international
polar
foundation

On Wednesday 15 May, the International Polar Foundation and APECS Belgium will co-host the Second Arctic Professionals Network Event, organised by the Arctic Institute at the Sister Café in the centre of Brussels.

A young Belgian bioengineer, Aymar de Lichtervelde, stepped up to the challenge of spending a season at the Princess Elisabeth Station Antarctica. He was given the daunting task of improving both the efficiency and the capacity of the station's water treatment system.

The International Polar Foundation would like to publicly affirm its full support for the student climate protests taking place around the globe. We’re heartened by the fact that so many young people have chosen to make their voices heard on a crucial issue that affects all of humanity.

After another very successful season, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica is now in overwintering mode. The last eight members of the BELARE team left the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on February 27th.

Guus Luppens is an electromechanical engineer who travelled to Antarctica for the first time during the 2018-2019 research season. He was tasked with taking care of a number of maintenance tasks for the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica's renewable energy production systems. We asked him about his work in Antarctica this past season.

Prof. Jean-Louis Tison and a team of scientists from the Glaciology Laboratory at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) conducted field work in East Antarctica this past season for the Mass2Ant project, which hopes to contribute to our understanding of how much ice the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been gaining or losing over time. Prof. Tison was kind enough to answer questions about his team’s research.

In addition to providing researchers who go to Antarctica with on-site logistical support for their field research, the International Polar Foundation (IPF) staff from the BELARE team are able to give professional assistance to projects that don’t have researchers on-site during every season. Experts such as IPF’s Science Technical Liaison Officer Benoît Verdin are assisting these projects in a number of different ways.

For those interested in polar science, we’re providing a brief overview of the many scientific research projects taking place at or in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station during the 2018-2019 season.

Operated by a highly experienced team from the International Polar Foundation, the 2018-2019 BELARE (Belgian Antarctic Research Expedition) season has been underway for more than two months at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station in East Antarctica.

A diverse collection of more than 180 Arctic residents and stakeholders gathered for the 9th annual Arctic Futures Symposium at the Residence Palace in Brussels on Wednesday 28 November.