international
polar
foundation

Saturday and Sunday 10th and 11th of July 2010, IPF-Switzerland participated in the eighth edition of "La Nuit de la Science" in Geneva, a very popular event organised every two years by the "Musée d’histoire des sciences".

On June 9th 2010, Schneider Electric organized a VIP Event in Ostend. The event, in which the IPF participated, started with an academic meeting that was opened by Jean-Paul Brees, President of Schneider Electric in Belgium.

Saturday 5th of June 2010, IPF-Switzerland was invited to participate in the World Environment Day organised by the United Nations in Geneva. An exhibition stand held by the swiss IPF team explained the Foundation’s activities to the public.

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.

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 100th anniversary of Amundsen’s departure for the South Pole.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.