With the support of GSGS, I was able to attend the 2026 Climate and Cryosphere Open Science Conference (CliC) in Wellington, New Zealand. This relatively intimate conference of around 400 participants brought together researchers from a wide range of disciplines working on polar regions and their role in the global climate system. As someone focusing on Antarctica, it was a great opportunity to meet leading researchers in the field, including key members of the British Antarctic Survey and the Australian Antarctic Division who have first-hand experience in my study region, the Vestfold Hills.
In addition to presenting a poster, I was invited to give a three-minute lightning talk in front of approximately 150 participants. This gave me valuable public speaking experience and helped draw attention to my poster. The discussions that followed were extremely helpful and allowed me to receive feedback from researchers working on ice-sheet modelling, glacial geology, and sea-level change. I was also able to connect with scientists from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and the UK, which may lead to future collaborations during my PhD or in potential postdoctoral projects.
I also used this opportunity to visit collaborators in Australia, both at Macquarie University in Sydney and at the University of Canberra. As I am currently writing my first paper, these visits gave me the chance to discuss my results and interpretations with experts who have worked in the Vestfold Hills since the 1980s. They were able to share insights, unpublished observations, and practical advice on structuring the manuscript. Conversations at the University of Canberra also led to ideas for a potential second paper using complementary datasets they have collected.
Overall, attending CliC 2026 was an important step in developing my research network and strengthening the scientific direction of my PhD. This experience would not have been possible without the support of the GSGS Training and Networking Grant.
Jacob Feller
PhD student
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy
PhD project: Late Quaternary Glacial History of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica
Poster/Lightning Talk Title: “New insights on late Quaternary East Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior from a lake sediment record from the Vestfold Hills”