The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute

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The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute Discover the extraordinary stories of Earth's coldest, driest, windiest, highest and deadliest places.

We have another Polar Postcard to share from Louie Bell, a Geography PhD student at Queens' College with very close ties...
06/10/2026

We have another Polar Postcard to share from Louie Bell, a Geography PhD student at Queens' College with very close ties to SPRI after completing his MPhil here in 2024. He also gave a Tea & Talk for the Polar Museum back in February 2026.
Louie’s research involves monitoring and mitigating the hazards from landslide-triggered glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). These floods can be devastating to communities, wildlife and infrastructure. He went on two fieldwork expeditions this summer, one to the Eastern Tibetan Plateau and one to Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal.

From Louie:
"In partnership with Dr C. Scott Watson at the University of Leeds, I trekked for a week to one of the most hazardous glacial lakes in the world just a few kilometres from Mount Everest to install instrumentation that will help researchers at Cambridge understand what might factors may trigger a devastating Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). In light of the horrifying recent floods in Nepal and Tibet triggered by a glacier collapse, much more research is needed to monitor and mitigate glacial hazards in a warming Himalaya. I hope that the work we have done will, in some small way, contribute to the understanding of risk to communities living in one of the most remarkable and beautiful landscapes in the world."

📸Louie Bell

"What happens when a language is discouraged from being spoken, and what does it mean to hear those words spoken again?"...
01/10/2026

"What happens when a language is discouraged from being spoken, and what does it mean to hear those words spoken again?"

The Polar Museum is excited to be welcoming Naja Hendriksen, a Greenlandic educator, public speaker and entrepreneur, for our next Tea & Talk.

From Naja:

"Rather than meeting Greenland through headlines, you'll meet the people behind the stories: stories of loss, resilience, humour and hope. Together, we'll explore how language carries far more than words; it carries history, relationships and ways of understanding the world. Along the way, you will learn a few Greenlandic words and explore how traditions - including practices represented in museum collections - are being rediscovered and carried forward by new generations."

🎫Tea & Talk: Meeting Contemporary Greenland
📆Friday 16th October 2026 1pm to 2pm
📍The Polar Museum
Free

Tea & Talks are designed for a non-academic audience and offer the chance to learn something new in a friendly environment. Bring along a notepad (or just an open mind) and join us for a cuppa.

Book your place on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2000256203149?aff=oddtdtcreator

“Lovely session – my son enjoyed it and so did I!”“Great activities for children of different ages”“We absolutely loved ...
25/09/2026

“Lovely session – my son enjoyed it and so did I!”
“Great activities for children of different ages”
“We absolutely loved the polar stories, they were wonderfully read and the session was so lovely with holding the replica egg and the colouring set out.”

Thank you to all the families who joined for our drop-in activities and Polar Stories sessions over the summer for – we had a brilliant time chilling out with you all!

Our staff and volunteers were absolutely blown away by your curiosity, creativity and love of learning!

Keep an eye out for our upcoming activities on offer over the October half term and we hope to see you soon.

Last Saturday we held the Polar Museum Repair Cafe, which was a huge success! This was new territory for us, and we are ...
12/09/2026

Last Saturday we held the Polar Museum Repair Cafe, which was a huge success!

This was new territory for us, and we are beyond delighted to see the warm reception it has received. A huge thank you to those who gave their time to volunteer, and those who attended to get their stuff fixed and learn something new. A giant thank you to Cambridge Carbon Footprint, who provided all the resources for us to prepare and run this event.

Our favourite repair was of the Polar Institute’s beloved tea trolley!

There are still a few tickets remaining to join us for our next Tea & Talk, featuring John Kelly, the artist behind Pola...
09/09/2026

There are still a few tickets remaining to join us for our next Tea & Talk, featuring John Kelly, the artist behind Polar Panoramas. John has undertaken extensive fieldwork in the polar regions and his work combines drawing, painting, photomontage and audiovisual work with observation and historical research.

Join John for a Tea & Talk where he'll discuss his two voyages to Antarctica and the art they inspired. We'll have time after the talk for questions and conversation, including in the gallery space.

🎫Tea & Talk: Antarctic Panoramas
📆Wednesday 23rd September 2026, 2pm to 3pm
📍The Polar Museum
Free

Tea & Talks are designed for a non-academic audience and offer the chance to learn something new in a friendly environment. Bring along a notepad (or just an open mind) and join us for a cuppa.

Book your place on Eventbrite through the Events link in our bio.

This Polar Postcard comes from SPRI PhD student Phoebe Jackson, who is researching surface impacts of landfalling atmosp...
24/08/2026

This Polar Postcard comes from SPRI PhD student Phoebe Jackson, who is researching surface impacts of landfalling atmospheric rivers in Antarctica. This summer her PhD studies took her North instead, as she attended the McCarthy International Summer School in Glaciology, held in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska.

From Phoebe:
"There are few better places than the remote wilderness of Alaska to spend ten days learning about the physics and dynamics of glaciers. Without a doubt it was a steep learning curve, but I have never learnt so much in a short space of time, and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to be inspired by another breathtaking landscape. I spent my time having lectures in the log cabin of the late glaciologist Edward LaChapelle, getting to grips with partial differentials by the vegetable patch, exploring the Root Glacier, (badly) singing karaoke in the pub, and sleeping in my tent under the sun that never set. The course has been an absolute highlight of my PhD and an experience I hope to always remember. Never would I have guessed I’d be taught continuum mechanics at the foot of a glacier, but that’s the beauty of a PhD."

📸Phoebe Jackson

Polar treasures at your fingertips!Discover exclusive polar museum-inspired merchandise online. From beautiful framed ar...
21/08/2026

Polar treasures at your fingertips!

Discover exclusive polar museum-inspired merchandise online. From beautiful framed art prints to unique gifts for the polar enthusiast in your life, it’s all here on Curating Cambridge. Just click the museum shop link in our bio.

This Polar Postcard comes from SPRI PhD student Emma Hand, who is studying the effects of changing vegetation in Arctic ...
13/08/2026

This Polar Postcard comes from SPRI PhD student Emma Hand, who is studying the effects of changing vegetation in Arctic landscapes. Emma was on a fieldwork trip in Greenland with several researchers, including Professor Marc Macias Fauria, Dr Jeff Kerby, incoming MPhil in Polar Studies student Emma Olney, and current geography third-year student George Lowrie. They were joined by collaborators from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Arizona Tucson. 

From Emma:

"We had a fun and very successful five weeks in Greenland, based in Kangerlussuaq and camping near Russell Glacier (roughly 2km off the Greenland Ice Sheet). We collected soil and plant samples, took albedo and carbon flux measurements, and so much more, all to answer questions about how warming-induced changes in vegetation may impact carbon cycling and thermal balance across the landscape. We hope this work will contribute to future studies about the impacts of herbivores in light of this rapid vegetation change, and we even saw some large herbivores ourselves - spot the muskoxen and caribou (reindeer)."

📸Emma Hand

It's a busy summer here at the Polar Museum and we're so pleased to be welcoming Eva Rowe for a Tea & Talk later this mo...
10/08/2026

It's a busy summer here at the Polar Museum and we're so pleased to be welcoming Eva Rowe for a Tea & Talk later this month. Eva is a PhD student at SPRI studying the change in surface elevation, extent and area of Antarctic glaciers. Using historic aerial photographs, she identified and later named a landmark in Antarctica as 'Unicorn Rock.'

From Eva:
“I'll introduce some of the oldest Antarctic datasets, collected across the continent throughout the 20th Century, in the decades following the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. I'll discuss the importance of these historic aerial photographs and their role in modern science. For me, these photographs provide the key to unlocking the past, enabling me to measure long-term change of Antarctic Glaciers, and subsequently their response to climate change and contributions to global sea level rise.”

🎟️Tea & Talk: The Unicorn of Remote Sensing
🗓️Thursday 27th August, 11am to 12 noon
📍The Polar Museum
Free

Tea & Talks are designed for a non-academic audience and offer the chance to learn something new in a friendly environment. As it’s the summer holidays, we’d love to welcome curious GCSE and A-level students, especially those studying Geography.

Bring along a notepad (or just an open mind) and join us for a cuppa.

Book your place on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1995458970497?aff=oddtdtcreator

We are excited to announce that on Saturday 5th September, 11am-2pm, the Polar Museum will be hosting a Repair Cafe! Bri...
06/08/2026

We are excited to announce that on Saturday 5th September, 11am-2pm, the Polar Museum will be hosting a Repair Cafe!

Bring along your broken item and an experienced volunteer repairer will help you fix it – or at least have a good try! We can tackle a wide variety of repairs including kitchenware, mechanical items, toys, clothes, textiles, jewellery and other items. All repairs are free of charge, but the museum and Cambridge Carbon Footprint welcome donations.

For more information and to book a repair slot, please visit our Repair Café page here: https://restarters.net/party/view/21481. Repair Cafe attendees will have the chance to sign up for free repair-themed museum tours on the day.

This event is organised in partnership with Cambridge Carbon Footprint.

Image: heavily darned Fair Isle jumper hand-knitted on Shetland and worn on the Falkland Islands during research expeditions in the 1950s. Y: 2014/9/7 ©SPRI

Address

Lensfield Road
Cambridge
CB21ER

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 12:30pm
1:30pm - 4pm

Telephone

+441223336540

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