international
polar
foundation

On Monday, May 30th, IPF, Schneider Electric, and Venturi held an EU Green Week partner event in Brussels EU Quarter to showcase the technological achievements that allow the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica - the world’s first zero emission polar research station - and the Venturi Antarctica, the world’s first electric polar exploration vehicle - to reduce the environmental footprint of conducting polar research.

On Monday, May 30th, the International Polar Foundation (IPF), Schneider Electric, and Venturi will host an official EU Green Week 2022 partner hybrid event, Striving to Reduce the Environmental Footprint of Polar Research.

The International Polar Foundation together with APECS Belgium and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences are proud to present Nocturnes on Ice, a polar photography exhibition opening on Thursday, May 19th at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

The International Polar Foundation is happy to announce that Marie-Anne Coninsx, Former EU Ambassador at Large for the Arctic, has joined the Board of IPF Directors.

In February 2019, IPF Founder and BELARE Expedition Leader Alain Hubert assisted American artist Jessica Houston with the unique Letter to the Future project in which Alain placed a time capusule in the ice in Antarctica to be found by future generations a thousand years from now. The project is curently being exhibited at the Estonian Pavillion at the Venice Bienniale.

On Tuesday, April 5th the International Polar Foundation and the Network of European Blue Schools offered a special workshop for teachers and educators to present an overview of existing Arctic Ocean-related education materials and practices in schools.

The final days of the 2021-22 season are upon us and they have been busy ones as we prepare to leave the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on her own until the next team arrives in November.

Marie Minary, an artist working in several different media currently based in Besançon, France, has been working with a team of artists to produce an artistic project inspired by the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica and the majestic landscapes surrounding it. Known as the Penelope Project, the multi-media art installation draws inspiration from the relationship between Penelope and Ulysses in the Odyssey and encourages the viewer to reflect on themes such as climate change and their everyday lives.

The 2021-2022 BELARE season seems to have passed very quickly! After the departure of the last teams of scientists on February 4th, the rest of the IPF team has been doing everything necessary to prepare the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica for overwintering.

After a fruitful season of scientific research, the last teams of scientists bid farewell to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on Friday, February 4th. All scientists have since returned to their home countries and are looking forward to studying the samples and data they collected during their time in Antarctica.
Now that we’re down to only 12 people, the station is now a lot quieter than it was before.