The EDDA Research Center at the University of Iceland and LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics host an international conference on the changing world order and its implications for the Arctic and Antarctica.

The conference, entitled World Order and Polar Geopolitics, will take place at the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavík on Friday, 16 October 2026. The event brings together scholars to explore challenges to the liberal international order, renewed great-power rivalry, and the erosion of polar exceptionalism.

Discussions will address imperial legacies, competing visions of international order, alliance politics, maritime security, and state interests in the polar regions. By examining the Arctic and Antarctica together, the conference will consider how geopolitical pressures are reshaping regions with distinct political, legal, and institutional arrangements, and what these changes mean for the future of international cooperation.

Please find the conference programme below.