international
polar
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The InBev-Baillet Latour Fund, in partnership with the International Polar Foundation announces the opening of the 2011 Call for Proposals for the InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, a grant of €150,000 providing an exceptional opportunity for a young scientist to carry out research in Antarctica.

From October 12th to 14th, the International Polar Foundation (IPF) had the pleasure to co-organize the second Arctic Futures Symposium with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. Building on the success of the first Arctic Futures Symposium in October 2010, this year's symposium was an even greater success.

From September 4th to 8th, the International Polar Foundation participated in the 6th Science Centre World Congress held in Cape Town (South Africa). At the event, which is organized every three years, IPF's Mieke Sterken and Michel de Wouters manned the IPF booth to outline the actions of the IPF and present the new Polaris Climate Change Observatory project. The event was an ideal opportunity for networking, as many South African and African science centre representatives were present.

From September 20th to October 18th, the Palais Provincial de Namur (Belgium) will be welcoming a special session on Belgian research in Antarctica in the framework of the "Collège Belgique", an initiative of the Royal Academy for Science and the Arts of Belgium to give citizens access to scientific knowledge. Over the course of the event, 12 researchers from various fields (glaciology, biology, climatology, oceanology, astrophysics and geology) will share their knowledge of Antarctica with the public.

Since the International Polar Year in 2008, the IPF has gained a lot of experience in keeping polar science outreach and education activities alive and prospering. Because of this leadership role, the IPF has been invited to convene a session at the final IPY conference taking place in Montréal in 2012.

In November 2007, Dominique Kopp and a film crew boarded the Russian icebreaker Ivan Papanin to shoot a film about the Earth's ultimate frontier, Antarctica. While produced within the framework of the 4th International Polar Year 2007-2008, “Par-delà les banquises” (Beyond the Sea Ice) offers a different view on a continent that is most often described as a place of science and exploration.

Isabelle Du Four, one of the educational officers at the International Polar Foundation (IPF), will be joining the Students on Ice Arctic Expedition, travelling through the Arctic region on a ship turned classroom and bringing to life issues facing the Arctic today. As an education team member she will give workshops related to polar fundamentals and environmental issues.

On May 27th, the laureates of the 6th edition of the Energy and Environment Awards were announced in Tour & Taxis (Brussels). The prize is supported by over 100 organizations, most notably by the International Polar Foundation (IPF) which has been presenting the IPF Award since the prize’s inception. With IPF President Alain Hubert stuck in Greenland, it was Executive Director Thierry Touchais who presented the award for the 2011 edition.

The IPF recently became an Associate Member of the University of the Arctic. IPF Executive Director Thierry Touchais participated in the celebrations for the 10th Anniversary of the University of the Arctic on June 8th at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland.

On Wednesday, May 18th, the AHA! project, led by Koen Meirlaen and his students from the Leiepoort Deinze Campus Sint-Hendrik became the final winners of the Polar Quest Contest. While the first part of the contest is now over, a next chapter will be written next year as Mr Meirlaen heads down to the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica (PEA). The aim of the AHA! project is to link the scientific research conducted at PEA to analog projects at school. By conducting some observations themselves, the students should then better understand the impact of their behaviour on the environment and consequently adapt it.