UKPN at Arctic Circle Assembly 2025
As someone who’s conference experience has previously only been UK based science conferences, going to the Arctic Circle Assembly is a very different experience. The Arctic Circle Assembly is a yearly conference held in Reykjavik that brings together an international community of people interested in the Arctic – 70 countries were represented this year by the 2000 total attendees. The Arctic Circle Assembly is a unique experience, so the opportunity to attend is highly recommended (and the location isn’t too bad either!).
The thing that makes Arctic Circle a very different conference is the geopolitics of it. A large proportion of people attending the Arctic Circle Assembly are governmental officials, all there to represent their countries interests. Additionally, institutions such as the Arctic Council and NATO are represented. This year we even had Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan giving a speech in the opening plenary! Working as a scientist in the Arctic geopolitics impacts your research even if you don’t feel like it does day to day. I think it’s important to have an awareness of how geopolitics is shaping the Arctic, attending Arctic Circle has really widened my understanding of the differing views and opinions of politics in the Arctic.
Being such a large conference, the conference has multiple sessions running at any one time, so planning was essential (made easy by the very handy app they created!). Sessions cover a broad range of topics, from the health impacts of wildfires on Arctic communities to talks with Neil Armstrongs family about a new film they’re a part of showcasing their fathers previously secret trip with Edmund Hillary to the Arctic in 1985! Alongside talks there are also invitation only roundtables to discuss business issues or topics like science diplomacy. Whilst there are no traditional ‘science’ talks or science poster sessions there is still a lot to get out of the conference as a scientist, especially as we’re coming up to International Polar Year 2032-2033 which had a lot of attention at the conference. Additionally, Indigenous communities had a large representation and presence in multiple talks. This representation is essential as none of these discussion can happen without Indigenous representation; to hear from members of Indigenous communities first hand experiences was incredibly beneficial to me as a researcher, but also to the wider Arctic community.
Additionally, the opportunity for networking is the best part of going. Talks are interesting but the connections you can build are what you really take away from a conference like this. Because everyone’s backgrounds are so varied, it really helps to promote cross disciplinary and international collaborations. It helps to connect with one or two people you know are going beforehand as it can be quite overwhelming walking into the massive Harpa Concert Hall, but even if you know no one there are plenty of opportunities to meet people at mixers.
I was lucky in securing funding from the NERC Arctic Office to support my attendance, as they were looking to send early and middle career researchers from the UK, so it is worth looking out for similar funding schemes to support your attendance in the future. Being supported by the NERC Arctic Office here in the UK to attend also meant I got to attend some special events. All British attendees to the conference were invited to a drinks reception the evening before it started at the British Ambassador to Iceland’s residence. Hosted by Dr Bryony Mathew, the current ambassador, it gave all British attendees an opportunity to mix and get to know one another. Later on in the conference schedule, attendees funded by the NERC Arctic Office were also invited to a dinner with Dame Angela McLean, the Chief Scientific Ad
visor to the UK government. This gave us a great networking opportunity and the chance to discuss our perspectives of UK Arctic science as well as hearing from Angela about gaining experience in the civil service as scientists (we also had a 7-course tasting menu that included raw scallops and beef tartare which is an experience I never thought I’d have!).
The conference closing night was also very different from anything I’ve experienced. The last plenary session included three musical performances from Nefur, a singer incorporating glacier sounds, Keli Armstrong & Friends singing about a flight Neil Armstrong took his son on and iDJA a Sámi DJ performing Sámi electronic music. After this, whilst at the closing drinks we also got treated to a spectacular northern lights show! Most of my time in Reykjavik the weather had been quite cloudy, but on the last night conditions turned out to be perfect. I’d never seen the northern lights before, so this was one of my highlights as well!
Overall attending the Arctic Circle Assembly was a great experience, if very tiring. I would recommend attending to any Early Career Researcher as it’s a completely unique experience, but particularly if you are interested in the political side of the Arctic or have career ambitions with government in mind. Use the time to build connections and soak up knowledge from everyone around you. You’ll be exhausted afterwards, but you’ll have a better, well-rounded perspective about the current issues facing the Arctic and its People’s.
Written by Lena Lencastle, PhD student Sheffield University, UKPN Education and Outreach Officer
ECRs at Antarctica InSync Science Planning Meeting
Last week, the Antarctica InSync Science Planning Meeting was hosted at the ESA-ESRIN (European Space Agency) in Frascati, Rome.
Antarctica InSync is an exciting, ambitious new global programme which seeks to 'synchronise research across Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, connecting ice, ocean, climate, and life to protect this vital region'. This will be done through synchronised, multi-platform observations between 2027-2030. (Read more about Antarctica InSync here). The science planning meeting had over 100 attendees collaborating to align scientific priorities around the 7 scientific Themes. Each theme did this through development of white papers which will be open for the community to comment on shortly, and then published sometimes in the new year.
UK Polar Network were lucky enough to have representation at the meeting. We were invited since we represent early career researchers (ECRs) on the UK InSync national committee. (Find out about other ways that UKPN represents ECRs here.) This was a fantastic opportunity to ensure that ECR perspectives were being heard during this planning phase, and to engage with the coordination team, attendees and key stakeholders.
Overall, it felt like the meeting was very inclusive to ECRs. There were several ECRs in attendance from various nations (although it is worth noting that they were mostly from Western countries). Their voices were actively included in discussions during Theme white paper developments. Impressively 2 ECRs had proposed and lead a scientific working group. At both the first and last plenary sessions we were pleased that senior scientists initiated discussions about ECR involvement. Discussions included possibilities of fieldwork training, hackathons and berth sharing.
We are so excited about some of the opportunities InSync presents for ECRs and will work hard to advocate for them to come to fruition. It's so important that as a community we try and make the most of the opportunities Antarctica InSync presents. Here are some ways to get involved in Antarctica InSync as an ECR:
- Sign up to the Antarctica InSync mailing list and the mailing list for the scientific themes you are most
Lucy Stephenson, UKPN Vice-President, attending the Antarctica In Sync Science Planning meeting held at the European Space Agency. interested in
- Watch this space for an Antarctica InSync ECR mailing list coming soon
- Join the working groups that align with your interests - these will be advertised soon
- Set up a working group around your scientific area of expertise!
- Contribute in the new year when theme white papers are opened up for feedback/input from the wider community
- Engage with your national committee. Look up who your ECR/APECS representative is on your national committee. If there isn't one should there be?
- Talk to your supervisors/collaborators about ways to get involved scientifically in Antarctica InSync
- Attend the InSync ECR workshop at SCAR Open Science Conference 2026 organised by APECS Germany
Written by Lucy Stephenson, UKPN Vice-President