Conference highlights a bright future for Antarctic research

Conference highlights a bright future for Antarctic research

This week, more than 120 delegates will join New Zealand’s largest Antarctic science conference in Christchurch. The diverse programme of events spreads across three days and includes 40 power-presentations and more than 50 poster displays. World-recognised New Zealand scientists will lead discussions essential to the future of our planet and discuss themes from changing ice sheets and ice shelves, ocean-ice interactions, and biological indicators of change to human presence in Antarctica.

“The 2015 Antarctic Science Conference offers an opportunity for the New Zealand Antarctic research community, including some of our key international partners, to come together and share the progress we are making in Antarctic research,” says New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute (NZARI) Director Professor Gary Wilson.

“As a group, we share knowledge about how the changing ice cover and temperatures will impact the fragile and iconic life of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and we work together on means to communicate this to the wider public. Our million dollar partnership with National Geographic is significant to achieving this goal.

“As we encounter the prospect of changing global oceans and climate, more work needs to be undertaken to understand the impacts of those changes on Antarctica’s physical and biological systems.”

During the conference, new research initiatives will be introduced which illustrate New Zealand’s research effort. Developing the next generation of scientists is a core objective, therefore this event enables presenters to build multidisciplinary links with other researchers. This adds further value to the development of the future direction of New Zealand’s Antarctic Research Programme.

Key note speakers include Prof Nancy Bertler on the Roosevelt Island Evolution (RICE) Project, which pulled up a 760m ice core that gives insight into the climate 30,000 years ago; Dr Richard O’Driscoll, Chief Scientist on the recent RV Tangaroa voyage, which uncovered many weird, wonderful and potentially never-before-seen marine life; and Dr Barbara Bollard Breen with her high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and post-processing tools for data collection.

Among the attendees we welcome colleagues from the Australian Antarctic Division, the Korea Polar Research Institute, the British Antarctic Survey and the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration.
“The vision for the Antarctic Science Conference is to showcase New Zealand’s contribution to global Antarctic research efforts,” says Antarctica New Zealand Chief Executive Peter Beggs.

Antarctica New Zealand is committed to ensuring a bright future in Antarctic research. That’s why we’re very proud to announce the winners of three Postgraduate Research Scholarships at the Icebreaker networking function tonight.

Each scholarship contributes towards logistical expenses incurred during the scholar’s trip to Antarctica during the upcoming 2015/16 summer season.

We congratulate Sir Robin Irvine Scholarship ($40,000) winner Gemma Collins, PhD student in molecular ecology at the University of Waikato; Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Scholarship ($10,000) winner Andrew Pauling, postgraduate student at the University of Otago, where he is undertaking research for a Master of Science in Physics; and New Zealand Post Antarctic Scholarship ($10,000) winner Ethan Dale, a PhD student in Antarctic atmospheric physics at the University of Canterbury.

Antarctica New Zealand is very grateful to New Zealand Post, Kelly Tarlton’s and NZARI whose support for the next generation of Antarctic researchers has been unwavering.

ENDS

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