The meeting was opened and held by Prof. Paweł Rowiński, the Director of the IG PAS. Prof. Patrick De Deckker, a geologist and zoologist, member of the Australian Academy of Sciences, gave a lecture entitled “The 1897-99 Belgica expedition that first overwintered in Antarctic waters. A tale of extraordinary scientific achievements and of human endurance". He presented the most prominent moments during the expedition and the scientific contribution of two Polish scientists – Henryk Arctowski and Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, who participated in the expedition.

Prof. De Deckker was educated in Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. He commenced working on microcrustaceans (ostracods) and salt lakes, then used the remains of microorganisms to determine environmental change in large lacustrine systems. Using the same approach, he continued his investigations with the aim of identifying changes in all 3 oceans surrounding Australia, ands spent much time investigating the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean. He spent one summer season studying lakes at an Australian Antarctic base. More recently, he studied airborne dust and its composition in the Australian region and examined the possible record of Australian dust in Antarctic ice cores. He has published over 250 articles in peer-reviewed international scientific journals and edited/co-edited 8 books and journal volumes. 

He is currently working on a scientific monograph on the history of the Belgica Expedition.

The lecture was followed by the premiere of a biography" Henryk Arctowski. In a World of Thoughts" in Polish and English by Dagmara Bożek and Katarzyna Dąbkowska.