Young Belgian Polar Researchers meet in Brussels

Belgium has a vibrant young group of Polar Scientists. On Thursday December 1st, around 30 young polar experts held a workshop in on Antarctic sciences and celebrated the International Antarctica Day.

The day started with a keynote lecture from Hendrik Schoukens on the Antarctic Treaty Regime, and was followed by PhD students and young postdocs presenting their latest research, ranging from microbial ecology to geophysics, glaciology, climatology, marine ecology, health science and astrophysics.

The young researchers were strongly congratulated by three Antarctic veterans, who joined the meeting and were amazed by the energy shown by the youngsters.

In the afternoon, a group discussion was organised to re-create the Belgian branch of Antarctic Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). The current focus is to organise an event in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty Meeting, which will take place in Brussels in 2013.

This initiative was supported by the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo).