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The IPF had an enjoyable and productive time during their stay at the IPY Oslo Conference. About 2,300 scientists, policymakers, teachers and students gathered at the Norway Convention Centre in Lillestrøm just outside Oslo between the 8th and 12th of June. Over the course of five days, polar researchers from all over the world gave 1,800 presentations.

The five-day conference was the largest ever gathering of the polar and IPY research community, allowing participants to catch up, exchange ideas, and meet potential partners from the four corners of the world.

Education & Outreach

Two members of our education team attended the teacher's conference two days prior to the start of the conference: Sandra Vanhove (head of IPF's education team) and Mieke Sterken. Sandra was one of the organizers of the conference and led four workshops on measuring albedo. With about 120 teachers from around 'the world participating, the teacher's conference was a big success. It gave teachers the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world as well as a number of polar scientists who also participated in the workshop. Enthusiastic about the outcome of the workshop, the teachers decided to create a Polar Teachers network as an analogue to the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) that currently exists for young researchers.

As a former APECS Education & Outreach Committee member, Mieke Sterken witnessed the official launch of the Polar Resources Book (PRB) (part of APECS' IPY legacy), which she had been involved with since it was first conceived. The IPF contributed five classroom activities and four project stories to this excellent resource book for teachers (available for purchase).

Both women also kept busy during the science conference. Sandra attended the education and outreach conferences, which gave her the opportunity to hear about polar-related education and outreach efforts from around the world. In addition, she introduced the educational materials developed by the IPF's education department during her talk 'Hot Puzzles...Cold Experiments in Class Zero Emission'.

Meanwhile, Mieke gave a presentation about changes in the climate in the Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula since the end of he last ice age as part of a session called 'Climate and paleoclimate dynamics and processes'.

Communication, Science & Networking

Two members of the IPF's communications team also attended: Jean de Pomereu and Joseph Cheek, both journalists for the IPF's SciencePoles website. Jean was present for all five days of the conference, attending the opening ceremony, all the keynote speeches of the conference and about a dozen presentation sessions. He also took part in the IPY legacy workshop on Wednesday 9th June, conducted interviews for SciencePoles with polar researchers, and most notably chaired a session entitled 'IPY in the Media' on Friday 11th June.

Joseph joined Jean at the very end of the conference, giving a successful presentation on the media coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station at the same media session Jean chaired. He spent the rest of the time making new contacts, setting up interviews with polar scientists, and attending the closing ceremonies.

Wrapping Up

In addition to work, there were ample opportunities to socialize and network during events such as a boat trip, a barbecue held at the Fram Museum , and the many dinners that were held. An enjoyable time was had by all!

Overall, the IPY Oslo Conference was a successful outing for the IPF. It was an opportunity to represent the IPF and its myriad of activities and initiatives on an international level, get the latest findings in polar research, and broaden our contacts within the global polar science and education community.

The next IPY event, 'From Knowledge to Action', which will focus on taking the knowledge learned from the IPY and putting into action, will be held in Montréal in 2012.

Approximately 260 polar teachers and early career scientists from all over the world have gathered at Oslo prior to the PolarTEACHERS conference and APECS workshop to break the ice. Spirits were high as the guests were taken to the home of polar explorer Roald Amundsen to attend a dinner celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Amundsen’s departure for the South Pole.

While Sandra Vanhove and Jean de Pomereu took part in the IPY Legacy of Education and Outreach on Wednesday morning, Mieke Sterken presented her study “Holocene Glacial and Climate History in the Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula” in the afternoon.

Next in line for the IPF will be Joseph Cheek presenting the coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station during the session “Global Learning: The Impact of the Media'” scheduled on Friday 11 June AM.

We will of course do a full report of the activities once everyone's back from Oslo, but in the meantime, those looking for fresh news can check out the news on the Oslo Science Conference website.

The "Zero Emission" Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica has been selected to be featured in the "Multiple Plan - Design Crossroads in Belgium" exhibition in Essen's Red Dot Design Museum from October 28th until November 21st, 2010.

The exhibition will offer a reflection on:

• Co-Design: the synergies and the possible collaboration projects;
• Innovation: Design as a search for innovative solutions;
• Interdisciplinarity: Ideas transmission and exchange as a basis for sustainable development.

This exhibition aims at offering a narrative showcase of selected recent best practices of Belgian design at large, from concept to communication design, from product design to scientific or technological application. By taking a closer look at various aspects of design, the exhibition will feature projects looking for innovative solutions to a more sustainable society.

The IPY Oslo Science Conference, scheduled for 8-12 June, is one of the biggest polar science meeting. Four IPF staff members will be attending. Needless to say, we are all exited.

Early results from studies undertaken during the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) will be released. Particular emphasis will be put on new research into the linkages between climate change in the Polar Regions and global climate systems.

IPY Oslo will provide an excellent opportunity to get up to pace with the latest in global climate research - some of which will provide the scientific foundation for COP16 in Mexico in November, as well as the next IPCC report.

Science Conference

• Jean de Pomereu is the Convenor of the session: 'Global Learning: The Impact of the Media', on Friday 11 June AM
• Joseph Cheek is presenting the media coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station during the same session

Both of them will also dedicate some of their time to interviewing scientists from the polar science community for our SciencePoles website.

Teachers Conference

At the same time, 114 teachers from 20 countries will gather in Oslo for the Oslo IPY Teachers Conference.

• Sandra Vanhove is a member of the Polar Teachers Conference Committee;
• Mieke Sterken, the former Belgian representative in the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), is a science mentor in APECS’ early career workshop from June 5th to 7th.

Polar Cinema

A couple of IPF movies will also be featured during the polarCINEMA programme taking place during the whole week.

Because of the ash cloud spitted out by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, our colleague Nathalie Van Isacker has to spend a few more days in Shanghai than what was originally planned. That gave her a bit more time to visit the city, take more pictures of the Ice Cube Project and attend the first “test day” of the exhibition.

Since the Ice Cube might not be shipped back to Belgium after the Shanghai World Expo, we were thrilled to receive these new pictures and we thought that we would share them with all of you.

  We don’t know yet when Nathalie will be fly back to Belgium, since air traffic is only starting to resume here in Brussels. Meanwhile, she is buzzy participating in the project supervision and running the last tests before the grand opening on May 1st 2010. We don’t know yet when Nathalie will fly back to Belgium, since air traffic is only starting to resume here in Brussels. Meanwhile, she is busy participating in the project supervision and running the last tests before the grand opening on May 1^st 2010.

To prepare for the grand opening of the Shanghai World Expo 2010, Nathalie Van Isacker, our Scientific Officer at the International Polar Foundation, will be in Shanghai from April 15th to April 19th. She will help Maria Millan from Atelier Brückner supervise the on-site construction of the giant “Ice Cube” for the EU Belgian Pavilion.

Once completed, the IPF’s “Ice Cube” will highlight Belgium’s support of science and showcase our country’s efforts to cut CO₂ emissions. The theme of the exposition, “Better city, better life”, is an ideal background for the International Polar Foundation to present the Princess Elisabeth Station and the Polaris Climate Change Observatory in the two blocks that make up the “Ice Cube”. You will be able to see the rapid progress being made on the “Ice Cube” in the accompanying picture gallery.

In the meantime, we would like to thank all of our partners and the project team for everything they’ve done to make this project possible.

CryoSat-2, successor to CryoSat, was launched successfully from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on April 8th, 2010. The freshly launched satellite will provide accurate data on the variations of ice thickness in the Polar Regions, whether on land or on the sea surface. CryoSat-2, the third of the Earth Explorer satellites to have been launched in the past year, is part of a larger European effort to better understand the impact of climate change on these remote, yet sensitive regions.

Back in 2007, Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar foundation took snow depth measurements during his “Arctic Arc expedition”. This crossing from Siberia to Greenland, covering 1,654 kilometers in 106 days, was an ideal opportunity for the ESA to collect precious data that would contribute significantly to the validation of the CryoSat mission.

Representing the IPF at the CryoSat-2 launch event at Darmstadt, Germany, Executive Director Thierry Touchais underlined the need for better education around polar sciences and climate to bring citizens to a sound level of awareness and knowledge about the complex issues of climate.

During an official ceremony that took place on April 1^st, 2010, Mrs. Sabine Laruelle, Belgian Federal Minister for Science Policy, and Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation, signed a partnership protocol between the IPF and the Belgian State. The protocol, besides marking the donation of the Princess Elisabeth research station to the Belgian State, defines the International Polar Foundation as the Antarctic Operator within the Belgian Polar Secretariat and the rightful owner of the intellectual property rights as the author of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

 The Belgian Polar Secretariat is responsible for all scientific, operational, financial and administrative matters related to Princess Elisabeth Antarctica in order to conduct scientific research in a safe environment. This public-private partnership will now be presided over by Alain Hubert for a five-year term.

Just a quick Monday news to tell you that we are thrilled to see that the Ice Cube structure is currently being built on the site of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

Project Manager Maria Millan (Atelier Brückner) is currently supervizing the construction of the Ice Cube shell and the realisation of the scale models for both the Polaris Climate Change Observatory and the Princess Elisabeth Station. The whole IPF team is quite happy to receive these pictures showing that the project is progressing at a rapid pace. We have all put a lot of efforts into this and it is nice to see them pay off.

We hope to be able to post a picture gallery and more updates as soon as possible. Meanwhile, many thanks to the whole project team and to all our partners.

On March 22nd, Steven Goderis, a PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, became the second recipient of the Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship Award. The official awarding ceremony took place at headquarters of the International Polar Foundation in Brussels and was attended by representatives of both the InBev-Baillet Latour Funds and the IPF.

The Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship Award, a joint initiative by the InBev Baillet Latour Funds and the International Polar Foundation, was given to Steven Goderis for his “Micrometa” project, which will look in-depth at micrometeorites to try to gain better insight into planet formation and the evolution and development of our solar system. With the 150,000-Euro grant, the young doctoral student will now have the opportunity to pursue his research at and in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica.

Mr. Goderis, who has already been to Antarctica this season to take part in the 51st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE 51) to look for meteorites, will return to Antarctica to pursue his “Micrometa” project within the next two years.