Antarctica in Sight: Live!
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON ANTARCTICA
Antarctica In Sight: Live! is back. Join us as we meet expert guests from the fields of science, history, conservation and culture, to explore hidden treasures, uncover amazing lives and deepen our understanding of this extraordinary place. Put your questions to the panel during each live event and discover new perspectives on your favourite frozen continent.
Season Four
Trailblazing Polar Women
Join us on Thursday 6 March for this exclusive webinar for International Women’s Day, we bring together the titans of British leadership in the polar regions. Speakers will include Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of the British Antarctic Survey, Jane Rumble, Head of the FCDO’s Polar Regions Department, and Kim Crosbie, UKAHT's Chair of Trustees and former Executive Director of the IAATO. It will be chaired by UKAHT's very own Head of Operations and record-breaking polar explorer Sophie Montagne.
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Imagining Antarctica: artists and writers on the frozen continent
We take a unique look at Antarctica through the eyes of artists, musicians and writers. We’ll hear from speakers including guitarist and chair of Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute Steve Garrett and visual artist and former Scott Polar Research Institute-artist-in-resident Polly Townsend, both of whom have used the icy content as their muse.
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Dogs in Antarctica
This year marks 30 years since the departure of sledge dogs from Antarctica, following 50 years of loyal service. In this special webinar, UKAHT's Chief Executive Camilla Nichol will be joined by polar explorer and experienced dog musher Nick Cox MBE as he talks to us about his long career working with these incredible pack animals in Antarctica.
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Endurance: Behind the Lens
In 2022, a team of modern-day explorers set out to find Shackleton’s lost ship, Endurance. In this free webinar, UKAHT's Chief Executive Camilla Nichol will chat with director Natalie Hewit about her experience searching for the wreck, her insights about Shackleton’s extraordinary expedition and the challenges of filmmaking in Antarctica.
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CATCH UP: SEASON Three
Antarctica's Wonderful Wildlife
In Antarctica's Wonderful Wildlife, we’ll shine a light on the extraordinary, diverse and unexpected wildlife found in and around the icy continent. We looked beyond the penguins we all know and love, to some of the other, lesser-known creatures found across the land, sea and air; from angelic snow petrels to snake-like leopard seals, 15,000-year-old sea sponges and sea spiders the size of dinner plates.
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Operation Tabarin: From Secret Mission to Penguin Post Office
In February 2024, we marked the 80th anniversary of Operation Tabarin and the establishment of Base A at Port Lockroy with a webinar exploring the hidden history of Britain’s Antarctic scientific research bases.
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CATCH UP: SEASON TWO
Breaking The Ice Ceiling
In Breaking The Ice Ceiling, UKAHT's Sophie Montagne joined award-winning adventurer, travel writer, photographer, presenter and broadcaster, Phoebe Smith, who in 2022, took a group of underprivileged young people to Antarctica with her #WeTwo Foundation. Two of her young explorers join us to share their experiences and introduce us to the future face of Antarctic exploration.
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Hand-Built Heritage
Discover how our amazing structures were built against the odds using pre-fabricated panels and make-do-and-mend salvaged materials, and meet the people whose job it is to restore and protect them today. Our expert speakers will highlight the challenges of conserving wooden buildings in extreme Antarctic conditions and discuss the threat that climate change has on these remarkable structures, as we look to protect their future. Supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
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The Great Antarctic Menu
With the festive season on the horizon, we explore the story of food in Antarctica: from surviving on dwindling supplies to conjuring up a festive feast from a tin. We’ll talk about the many food-related artefacts that can be found across the sites we preserve, explore creative menus from the archive, and discover what happened when food supplies ran low. And with three vegetarian team members heading to Port Lockroy for the first time, we discuss what it it takes to go meat-free in Antarctica and what we can all do to reduce our culinary footprint.
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Enduring Discoveries
On the anniversary of the sinking of Shackleton’s Endurance, we explore the amazing story of its rediscovery and what this means for its future conservation. We’ll be joined by very special guests John Shears, expedition leader with Endurance22, and Hefin Meara, maritime archaeologist with Historic England. Together they will uncover this amazing discovery process, the impossible conditions faced and the complex challenges of deciding how to protect the ship in future.
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CATCH UP: SEASON ONE
Designing for Extremes
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest and highest continent. Its surrounding Southern Ocean is renowned for record-breaking waves, unchecked winds and perilous sea ice. Living and working at the bottom of the world requires specialist, high-performance ships, clothing, equipment and accommodation designed to need minimal maintenance, have a reduced environmental footprint and maintain safety, health and wellbeing in extreme conditions.
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Antarctica and The Climate Crisis
Doomsday glaciers, shrinking sea ice, record high temperatures and dwindling wildlife – Antarctica is hitting the headlines. But what can the continent’s research tell us about the future of our planet?
We’ll hear from Dr Alison Banwell, working on ice-shelf stability at the University of Colorado Boulder, Dr Adrian Howkins, polar environmental historian from the University of Bristol and Dr Robert Larter, deputy science leader of palaeoenvironments at the British Antarctic Survey. The evening will be hosted by Sumit Paul-Choudhury, writer, consultant and former editor-in-chief of the New Scientist. watch here
Untold Stories of Antarctica
We’ll be joined by Morgan Seag, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, to tell us the story of women's integration into Antarctic field science in the mid-twentieth century. While Amelia Urry, also a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, will share stories of the women behind Antarctic mapping in the 1950s.
Shining a light on the tales of women, they will offer new perspectives on the history of human endeavour in the region, and ask why their narratives and achievements have been largely overlooked until now. Watch here
The Future of the Antarctic Treaty
Following the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty being adopted into law, Professor Klaus Dodds will look at the treaty as a model for global governance and cooperation, on the earth as well as in space. And, as the time nears to renegotiate, he will ask what the future of the treaty might look like in an increasingly divided world. Chaired by Sumit Paul-Choudhury.
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21st Century Heroism
On the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s death, modern-day explorers will look back at the “heroic” era of exploration, asking what it took back then, what heroism looks like now and what lessons we can learn 100 years on. With record-breaking polar explorer Ben Saunders and Henrietta Hammant, researcher in anthropology of heritage at the University of Reading.
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The Secret Life of Penguins
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Antarctic penguins - from an A-Z of the species, a run down of their family units and the extraordinary ways they communicate, to what studying penguins can tell us about the climate crisis. Speakers include: Ruth Peacey, wildlife filmmaker and Michael Dunn, seabird ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey.
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Following the event date, each talk will be available to watch with captions on this webpage. If you require any additional assistance in attending or accessing the talks, please get in touch at info@ukaht.org and we will do everything we can to accommodate.
