 October 2026
Brigitta Erschbamer is a retired professor of geobotany from University of Innsbruck. From 2009 to 2020 she was director of the Alpine Research Centre Obergurgl and she has conducted long-term-research in the proglacial area of Rotmoosferner (one of Obergurgl’s nearest glaciers). Her work was on alpine vegetation, climate change impacts and primary succession in newly deglaciated terrain.

(Re-/Dis-)Connecting Jerky Conveyor Belts in the Mountain Sediment Factory: How (Changing) Connectivity Moderates the Response of Deglaciating Proglacial Areas to Change
Speaker: Tobias Heckmann | Time: 9am, Friday 2 October 2026
Tobias Heckmann is professor at the University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Institute of Physical Geography. He works on geomorphology and hydrology with a particular focus on sediment transport in proglacial areas. One of his main research areas is Gepatschferner in Tyrol.

Toward a Better Protection of Glaciers and Postglacial Ecosystems Globally
Speaker: Jean-Baptiste Bosson | Time: 9:45am, Friday 2 October 2026
Jean-Baptiste Bosson is director of the nature conservation NGO ‘marge sauvage’. He completed his doctorate in glaciology at University of Lausanne. Combining glaciology, geomorphology, and nature conservation, his research focuses on the transition from glacial to periglacial dynamics and the impact of climate change on glacial and proglacial areas in the Mont-Blanc massif and the Haute-Savoie.