Search Events

Established in 2010, and organised by the International Polar Foundation and its partners, the Arctic Futures Symposium brings together a wide variety of Arctic stakeholders for discussions on the future of the region. The 2015 symposium will look at regional development in the Circumpolar North, with a focus on various aspects of blue growth, innovation, and environmental security. There will also be a special session on the role of Arctic Council observer states and organisations. The symposium is free of charge and open to anyone interested in Arctic affairs. University and graduate students in particular are encouraged to attend.

The Sixth Symposium on Polar Science will be held at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Tokyo, Japan, from 16 to 19 November 2015. The NIPR is organizing this annual symposium to present and promote a wide variety of polar scientific research and interdisciplinary studies. The symposium includes a special session, the theme of which is "Warming in the Arctic and Its Influences – GRENE Arctic Climate Change Research Project and the Next New Directions". We will discuss current outcomes of the GRENE Project and directions of the new project of the Arctic research.

Accompanying this special session will be parallel sessions, which will include ordinary sessions and interdisciplinary sessions. We look forward to your active participation.

The symposium will be held at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM) and the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) located adjacent to the NIPR.

Sustainability, living in harmony with the natural processes of the planet, is the central challenge of the Twenty First Century. No part of that challenge is more pivotal than addressing climate change, the alteration of earth’s climate dynamics. In order for climate change to be effectively addressed, clear and poignant communication needs to be utilized to promote an understanding of the issues in a way that is expressive through means not limited to a strictly scientific discourse. As part of these efforts, The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design sponsored a student fellowship program to support recipients in their pursuit of scientific and visual research on a chosen symptom of climate change. Visualizing Climate Change displays the student fellows’ work, as well as a CUISD project and the work of contributing artist, Melissa Fleming.

Each project investigates a specific phenomenon related to climate change, rooted in a distinct locale, and its effects on geography, economics, security, and/or social stability. In doing so, emphasis rests upon clear and creative modes of visual communication. Each exhibited work seeks to conflate the bounds of science, art, architecture and engineering in order to provide fresh insight, expression and understanding around specific issues of climate change.

The exhibition is free and open to the public.

The opening reception will be held from 7:00-8:30pm in the 7th Floor Lobby of The Cooper Union Foundation Building.

Preceding the reception is a talk titled, The Art and Science of Climate Change, given by contributing artist, Melissa Fleming. This lecture will explore how art can help broaden the public conversation and create a new pathway to understanding this critical issue. It will introduce the basic science of climate change and explore how artists from around the globe are reacting to its impacts and possible solutions.

Co-sponsored with the SciArt Center, the talk will be held in room 715 of The Cooper Union Foundation Building at 6pm on November 16, space is limited. To attend the talk, please RSVP to isd [at] cooper.edu.

Located at 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues

In addition to the annual October Assemblies in Iceland, the Arctic Circle convenes smaller and more specialized forums in other countries. The Arctic Circle and Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI), with the support of the Singapore Government, will convene a forum in Singapore on November 12th, 2015.The forum in Singapore will be opened by President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs of Singapore. Discussions will focus on shipping, infrastructure financing, ocean science and research, and global collaboration on Arctic affairs. Among the speakers and participants will be Senior Arctic Officials, representatives of major shipping companies, investment funds, and scientific institutes from the United States, Europe, and a number of Asian states.

The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) intends to request proposals through one or more formal Funding Opportunity Notice (FON) announcements beginning approximately September 15, 2014 and remaining open through November 13, 2015. Final decisions regarding topic selection will not be made until September, 2015. However, potential topics are likely to be based on the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy: 1. Restore and maintain resilient landscapes, 2. Create fire-adapted communities and 3. Safe and effective wildfire response.

The congress "The Arctic: opportunities and challenges deriving
from climate change" wants to be a forum for scientific, legal
and political analysis of the rapid changes ongoing in the Arctic
region as a result of global warming; as well as a space of
debate for the consideration of possible future strategies of
adaptation, governance and sustainable development in the
region.
Counting with the participation of distinguished international
lecturers, the congress will be structured in three different
panels, respectively pursuing: the analysis of the scientific
basis of climate change dynamics and its main regional
consequences in the Arctic, the exploration of the international
legal and political framework available in addressing the
challenges taking place in the region and the examination of
several strategic and economic interests due to possible Arctic
resources' exploitation, in a long term perspective.
Any Additional Information or Notes: Free participation, all
those wishing to attend the event should fill out the
registration form until the day 11/11/2015.

The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for policy-makers and academics to deliberate on how the security, resilience and sustainability of the globalized Arctic region and its peoples may be enhanced, and what instruments of governance may most suitably contribute. The conference will spell out (1) how the different relevant dimensions of security (military, economic, environmental, energy and human security) manifest themselves in the governing / governance arrangements in the Arctic; (2) how the challenges associated with each manifest themselves, individually and together; and (3) what forms of governing arrangements can best help to address the challenges. The conference will also focus on (4) how the Nordic countries and nations, including Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aaland Islands, may contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Arctic region through collaborative efforts based on their shared social, human, environmental and democratic values.

The Arctic Circle will, in addition to the annual October Assemblies in Iceland, convene smaller and more specialized forums in other countries. In cooperation with Singapore Maritime Institute and the Government of Singapore an Arctic Circle Forum will take place in Singapore on November 12th 2015.

The general theme will be Asia in the Arctic. A special emphasis will be on inviting representatives from countries in Asia, which shall present their policies, science, projects and general vision on their involvement in Arctic affairs. An agenda will be published in the coming weeks.

Those interested in attending can contact the Arctic Circle Secretariat.

Identifying Profitability In Arctic Shipping With Safe & Efficient Operations. ACI’s 7th Arctic Shipping Summit 2015 will focus on discussing the practical solutions necessary for the ship owners to decide whether they should invest in utilising the Northern Sea Route. The meeting will provide updates on key developments and regulations in the Arctic, as well as present expert views on possible future advances in governing the transport routes. The conference will also address how to overcome the operational challenges that exist while entering the region. These include navigation, communications, risk and safety management, search and rescue, vessel design and crew training. The meeting will provide an outlook for the recent innovations in ice class vessel design as well as updates on ice breaker technology.

Joining the Summit will allow participants to better understand and evaluate the business model for operating in the Arctic.

The organizers would like to announce that registration and abstracts submission for the 1st Central European Polar Meeting are now possible. The meeting will be held from 10-13 November 2015 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria.

In 2015 the 100th anniversary of the death of Austrian polar explorer Julius Payer takes place. To commemorate the great achievements of Julius Payer for the international polar sciences the 1st Central European Polar Meeting is organized in Vienna in cooperation with the Austrian National Committee for Global Change. It will bring together polar researchers from Central European countries and beyond, including distinguished senior scientists, but also early career scientists and the next generation of polar researchers. Besides presentation of newest results from ongoing research activities, the conference is one of the first international activities of the newly established Central European Polar Partnership, which aims at increasing the visibility and coordinating polar research in and between the participating countries.

Scientific sessions and keynote speakers:

Climate Change and Impact on the Polar Cryosphere
Konrad Steffen (WSL, Switzerland)

Polar Ecology
Skip Walker (Alaska Geobotany Center, USA)
Jakub Zarsky (University of Prague, Czech Republic)

Permafrost under Climate Change
Hugues Lantuit (Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany)

History of Polar Research
Susan Barr (Directorate for Cultural Heritage and International Arctic Science Committee)

Arctic Social and Human Sciences
Gertrude Saxinger (Austrian Polar Research Institute, Austria)
Michal Łuszczuk (Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland)

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, 17 August 2015

For further information or to submit an abstract, please go to:
http://www.polarresearch.at/conference

For questions, please contact the conference office:
Ms. Marion Rothmüller
Email: cepm2015 [at] polarresearch.at

The organizing committee is looking forward to receiving your registrations and abstracts!