Polar outreach event
In May, Belgium was hosting the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), and on this occassion, young scientists from the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) Belgium organized an outreach event for a wide audience to get attention for the poles. This was an opportunity for families, kids, students and teachers to learn more about the polar regions.
'Bringing the poles to Brussels' was composed of a photo exhibition, games for kids, 'cool' experiments, a live connection with researchers at the South Pole and lectures by invited scientists in English, Dutch and French.
Marine@UGent members from the Protistology & Aquatic Ecology and Marine Biology lab were present with experiments and a lecture on the deep sea: the known, unknown and threats for Antarctic deep-sea biology by professor Ann Vanreusel (picture on the left).
You can read more about this event by clicking on the picture below.

You can also read more here: on Science.be (French) on xpats.com (English), on the website of Ghent University (Dutch), and on brusselnieuws.be (Dutch).
A special edition of Science connection has been devoted to Antarctica, including an article ('APECS BeNeLux. United we stand, divided we fall') mentioning this event, and an article from researchers from the Renard Centre of Marine Geology ('Belgian underwater robot explores the Antarctic seabed). You can explore this edition in Dutch, French and English by clicking on the pictures below.
