The Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, is among others one of the leading research institutions in the field of cold environments. The department was founded in 2003 from a set of institutes covering geophysics, geography, geology, hydrology, geohazards, meteorology and oceanography. Now, the department forms a highly interdisciplinary and integrated expert pool within a broad field of geosciences. The current project will mainly involve the science section of physical geography and hydrology, which covers remote sensing, geomatics, geoinformatics, glaciology, geomorphology, hydrology and related geohazards. Thus, the section represents a powerful combination of expertise for monitoring and modelling of glaciers and related hazards.

GUIO heads the permanent international working group GAPHAZ (hand-over of GAPHAZ lead on 1 Jan 2013 to partner UZH) and runs a number of related scientific projects.