At AEPCS, we are deeply passionate about polar science. So in order to celebrate the first World Day for Glaciers in 2025, we recently shared a series of Instagram posts highlighting the personal stories and moments that sparked our passion, interest and love for the polar science.
Below, we’ve compiled the Instagram posts from our team, where they reflect on the experiences, encounters, and inspirations that led them to study and protect Earth’s coldest places.
Check out https://www.instagram.com/apecs_germany/ for more details!
Joana
It was during an internship at the Alfred Wegener Institute (@awiexpedition) in Potsdam in 2022 that our board member Joana discovered her passion for polar science 👩🏼🔬❄️.
However, it took her two and a half years to finally set foot on polar ground. In early 2025, she traveled to #Qikiqtarjuaq, Canada 🇨🇦, and experienced the Arctic winter for the first time. Walking across the sea ice to an ice berg and experiencing the breathtaking landscape threatened by ongoing climate change made her realize how important it is to study the dynamics in the polar regions🐧🐻❄️.
She is currently doing her PhD on organic carbon fluxes from permafrost into the ocean 🌊 in #Quebec.
Alexandra
Svalbard in spring 2017 – our board member Alexandra (@dr_polarbear) went to #Svalbard for the first time to study oceanography @unisvalbard. Experiencing polar day for the first time during fieldwork on the ship Polarsyssel was something, she never forgets: taking samples at 2 am with sunglasses in the most beautiful surroundings 😎
A year later she came back for a second course with more fieldwork, knowing that she will pursue a PhD in polar sciences ❄️
Joana
Growing up in the snowy Black Forest, Joana (@bio_on_the_rocks) was introduced to winter adventures early on – skiing with her outdoor-loving family before she could even properly walk 🎿.
Her fascination with snow and cold places started there and only grew stronger. A key moment was a solo backpacking trip to Iceland after high school, where the majestic Vatnajökull glacier lagoon left a lasting impression 💙.
Years later, she spent a semester abroad in Svalbard @unisvalbard and fell in love with the Arctic Ocean 🌊.
Today, she explores the polar world through the tiny lens of microfossils, studying ostracods to better understand past ocean conditions 🔬.
Nellie
Nellie, a doctoral researcher based @mpi_gea in Jena, found polar processes always fascinating – whether ocean circulations, atmosphere dynamics, or biogeochemical cycles. 💨🌊🍃
During a master’s degree course one of her professors shared pictures and stories from fieldwork in Antarctica and talked about the Southern Ocean and pancake ice. 🥞❄️
She never thought she could herself join such an adventure – it just seemed too far away! But it never really let her go…
A couple of years later she overwintered in Antarctica, spending 14 months on the Ekström Ice Shelf of extensive fieldwork with @awiexpedition.
Now she started a PhD in ice-sheet modelling. 🧊🌐
Max
The fascination of our new board member Max for the polar world began also during an exchange semester @unisvalbard, where fieldwork in the remote #Arctic environment 🏔️ sparked his passion for polar science.
For his master’s thesis, he joined an airborne campaign ✈️, observing sea ice 🧊 from 10 km altitude—an experience that inspired his current PhD research in satellite remote sensing of sea ice 🛰️.
Lena
It was in autumn 2017, our board member Lena set foot on a glacier for the first time—#Folgefonna in Norway—during her Erasmus stay in Bergen. 🏔️
That experience boosted her motivation to keep studying glaciers and ice sheets, also in the field on #Svalbard! 🐻❄️
At the moment, she is pursuing a PhD on Antarctic ice-sheet dynamics using computer models 🌐✨ 🐧
Lukas
As an alpine ski racer and general winter and mountain enthusiast, our current board member Lukas has always been drawn to cold places. ⛷️🌲🏔️
This kept nudging him towards polar science and after two trips to @unisvalbard there is nothing he would rather do!
For Lukas, the most beautiful moments in #Svalbard are the pink/purple skies in February.🌅💜
Why do you do what you do?
You want to share your story? Tag us over on instagram or send us an e-mail at germany-board[at]apecs.is!