This is the first meeting regarding the HOLOCLIP (Holocene climate variability at high-southern latitudes: an integrated perspective) project, started on 1st January 2010 and lasting three years. In the framework of the PolarCLIMATE programme, HOLOCLIP aims to bring together the ice core, the sediment core and the modelling scientific communities to understand the processes linking different components of the climate system and linking climatic response to external forcing over the Holocene. The areas on which the European research efforts concentrated over the past decades are suited for integrating existing ice and marine records, in terms of amount and quality of collected materials. Key areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and their marine surroundings have been selected: Western Ross Sea, Oates-George V-Adelie Lands including Dome C ice drainage basin, Prydz Bay, Dronning Maud Land and Antarctic Peninsula-Scotia Sea. Seven nations, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom, are participating partners.