Antarctica Day is celebrated internationally on 1 December, marking the day of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. 59 years ago, Antarctica became a continent dedicated to peace and scientific international collaboration!
Like every year, APECS joins partners organizations Our Spaces - Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces, Polar Educators International (PEI) (and others around the world) to mark this important milestone with fun activities.
Please see below the events we are organizing, come and join us, and tell us what you are doing to celebrate Antarctica Day!
The theme for this year is “Make your Voices Heard”. We want to give a platform to those who don’t know much about Antarctica, and to inspire them to find out more and how to get involved. We will focus on seeking out the voices of individuals and communities from underrepresented groups in Polar Research.
Here is how you can participate in this year’s Antarctica Day:
Photo Competition Antarctica Day 2018 ‘Tell a Story”. Mark the 59th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty with your photo and story! Submit your photos and win! We want to hear from your Antarctic experiences, what makes it an important place for research and how you spend your time in Antarctica. For more information, please see the photo competition website. Submission deadline for photos is on 30 November 2018! Vote from 24 November - 1 December.
‘A Flag for Antarctica!’ Inspire children for your local organizations to create a flag for Antarctica! The flags could travel to Antarctica with our network of polar early career researchers, and we send the local organization a picture of the flag in the Icy Continent. Please register the flag(s) with the UK Polar Network here.
Distribute the booklet “Celebrating Antarctica” to local schools and libraries. This colourful education resource is a free download, and it has been translated in many (many!) different languages. Find it here:
‘Ask an Expert’ webinar: we are organizing two public webinars on December 5th 2018. These are aimed to engage high school students with Antarctic research, to ask questions to polar early career researchers and inspire the next generation to get involved in the protection of Antarctica.
This years webinars are:
- December 5th 2018, at 21:00 GMT: a Spanish-speaking webinar with Antarctic experts of different fields of research.
- December 5th 2018, at 22:00 GMT: an English-speaking webinar with Antarctic experts of different fields of research.
If you know of a school group interested in participating in these webinars, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
