NASC representatives joined the meeting of the European Polar Board is an independent organisation focused on major strategic priorities in the Arctic and Antarctic. EPB members include research institutions, logistics operators, funding agencies, scientific academies and government ministries from across Europe.
The event lasted for two days at the Polar Research Center of the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland) with the support of the Polar Research Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The Ukrainian delegation informed the EPB about the main results of activities in Antarctica during 2023-2024 summer season, as well as about the strengthening of international cooperation. In particular, it was about NASC participation in the EU large-scale infrastructure POLARIN project, which we recently talked about.
During the meeting, the EPB welcomed a new participant – Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic). It is responsible for the implementation of Czech research program in Antarctica.
In addition, delegates got acquainted the report on the implementation of the EPB’s strategic priorities in the Arctic and Antarctica for 2023-2027 and heard reports of three Action groups:
- on Infrastructure
- on International Cooperation
- on Environmental Impacts of Polar Research and Logistics.
Issues related to the involvement of leading European experts through EPB mechanisms in the implementation of current research initiatives in the polar regions were also considered.
Let us recall that NASC became a member of the European Polar Board in April 2022. Currently, EPB includes 31 research institutions from 18 EU member states and research institutions of 4 associated partner countries (Great Britain, Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine).
It is important that no organization affiliated with Russia is a member of the EPB.
Moreover, in response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EPB plenary meeting (November 22-23, 2022, Luxembourg) decided to remove any form of cooperation with Russia-related organizations from the EPB’s agenda.
