With 15 scientific sessions and poster sessions with over 100 posters, the conference contributions comprised a large
field of permafrost research and reflected the recent importance and interest in polar issues. The permanent media attendance underlined this interest of the public and made the conference to an important event to raise the awareness of permafrost related issues for the broader audience.
A very diverse cultural program gave the conference participants a good impression about the culture and tradition of the regions and helped fostering the exchange of traditional knowledge and recent research activities (see photo: ‘catch the first fish celebration’). Furthermore it afforded the opportunity to network, to meet old friends and to make new ones.
During the conference, two IPA council meetings (see photo; first Council Meeting) took place where the new Executive Committee was elected and the location for the ICOP 2016 has been voted. The new IPA President is Antoni Lewkowicz from the University of Ottawa, the two Vice-Presidents are Hanne Christiansen (Norway) and Vladimir Romanovsky (USA). Additional Executive members are Hugues Lantuit (Germany), Lothar Schrott (Austria), Dima Sergeev (Russia) and Ma Wei (China). The new Executive Director is Inga May (Germany).
The vote for the next ICOP venue won Germany, Potsdam.
In general the feedback from the conference participants was very positiv and the conference can be seen as a great success.
