Scott Polar Research Institute
Archive of previous one-off events
See also:
Shackleton 100
2014
8th August 2014 marks the start of the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Endurance Expedition. On this day 100 hundred years ago, Endurance set sail from Plymouth.
The Shackleton 100 website brings together in one place information on events taking place across the world to commemorate the 1914-17 Antarctic expeditions.
Kapitsa Memorial Evening
Friday 24 May 2013
SPRI was host to a Memorial Evening on 24 May 2013 to remember the lives of Sergei and Andrei Kapitsa, both highly distinguished scientists with a strong connection to Cambridge. Talks were given by family, friends and colleagues of the Kapitsa brothers. A description and photographs of the event are available here.
Scott 100
2012
17th January 2012 marks the centenary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s team from the British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition reaching the South Pole. This was a month after a party led by Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first people to reach the Earth’s most southerly point on 14th December 1911.
The Scott 100 site brings together in one place information on events taking place across the world to commemorate the 1910-13 Antarctic expeditions.
Theatre
Saturday 8th November 2008
The play Captain Ross is a celebration and fictitious reworking of Captain John Ross's second voyage in search of a northwest passage, which left London in the summer of 1829. It was performed on the Neptune Theatre, an authentic miniature stage.
Seminar: Modelling meltwater plumes from tidewater glaciers
Tuesday 19th February 2008, 1-2pm
Ruth Mugford gave an informal seminar on some of her PhD work Modelling meltwater plumes from tidewater glaciers. It was part of the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics (ITG) informal lunchtime seminar series and took place at DAMTP in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (CMS), Room MR15.
Evening performance in the SPRI Lecture theatre
January 30th 2008, 7.30pm
Students of Hills Road Sixth Form College will be giving a performance in the lecture theatre at SPRI at 7.30pm on January 30th. This is a piece developed and performed by students studying for the Performance Studies A level course. It is inspired by Scott and Shackleton, and will include elements of dance, drama and music.
The first polar flight: Ellsworth & Amundsen or Byrd?
Wednesday 26th April 2006
4.30pm at Scott Polar Research Institute Lecture Theatre
For fifteen years Robert Perkins has been making films for Channel 4 TV about his canoe journeys and explorations in the Arctic, in Britain and Siberia. He has written five books and made seven documentary films. His particular passion is the Canadian Arctic. His website is at gotrob.com.
Dr Hiroki Takakura, Tohoku University, Centre for Northern Asian Studies: Tuesday, 15 June 2004
Scott Polar Research Institute Lecture Theatre
14:30-16:00: Reindeer herd control among indigenous peoples in Verkhoyansk Region, Siberia: pasturing domestic ungulates "without human control"
Abstract: Arctic Anthropologists have created theoretical models of reindeer herd control in Siberia. However, little is known about how herders actually manage herds of reindeer in pasture on a day-to-day basis. This paper examines the distinctive features of reindeer herding activities on the ground, with an account of the rhythms of the seasonal migrations, and their relationship to husbandry activities in relation to seasonal migrations. Herders allow one part of the herd (riding reindeer) to supervise and lead the other animals, resulting in a dual structure of the herd, with varying distances between the herd and the camp. The paper concludes with a comparison with horse herding.
16:30-18:00: An overview of Siberian anthropology through Japanese eyes: 1990-2002
Abstract: The speaker will summarise Japanese anthropological work in |Siberia from 1990-2002, linking the earlier Pre-war tradition with the new upsurge of research interest in this neighbouring region. A particular example is the Ainu, who cross the Russian-Japanese border on the river Amur.
Siberian Film Festival - 4th June 2004
A full day of rare documentary films will take place on 4 June, between 11 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., in the Theatre of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Lensfield Road. Programme [PDF format].
Thomas Berger - The Idea of Canada in the 21st Century
University of Cambridge Canadian Studies Initiative
Wednesday May 26, 2004, 5:15pm - Scott Polar Research Institute, Large Lecture Theatre -
Thomas Berger, a renowned Canadian public intellectual and retired Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, asks the question whether Canada has emerged as something of a prototype for the 21st century. Its English and French beginnings, the place of Aboriginal peoples, the influx of immigrants from all over the world in recent years, count as one of the successes in the history of British decolonization. Acknowledging and balancing the rights of its citizens has been one of Canada's major achievements.
In the course of exploring "the idea of Canada", Berger will discuss the Charter of Rights and the work of the Supreme Court in elaborating its provisions and the equally important provisions of the 1982 Constitution acknowledging the rights of Aboriginal people.
Cambridge in America - Glaciers & Ice Sheets: Ancient and Modern
8th June 2004
Julian Dowdeswell, Director, gave a talk on Glaciers & Ice Sheets: Ancient and Modern to Cambridge in America
Science Week events
Science Week events were held in 2002 and 2004-08.