Information and Transparency in International Antarctic Affairs
| Thursday, August 27, 2026 |
| 11:40 AM - 11:50 AM |
Overview
Miss Georgie Hicks, UTAS/ANU
Speaker
Miss Georgie Hicks
Research Associate
Utas/anu
Information and Transparency in International Antarctic Affairs
Abstract Document
This session is a presentation on information and transparency in international Antarctic Affairs. This topic is drawn from Georgie's PhD research, with the presentation primarily focused on exploring the barriers to accessing contemporary, accurate, official online information about Antarctic governance, activities, and infrastructure. The presentation is cross-disciplinary, combining both STEM and humanities topics. The STEM aspects include the technical factors that inhibit real-time tracking of Antarctic ships and aircraft through MarineTraffic and FlightRadar24, as well as the problems with Google Earth imagery of Antarctic infrastructure. The presentation provides an overview of the scarcity of information offered by National Antarctic Programs (NAPs) about their supported flights and voyages, including the AAD (whose flights don’t show on flight tracking sites). The presentation positions these information access issues against the misinformation and sensationalism in news reporting about Antarctic international relations. Georgie's research shows that there are significant differences in the narratives about international Antarctic affairs depending on the source (ie institutions and NAPs versus everyone else), with those narrative differences linked back to differences in information access. Georgie's presentation shows that there are real consequences for Antarctic institutions’ lack of transparency, but that simple changes can be made to rectify the issues
Biography
Georgie Hicks is a PhD Candidate at the University of Tasmania and a research associate at the Australian National University. Her previous work has spanned maritime operations, information warfare, data analytics, and communications technologies, and her PhD thesis explores the dynamics of online information access, transparency, and order in international Antarctic affairs. Her thesis will be submitted in July 2026.