During the IPY, two international hands-on training workshops were held at the Otto-Schmidt Laboratory for Polar and Marine Research at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. These workshops were under the conference heading of IMPETUS, meaning to be the catalyst for new collaborations between young Russian researchers and their international counterparts.IMPETUS 2007 provided insights into the latest techniques and methods used in permafrost research in fields as diverse as permafrost modeling, investigations of mountain ice segregation, bubbling from thermakarst lakes, and submarine permafrost. It brought together experts to provide young investigators with a multidisciplinary and cross-border perspective on permafrost research, a much needed approach in a discipline marked by strong research history yet strongly entangled within national boarders.IMPETUS 2008 focused on the latest techniques and methods used in polar ocean observation in research fields including nutrient and primary production monitoring, data transmission, remote sensing in oceanography and meteorology, sea-ice monitoring, seafloor mapping and Arctic drilling, coastal sediment dynamics, and climate modeling. It brought together experts to provide young researchers with a cross-border perspective in polar ocean research, a needed approach in a field characterized by the presence of many different, partially overlapping disciplines.Both IMPETUS workshops improved existing and built up new collaborations and networks including the whole range from early to senior career scientists. The success of these workshops highlights the need for a sense of belonging among scientists beyond the traditional nationally and disciplinarily established boarders.