This article was written in 2011, based on the research report presented to FGV/GVPesquisa em 2010, so before the accident at Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, on 02.25.2012. Our focus is a managerial model based on cooperation, represented by the Brazilian Antarctic Program (Proantar), on which we conducting an empirical research on the daily life of Brazilian researchers who work in Antarctica, searching to understanding how the teams organize their work, interact to different colleagues, institutions and nationalities, deal with isolating and so limited conditions of work. Based on these findings we expanded the scope of the study to conduct an organizational analysis which takes the Antarctic continent as an organization. Our key-question is: how might an organizational analysis of Antarctic Program contribute to the management of organizations based on knowledge and cooperation?
multidisciplinary cooperation; public complex organizations; work in extreme environments; community of knowledge; Antarctic researchers