The Netherlands Polar Programme (''Nederlands Polair Programma'' or NPP) is the Dutch

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

and

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

research program A research program (British English: research programme) is a professional network of scientists conducting basic research. The term was used by philosopher of science Imre Lakatos to blend and revise the normative model of science offered by K ...

me. It is administered by the

Dutch Research Council The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...

based in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The programme is positioned in the framework of the Netherlands' Polar Strategy and is funded by a coalition of five ministries of the Dutch government and the Dutch Research Council. It periodically publishes its own research programme strategy titled ''PolePosition-NL''.

History

The Netherlands Polar Programme was established as the Netherlands Antarctic Programme in 1984 and was one of the arguments for granting the Netherlands consultative status in the

Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...

in 1990. The Netherlands became the first party to the Antarctic Treaty to obtain this status without its own research

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the

Antarctic region The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of ...

. The Netherlands Arctic Programme was founded in 2002, after the Netherlands had obtained

observer status Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organization's activities. Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organizations (IGO) to non-member parties and ...

in the

Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic region. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic ...

in 1998. The two separate polar programmes merged in 2011 at the launch of the joint strategy plan ''PolePosition-NL 1.0.'' In 2013 the Netherlands Polar Programme opened the

Dirck Gerritsz Laboratory Dirck Gerritsz Laboratory is a Dutch Antarctica, Antarctic Research stations in Antarctica, research facility on Adelaide Island near Rothera Research Station. It is operated by the Netherlands Polar Programme of the Dutch Research Council and Br ...

Rothera Research Station The Rothera Research Station is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula, located at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island. Rothera also serves as the capital of the British Antarctic Territory, a British Overseas Territor ...

Adelaide Island Adelaide Island is a large, mainly ice-covered island, long and wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Ginger Islands lie off the southern end. Mount Bodys is the easternmost mounta ...

, on the Pacific side of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. It has a life expectancy of 25 years. Rothera was visited by the Crown Prince

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

and Princess Máxima in 2009, in recognition of the good scientific collaboration of British and Dutch researchers. The programme funds the Dutch

research facility A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural sc ...

Ny-Ålesund Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land in the west of the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

. The Arctic Centre of the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

operates th
research facility
in cooperation with Kings Bay AS.

Activities

The Netherlands Polar Programme's chief task is to fund polar research that is carried out at circa fifteen universities and public institutes in the Netherlands. To this end, it regularly opens calls for proposal that are normally open to Dutch researchers only. It has also funded several consortium calls and calls tailored to unique endeavors, such as the Fourth

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

in 2007–2008,

MOSAiC Expedition The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC, ) expedition was a one-year-long expedition into the Central Arctic (September 2019 - October 2020). For the first time a modern research icebreaker was able to op ...

in 2019-2020 and the ''SEES.nl'' expeditions to

Edgeøya Edgeøya (), anglicised as Edge Island, is a Norway, Norwegian island located in southeast of the Svalbard archipelago; with an area of , it is the third-largest island in this archipelago. An Arctic island, it forms part of the Søraust-Svalbard ...

in 2015 and 2022. In addition to research funding, the programme manages the

and two standing partnerships with the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...

and the

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association ...

, which date back to the 1980s. The Netherlands Polar Programme is the national coordinator of the Dutch representation in the

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council, International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including th ...

Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) is an international association that develops and promotes best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica. Members are composed of national research programs ...

International Arctic Science Committee The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)is a non-governmental, international scientific organization. IASC was founded in 1990 by representatives of national scientific organizations of the eight Arctic countries - Canada, Denmark, Finla ...

, European Polar Board, Forum of Arctic Research Operators and Arctic Funders Forum. It also funds the Dutch participation in four of the

working groups. The NPP secretariat acts as the contact point for international polar research funding, governance and support. A Polar Symposium is held annually and is usually co-organised by the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists Netherlands.

References

{{reflist

External links

Homepage

List of institutional dissertations since 1950
Antarctic agencies