– contributed by Matteo Cattadori, Patricia Azinhaga and José Xavier
The 3rd Polar Educators International (PEI) Workshop was held in Rovereto (Italy) from 11-14 July and brought together a total of 76 teachers, scientists and high school students from 12 countries worldwide, including 2 participants from Brazil and India (the only participants from South America and Asia) supported by SCAR.
The program included 10 keynote research presentations and 6 keynote education and outreach presentations and laboratories. Other slots of the program were devoted to the presentation and sharing of experiences by participants through snap talks and two poster and hands-on sessions. The whole workshop was streamed online live through the website of the association (www.polareducators.org), all the recordings as well as the workshop materials are available online.
Among the most followed presentations included: The 25th anniversary of the Madrid Protocol, the history of international scientific cooperation in the polar regions, the Ross Sea region Marine Protected area, robotic applications in polar regions, and two educational sessions focusing on the use of remote sensing in polar sciences and the contribution of genetics tools in polar marine biology, and an introduction to SCAR. This workshop demonstrated once again the importance of having scientists and educators working together towards more awareness about Antarctic issues relevant to the World and to boost the next generation of educators and polar scientists.
The workshop was sponsored by CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), among other sponsoring institutions and endorsed by IASC (International Arctic Science Committee), CliC (Climate and Cryosphere), AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute), APECS (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) and DGP (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Polarforschung) and numerous national and local organisations.
Workshop Organizers: Cattadori, M., Cicconi, A., Azinhaga, P., Dooley, J., Huffman, L., Trummel, B., Xavier, J. C., Wesche, G., Wilkening, B.