COMNAP Meetings 2025
37th Annual General Meeting (AGM)
5−8 August 2025
Warsaw, Poland
The AGM will be held as an in-person, Members-only, meeting at Novotel Warszawa Centrum.
To participate in any of the meetings, registration before the deadline of Saturday 28 June 2025 is required.
Registration is NOW OPEN.
Head to the COMNAP Members’ Only webpage (via Members’ Login button, top right) for further information.
Annual General Meeting 37 (2025)
Tuesday 5, Thursday 7 & Friday 8 August, 2025
Novotel Warszawa Centrum, Warsaw, Poland
The 37th COMNAP AGM (2025) will be held as an in-person meeting. A prelimary agenda for the AGM is available below.
Agenda
Item 1: Opening
Item 2: Adoption of COMNAP AGM 36 (2024) Final Report
Item 3: Chair’s Report
Item 4: Executive Secretary’s Report
Item 5: Reports from ATCM and CEP representatives and invited experts
Item 6: Administrative & policy matters [Members Only]
Item 7: Improving support of science & international collaboration
Regional break-out groups and information exchange. The Regional Group sessions will be:
Peninsula, Ross Sea Region, East Antarctica, Dronning Maud Land, Larsemann Hills Management Group, & High Plateau.
Item 8: Projects
New project proposals will be considered and current projects for discussion will include:
Highly Pathogenetic Avian Influenza Preparedness & Response; Welcomed | Safe | Respected & Prevention of Harassment in Antarctica; RINGS Collaboration; InSync Collaboration; Database; Asset Tracking System (CATS); Improving Search & Rescue (SAR) Response.
Item 9: Expert Groups/Topical discussions
The Expert Groups sessions & their topics will include:
Air Operations [ADS-B; Fuel age and quality; Synthetic aviation fuel]
Environmental Protection [Plastic sources; Wastewater management; Infrastructure impacts; Update on Antarctic Forest concept]
Education & Outreach [Preparations for the ATCM E&O Workshop 2 (2026)]
Marine Platforms [New vessel capabilities (posters); CEP discussion on Ballast Water and Biofouling Management; Any new guidelines/protocols from IMO]
Safety [Fire suppression and response; Tsunami allert lesson learnt; Preparation for SAR Workshop 6 (2026); Sharing best practices]
Human Biology & Medicine [HPAI and human health; Pre-deployment psychological testing; Diving working group]
Advancing Critical Technologies [“Towards NetZero”: Fuel taskforce & Smart Green Manual; Increasing role of Artificial Intelligence in operations, logistics and science; Monitoring Antarctica; COMNAP contribution to IPY-5].
Item 10: Strategic directions [Members Only]
Item 11: Project plan 2026–2031 [Members Only]
Item 12: Finance [Members Only]
Item 13: Election of officers [Members Only]
Item 14: Future AGMs and symposiums
Item 15: Any other business
Item 16: Close
Meeting Papers
COMNAP Members and Observer programmes are welcome to submit AGM Meeting Papers for any agenda item by 25 July 2025.
Please submit in English as a Word document to sec@comnap.aq.
If you intend to submit a poster, as part of the Marine Platforms Expert Group session, showcasing the efforts to update and increase vessels capabilities and profile in both existing and planned new vessels in the short-medium term, please send an expression of interest to sec@comnap.aq by 25 July 2025.
Expert Group Topical Discussion Forums
1. Air Operations: Facilitator: Rod Arnold
2. Advancing Critical Technologies: Facilitators: Özgün Oktar & Anand Singh
3. Marine Platforms: Facilitator: Miki Ojeda
4. Education, Outreach & Training: Facilitator: Andrea Peña Aguirre
5. Science Facilitation: Facilitators: Yogesh Ray
6. Safety: Facilitator: Gen Hashida
7. Environmental Protection: Facilitator: Andrew Titmus
8. Medical (JEGHBM): Facilitator: Giichiro Ohno
Regional Break-out Group Sessions
1. Peninsula: Facilitator: Agnieszka Kruszewska
2. Ross Sea Region: Facilitator: Gianluca Bianchi Fasani
3. East Antarctica: Facilitator: Matt Filipowski
4. Larsemann Hills Management Group: Facilitator: Mandi Livesey
5. High Plateau: Facilitator: Jessie Crain
6. Dronning Maud Land: Facilitator: Uwe Nixdorf
COMNAP Symposium 21 (2025) - our antarctic future
The COMNAP Symposium 21 (2025) will be held as part of the COMNAP AGM 37 (2025) on Wednesday 6 August 2025.
The call for abstracts (Oral presentations and Posters) is now closed (extended abstract submission deadline was 30 May 2025).
The Symposium Review Committee is assessing the submission and will soon release a schedule for the day.
For any inquiries, please contact the Symposium Project Manager Andrea Colombo.
Meeting & symposium General Principles
“Welcomed, safe & respected”
Meeting the COMNAP Objectives requires the talents and perspectives of people with different personal, cultural, and disciplinary backgrounds. We are committed to welcoming and respecting these differences. We ask our AGM hosts to recognise this and to support all delegates to feel welcomed, safe, and respected at the AGM and associated events.
“Green Meeting”
A "green" meeting is one that is organized and implemented in such a way as to minimize negative impacts on the environment and promote a positive social impact for the host community and for participants. When planning for the AGM, we ask you to consider a few options to make our meeting “greener”. Here are some things to consider:
Reduce the amount of printed materials at the meeting venue and, when printed materials are necessary, please ensure there is a paper recycling bin/system for delegates to use. The Secretariat will utilise electronic distribution of meeting papers and handouts.
Minimise packing and shipping materials.
Create reusable or recyclable badges to minimise waste after the meeting concludes.
Reduce single-use plastic in food service ware, including by not providing water in plastic single-use bottles. Ask delegates to bring their own water bottles or use reusable glassware.
Buy local and utilise local suppliers of services.
Provide food that is local and in season. Ask your catering company about their plans for uneaten food and if leftovers can be donated.
Minimise giveaways, or ensure giveaways are made of greener material choices and minimise any plastic wrappings.
Provide information to delegates on local mass-transit/public transportation options to/from the AGM venue.
Minimise travel distance for delegates choosing venues close to international transit hubs.
Provide information on hotels that have “green credentials”.
Partner with the local community to support a local “green” programme that delegates can choose to donate to or support in some way while they are there.