The Polar Symposium 2023 was a great success! It was a day full of informative and inspiring talks from various polar researchers and associations supplemented with a large number of posters made by scientists and companies. The 11 May, the day the Symposium took place, also signified the hand-over of Russian Arctic Council Chairmanship to Norway. The news of the hand-over arrived during the Symposium and was aligned with the discussion panel on the current state and the future of Arctic research cooperation.

It was a pleasure to see so many people connecting and networking with each other that share the same passion for the polar regions.

We, as APECS NL, were involved in the planning phase of the symposium, organised the poster session, welcomed polar enthusiasts at our own poster and stand and concluded the day with an informal activity for early career scientists at a nearby café. This was the ideal opportunity to meet and exchange ideas together and was very well received, we ended up with around 24 new and old APECS friends and members

A big thanks to everyone that participated and our fellow organisers from the NWO (Dutch Research Council) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We hope to see you at the next event!