My visit in the summer of 2010 was my 10th visit to Spitsbergen. This anniversary made me think of a new anniversary lecture: “Ten summers in the Arctic”. In this lecture I look back at those ten summers I spent up north. The first three summers I came as a master student, researching Barnacle Geese in Ny Ålesund together with Maarten Loonen. Before that third year, I was asked to be a guide for Oceanwide Expeditions after I finished my research season. This turned out to be more fun as doing research, so the following summers I spent most time on a ship, sailing around Spitsbergen. The last seasons I did a mixture of things, camping during a research project, guiding on a sailing vessel and camping with tourists.

During these many months I experienced lots of different things, found nice birds, enjoyed the desolate landscape of the polar desert or found the hidden treasures of the tundra, had close encounters with Walruses and Polar Bears and even found a group of 5 Bowhead Whales.

This lecture will be different from my other lectures, who all have a biological theme. Here “guide Arjen” tells his stories, takes you with him on a journey to the remote parts on top of this world: the Arctic.

The lecture takes 1.5 hours and can be given in English or Dutch. Feel free to sent me an e-mail for more information or to book a lecture.