The “Lewander Lecture”, originally presented by the SCAR History Expert Group, is now presented by a historian from SC-HASS. It is given during the SCAR Open Science Conference (SCAR OSC) or during the SC-HASS Conference, in memory of our Swedish friend, Lisbeth Lewander, who passed away in early 2012, and her inspiring work on the history of polar research.

The annual "Lewander Lecture" is chosen by the co-chair of SC-HASS, historian Cornelia Lüdecke, and the co-convenors from the abstracts submitted to SC-HASS history sessions of the biennial SCAR OSCs or to history sessions of the alternate biennial SC-HASS Conferences.

The lecture should demonstrate the value of dealing with polar history from diverse points of view, as well as the importance of sharing ideas and experiences with the next generation of scholars in order to widen involvement in the field. The lecture should be inspiring and deal either with new methods and ideas related to the history of polar research, or with knowledge based on decades of original research.

The Lewander Lecture was conceived in 2012 by Antarctic Polar Early-Career Scientists and Senior Scientists who knew Lisbeth Lewander personally through various conferences and workshops:
Cornelia Lüdecke (Chair SCAR History Expert Group, Germany), Aant Elzinga (Sweden), Adrian Howkins (USA), Pedar Roberts (France), Consuelo Leon Wöppke (Chile) and Lize-Marié van der Watt (South Africa).

List of Lewander Lectures

2023

Daniela Liggett (New Zealand):
“In Search of Meaning and Recognition: Scholarship in the Antarctic Humanities and Social Sciences Through Time”

2021

Cornelia Lüdecke (Germany):
"Single stages of the discovery of Antarctica in comparison with the development of SC-HASS”

2019

Nelson Llanos (Chile):
"Housewives in Antarctica: A chronicle of power and gender in the white continent, 1980's"

2018

Lisa Bloom (USA):
"Polar Art and Climate Change: Perceptual Shifts in Polar History Mediated by Art"

2017

Consuelo Leon Wöppke (Chile):
"Chilean Antarctic Historiography: Main Contributions and New Trends"

2016

Adrian Howkins (USA): 
"Changing patterns of human activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys since the 1950s"

2015

Peder Roberts (Sweden):
"Enriching polar environments through animals: the curious history of bipolar animal transfers"

2014

Elizabeth Leane (Australia):
"The Macquarie Island penguin-harvesting controversy. Science, celebrity and media in a subantarctic wildlife campaign"

2013

Victoria Nuviala and Ximena Senatore (Argentina):
"Figures in the Fog: Ways of telling the Antarctic whaler's history (20th century, Antarctica)"

2012

Heidi Prozesky and Lize-Marié van der Watt (both South Africa):
"The triple burden of masculinity: A gender analysis of South African Antarctic and sub-Antarctic science, c. 1961-2011"