The implications of solar terrestrial effects have been identified as a crucial item in many aspects of human life, besides the inherent scientific motivations that make this field one of the most interesting for research. It is recognized that space weather and climate change depend on solar terrestrial effects to a large extent. Antarctica has been identified as one of the platforms from which solar terrestrial effects can be best studied, given the mapping of magnetospheric phenomena to the polar regions via the lines of the Earth magnetic field. This led SCAR (the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research of ICSU), to approve in 2004 a multi-year research program of its own, ICESTAR (Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research). This research program was later proposed, and approved by the IPY (International Polar Year). The IPY comes to an end in March 2009, and this motivates the program of the school. The aim of the school will be to report advances and propose developments in several fields of research in the framework of SCAR and the IPY. The IPY has addressed both hemispheres, Antarctica and the Arctic; both will be focused on in the presentations.