On Saturday 29 th November this year, a team of nine UK Polar Network volunteers travelled
to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, for its annual Polar Day! After a
hiatus in 2024 while repairs were made to the museum roof, it was exciting to continue the
ongoing collaboration between UKPN and the NMM with another day of fun and engaging
polar science activities, talks, and displays for curious visitors of all ages.

UKPN activities and talks were hosted on the museum’s “Great Map” open floor space,
recently redesigned using the thought-provoking Spilhaus Projection, which depicts the
world’s oceans as a single interconnected system. This view of the world centres the
continent of Antarctica, highlighting the global importance of the poles, and providing a
fitting backdrop for sharing our enthusiasm for polar science!

Young visitors engaged with our 3D polar map displays, tried on real polar gear from the
British Antarctic Survey, and admired Lego displays of polar exploration ships brought by
collaborators from Polar Educators International. A crowd gathered to listen to a fascinating
talk on the challenges facing the polar regions in our changing world by Prof. Ilan Kelman of
UCL, then the crew of the Novara One Planet expedition shared what they learned from
sailing the Northwest Passage and visiting Arctic communities on the frontlines of this
change. Finally, our volunteers from the Scott Polar Research Institute shared with us their
research into community-based monitoring of urban heat islands in the Arctic, alongside a
popular experimental activity using infrared thermometers to compare the temperatures of
different surfaces.

Overall, we had a great time communicating about the polar regions and sharing the science
we’re so passionate about! I was very struck by how much all the volunteers enjoyed the
day, even those who were very nervous about speaking in public to begin with. As a festivals
team, we really want to expand our activities to offer these kinds of opportunities to as
many early-career researchers as possible – if you’d like to be involved, know of an event
you’d like to see us at, or just want to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you at
festivals@polarnetwork.org.

Edmund Lea
UK Polar Network Festivals Team