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Philippe Samyn asks question at Antarctic Futures Symposium.

Scale model of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica at Antarctic Futures Symposium.

Members of the audience got an opportunity to listen to a wide array of speakers during the Antarctic Futures Symposium.

Thulani Makhalanyane is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University. He also holds a SARChI Chair in African Microbiome Innovation at Stellenbosch University. He earned his PhD from the University of the Western Cape in 2013, and his research focuses on understanding the ecology and evolution of microbial communities. He has co-authored over 150 publications in leading journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, and The ISME Journal.

Nicolas Herinckx speaking at the Antarctic Futures Symposium in Luxembourg.

IPF Co-founder Gigi giving one of the opening talks at the first Antarctic Futures Symposium held at the Luxembourg Chambre de Commerce from April 23-24th, 2026.

As there are no windows in the main body of the cargo plane, passengers, including the last members of the 2025-26 BELARE team, are treated to views of the Southern Ocean below them via video camera on the flight from Ultima Air Base to Cape Town on February 12th, 2026

You can see the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica 2 km away in the distance from the staiton's air strip as well as the marked path leading to the airstrip. Paths that have bene checked are clearly marked in Antarctica to ensure safety. Deviating from a marked path could be dangerous, as crevasses open up all the time due to the constant flow of the ice sheet covering Antarctica.