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Swiss doctor Jacques Richon spent twelve seasons at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica from 2008 to 2021 as the station’s Chief Medical Officer. His decades of experience working as a surgeon, an emergency doctor carrying out helicopter rescues in the Alps, and a renowned mountain guide for extreme environments was a major asset to the teams he accompanied to the station. In his last interview with IPF, he talks about the work he did to improve the medical facilities at the Princes Elisabeth Antarctica, (PEA) and future plans he had for the station.

Guus Luppens, an electromechanical engineer who first travelled to Antarctica during the 2018-2019 research season, was tasked with handling a number of maintenance tasks for Princess Elisabeth Antarctica’s renewable energy production systems. We spoke with him about the work he had done with his colleague Johan Demuylder during the most recent season (2020-2021) at the station.

Over the past few years, Science Liaison Officer and Deputy Station Manager Henri Robert has been giving online classes to students in Belgium and around the world from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. This season, his lessons have been more popular than ever.

Aymar de Lichtervelde, a Belgian process engineer in charge of the water treatment systems at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Station, recently took part in an international project bringing together amateur musicians from all seven continents of the world in order to raise money to help support COVID-19 relief efforts.

In a decision handed down on the 5th of January 2021, the Chambre du Conseil of Brussels definitively dismissed all charges of conflict of interest against Alain Hubert and the International Polar Foundation.  

This past week has been quite busy at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica for the team, with a trip to the coast and the last change of a few of the team members for the season.

The 2020-2021 season at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica has been progressing smoothly for the BELARE team, despite the challenges the team has faced due to the COVID-19 situation. After completing 24 days of quarantine near Cape Town before leaving for Antarctica and a weather delay, the BELARE team has overcome a few initial challenges they’ve encountered at the start of the season to have a quieter yet very productive season.

Christmas 2020 has already come and gone at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

After an extended quarantine in Cape Town, due to poor weather conditions in Antarctica, the 2020-2021 Belgian Antarctic Research Expedition (BELARE) was finally able to reach the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) station!

The time has finally arrived! The 2020-2021 Antarctic season upon us!

The BELARE (Belgian Antarctic Research Expedition) team arrived in Cape Town, South Africa at the beginning of November, where they are currently spending two weeks in quarantine before being allowed to journey to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Research Station, where a shortened  2020 - 2021 season with a reduced team will take place.