© Anna Filipova
Once a mining town, this island town on the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago is now home to the largest permanent laboratory for modern arctic scientific research in the world. Researchers living here conduct a number of environmental and earth science studies all year round.
To keep the area surrounding the town largely untouched, access is extremely limited - only scientists and employees of the station are allowed. But photojournalist Anna Filipova was an exception and granted access to this remote research station.
While this wasn't the first arctic place that Filipova has visited and photographed - she has spent much of her career working on projects above the arctic circle - it is certainly the most northern spot in which she has ever worked, being located above the 79th parallel. And this barren landscape was also one of the most wild places she had ever been to.
"It was with surprise and trepidation that I learned that I must pass a firearms safety course in order to venture out of the settlement in case of an encounter with a polar bear," Filipova told Business Insider. Polar bears live and breed in Svalbard, according to the Norwegian Polar Institute, and in the summer, bears sometimes wander close or even into the settlement. "The community has a rule that no one can lock the doors of any building in case a bear appears inside the settlement and there is an urgent need for refuge."
But despite the harsh environment and risk of polar bears, Filipova arrived home from Ny-Ålesund with the stunning photographs of her series "Research at the End of the World." Here are just a few of these images.