Dr Tony Worby is the Chief Executive Officer of Flourishing Oceans at the Minderoo Foundation. He completed a PhD studying sea ice physics and the role of Antarctic sea ice in the global climate system at the University of Tasmania (1998) and worked for 20+ years as a research scientist with the Australian Antarctic program.

Dr Worby has visited Antarctica 17 times and participated in more than a dozen multi-disciplinary marine science programs in the sea ice zone.  He was Voyage Leader or Chief Scientist on many of these voyages and has a deep understanding of marine science and maritime operations. 

Rachael returned to Australia after 12 months in the Antarctic, where she successfully led the 58th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition to Davis Station. She was only the second female to ever lead a team at the Station and one of the youngest ever leaders. Rachael was responsible for all aspects of life on the Station, from the safety and welfare of over 120 expeditioners in Summer, to the delivery of the Australian Government’s $30m science program.

Since returning to Australia, Rachael has completed her MBA and written two best-selling books. Additionally, Rachael has presented on the topics leadership and teamwork at over 2,000 events around the world.

Ian has studied ice and climate for over 50 years and participated in or led 25 research expeditions to the Antarctic. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers on Antarctic science on topics including ice shelf - ocean interaction, Antarctic weather and climate, sea ice, and the mass budget of the Antarctic ice sheet.

He was the leader of the Ice Ocean Atmosphere and Climate program at the Australian Antarctic Division from 1996 to 2010. Ian presently continues Antarctic activities as an Adjunct Professor and associate researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania.

A passion for adventure, snow sports and the challenge of working in a remote location, inspired Diana to become the first female leader of an Antarctic research station. After a summer at Australia’s Casey Station, Diana spent 1989 in charge of Mawson, her experiences documented in her book, ‘The Ice Beneath My Feet: My year in Antarctica.’ After another year as Davis Station Leader Diana returned to Antarctica as Field Leader of a conservation team working on Sir Douglas Mawson’s historic huts.

Providing commentary on Antarctica overflights and working on Antarctic cruise ships stimulated interest in polar history and in 2019 Diana was awarded a Doctorate for her research into the relationship between the early Antarctic explorers and their sledge dogs.

Dr Jeff McGee is Associate Professor at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), and Faculty of Law, at the University of Tasmania. Jeff is an international lawyer whose research specialises on the Antarctic Treaty System and the geopolitics of the Antarctic region. He is a member of the Australian government consultative forum for the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

He is a chief investigator on the three year Australian Research Council research project ‘Geopolitical Change and the Antarctic Treaty System’. In 2021, Jeff was an academic adviser to the Australian government delegation to the 43rd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting hosted in Paris, France. Jeff was also an academic adviser to the Australian delegation for the 41st meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources held in Hobart in October 2022.

Peter’s academic qualifications are in earth sciences and natural resources management, including a Master Philosophy in Polar Studies, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. He has published widely on the Antarctic environment and served on the Editorial Board of the international journal, Polar Record.

Peter worked for the Australia's Antarctic Division between 1976 and 1998 holding leadership positions on several resupply voyages and summer research expeditions. Peter led a traverse in Enderby Land, along with aerial mapping and geophysical surveys covering an area almost the size of Victoria. The data collected by these projects contributed to international programs to improve understanding of the dynamics of Antarctica’s ice cap.  

Mike worked as Scientist for the Australian Antarctic Division for 4 years from 1977 to 1980. During that time, he was fortunate to travel to the Antarctic on three occasions to work as an expeditioner scientist at three different Australian stations. 

His scientific research involved studying the life and survival of microscopic plants called algae and small animals that lived under the ice in some of the hundreds of freshwater and salt lakes in the Vestfold Hills near Davis Station. Due to his contribution to the study of lakes in the Antarctic, a lake that he was the first to visit and investigate in the Vestfold Hills was named after him in 1991 (Burch Lake). 

Greg Fitzgerald was a pilot and Captain with Qantas Airways for 35 years. Whilst he held many senior management and training roles with the airline, prior to his retirement from full time flying, he ran the Antarctic charter program. Greg has made over 24 trips to Antarctica, by air, and hence knows the topography in the scenic viewing areas in detail. He has inside knowledge on how a charter to Antarctica needs to be impeccably planned and executed to ensure the best and safest viewing possible. 

Not only has Greg travelled to Antarctica by air but also by ship. His passion for maritime operations (and holding professional maritime credentials) led him to visit several research stations and experience the continent and its wildlife from the ground. 

Peter completed many expeditions across various stations in Antarctica. Peter’s primary role was that of the station maintenance plumber responsible for maintaining the station’s heating, fire services, “making” water for everyone and looking after all the associated equipment such as boilers, pumps, air conditioning systems etc.

His secondary role varied from year to year, at Mawson he was the fire chief responsible for attending all fire alarms and making the appropriate decision, with the help of another expeditioner, he was also given the task of videographer for the year.

Peter is a Location Manager and Producer/Director of documentaries in the Australian Film Industry. His involvement with Antarctica commenced in 1980 when he joined ANARE as the wintering Glaciologist at Casey Station leading a traverse along the 2000m contour between Casey and the longitude of the French base of Dumont D'urville which is on the coast near Mawson’s Hut at Commonwealth Bay. 

Peter was script editor for the 1992 Imax film "Antarctica" and his recollections of the year he spent at Casey in 1980 are used in the NSW Department of School Education, Geography syllabus. He has been on close to 20 Antarctica Flights.

Rob was glaciologist for the Lamber Glacier Basin oversnow traverse program in east Antarctica during the 1989-1995 field campaign. The program remains as one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of scientific exploration of the inland ice sheet ever undertaken by the Australian Antarctic Division. Rob was awarded the Antarctic Medal in 1995 for his contributions to Antarctica.

Mike is a veteran of 6 Antarctic winters. As a physicist his original research was into the wondrous “rosy fingered Goddess of the dawn”, the beautiful ‘aurora australis’. He studied the subtle phenomenon of pulsating aurora first at Macquarie Island in 1983 and 1985, before heading to the continent itself to winter at Davis in 1988, then the far western outpost of Australia’s bases Mawson in 1991.

Beyond his own research Mike has always been involved in outdoor station activities from Elephant Seal population censuses on Macquarie Island, summer and winter Emperor Penguin colony census work at Amanda Bay and Auster.