The main objective of the weekend was to emphasize the importance of the polar regions, and to showcase the various Portuguese science and education outreach activities currently underway. The weekend proved to be a wonderful opportunity for the wider public to get to know the Portuguese polar science community.




The weekend's progtram included activities for all ages, from children to adults. These included theatre plays (for children), science exhibition (for the general public), work displays (of the winners of the national school contest "Discovering the polar regions"), "hand on" experiments (for school children), science talks (given by scientists), workshops (from scientists and from students that went to Antarctica) and even a rock music concert (given by a band where one of the members was a winner of the polar contest). David Carslon, Director of the International Program Office of the International Polar Year, was also in attendance.





There were live national radio and TV interviews. On the second day, the number of visitors quintupled from the first day to 6,000, doubling the pavillion's previous attendance record. Overall, we feel it was a huge success.




Jose Xavier and Gonçalo Vieira