We are honored to bring to the public’s attention the successful end of the Romanian Governmental Scientific Expedition in Antarctica – ROICE 2015, that took place at the King Sejong Station of the Korean Institute of Polar Research from the King George Islands, during 3 – 23rd of February 2015.
This unique, spectacular expedition, that required highly professional scientific training, was organized by the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences (INCDSB) from Bucharest that is under the coordination of the National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, in partnership with the Korean Polar Research Institute (KOPRI).
The two institutes signed a Collaboration Agreement for a 5 (five) years period in the polar sciences – life sciences domain.
Within INCDSB, in 2014, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Department was established by Ministerial decision. Its mission is to strengthen the research area of the Environment and Biodiversity pillar and to contribute, through the specialization domain, to the development of polar sciences researches.
In order to have notable achievements, involving international recognition through publication in professional journals, researchers’ access in Antarctica was a priority for conducting studies in the field.
The goal of the expedition was to investigate the Antarctic ecosystems by studying microbial communities from different habitats, in order to identify and characterize the microcosmos specific to these habitats.
The research team consists of Cristina PURCĂREA – expedition leader, Cristian COMAN – expedition coordinator, Corina IȚCUȘ – expedition member.
ROICE 2015 Project was conducted under the management and scientific coordination of Dr. Manuela Elisabeta Sidoroff – General Manager of INCDSB and Vicepresident of the National Commission for Antarctic Research (CNCA) of the Romanian Academy, and Acad. Octavian POPESCU – Manager of the Institute of Biology Bucharest of the Romanian Academy and Scientific Coordinator for Life Sciences of CNCA of the Romanian Academy.
This action was possible with the help of the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research/National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
INCDSB Press Release Office
27.02.2015