On 13 and 14 February 2025, Arne Riedel and Fenja Kroos from Ecologic Institute participated in the founding meeting of the Polar Policy Working Group of the German Society for Polar Research (DGP), held in Berlin. The meeting was organised in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and took place back-to-back with the annual conference of the DVPW thematic group on Polar and Ocean Politics.

The newly established working group aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for polar researchers engaged in political and policy-relevant topics. It seeks to act as a bridge between the natural sciences and political, social, legal and cultural research, complementing rather than duplicating existing formats such as the Arctic Dialogue or the DVPW thematic group.

The founding meeting focused on discussions around the interplay between polar political practice, polar science and polar social science, addressing both Antarctic and Arctic perspectives. Arne Riedel and Fenja Kroos actively contributed to the discussions and are active members of the working group. In addition, Fenja Kroos is part of the coordinating team of a new project led by the working group that will examine how interdisciplinarity in polar research is organised in practice and institutionally across selected countries.

The founding meeting marked the starting point for ongoing collaboration within the Polar Policy Working Group, which will convene annually to foster interdisciplinary exchange on emerging challenges and governance questions in the polar regions.