SCAR XXXVII Paper 19: Standing Committee on the Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) Popular

XXXVII SCAR Delegates Meeting
5-7 September 2022, Goa, India

SCAR XXXVII Paper 19: Standing Committee on the Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS)

Agenda Item: 5.1
Person Responsible: Peder Roberts
Report Authors: Elizabeth Leane (Australia); Daniela Liggett (NZ); Peder Roberts (Norway)

Summary

SC-HASS adopted a new set of Terms of Reference in 2021 and developed Rules of Procedure, which will be presented separately to the Delegates at this year’s meeting. Cornelia Lüdecke, founder of the History AG that served as the first forerunner of SC-HASS, retired as a co-chief officer in 2021 on the occasion of her retirement from her chair at the University of Hamburg. Her place was taken on an acting basis by Peder Roberts. SC-HASS voted at its 2021 business meeting that a bursary be awarded in Cornelia’s honour to sponsor an ECR’s attendance at the SC-HASS conferences.

SC-HASS sponsored four Action Groups, the activities of which are detailed in the latter part of this report.

SC-HASS successfully held its biennial conference in hybrid format from 18 to 19 November 2021. The conference was hosted by the Polar Cooperation and Research Centre at Kobe University, Japan, under the chairmanship of Akiho Shibata. Under the theme “The Global Antarctic,” the program featured 84 separate oral presentations in addition a well-attended poster session.

SC-HASS led a major report on the impact of COVID-19 on Antarctica research that included six work packages, under the overall leadership of Daniela Liggett. Using a variety of qualitative methods, the project resulted in 25 deliverables (either completed or in progress), including a report to the SCAR delegates.