Expedition Team - Classic Antarctic Expedition

PS89-03
December 10 - 19, 2008

Please note that this list is a sampling of our team for this expedition and is subject to change. It may be added to and updated prior to departure date. A complete list of expedition staff will be included in final pre-trip documents.

Ian Shaw Expedition Leader A native of Toronto and the son of two travel writers, Ian has been a tireless explorer since he was old enough to apply for his own passport. He has been an Expedition Leader and Lecturer in the Russian Far East, Alaska, Arctic Canada, Greenland, the Chilean fjords, up the Amazon River, across Polynesia, and throughout the remote islands of the South Atlantic. He’s been beaten up by monkeys in Gibraltar and lived in a Taoist temple, he’s been tattooed in Tahiti and sunburned in Brazil, he’s had breakfast in the eye of a hurricane and climbed the Great Wall with three broken toes. Nevertheless, Antarctica and its history remain his true passion. Ian has a genuine enthusiasm and affection for the Deep South that he strives to share with others. He has been working in expedition cruising in the Antarctic Peninsula since 1995 and is a veteran of over 100 trips. Ian now makes his home in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta of mainland China where in between expeditions he writes, sleeps in, and tries in vain to improve his taijiquan (Tai Chi).

Chris Bateman Zodiac Driver Chris is a qualified Rescue SCUBA Diver having dived all around the world from the famous Blue Hole in Belize to the Great Barrier Reef and cave diving in the Cenotes of Mexico. His passion for sport and the outdoors has led to extensive travelling since his graduation from university, taking him from his home in Halifax, Northern England to many countries around the world. Visiting remote tribes in the Venezuelan Amazon, trekking in the Peruvian Andes, island hopping the Galapagos Archipelago and exploring the jungles of Borneo have fuelled his love of exploring, all the time combining it with the chance to witness all manner of wildlife in their native habitat. He learnt to drive Zodiacs whilst working in Australia and enjoys being out on the water. His experience in the Antarctic in 2008 being truly unforgettable.

John Craddock Geology/Glaciology John is a geologist specializing in structural geology, geophysics and tectonics having received his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan.  Since 1989 he has been a professor at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN where he teaches a variety of courses, including field excursions to Hawaii, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Crete, Cyprus and the Mojave Desert.  Craddock has worked in the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica and has a number of on-going research projects in the frozen continent.  Craddock Crags is a series of small mountains in Antarctica named in his honour.

John Harrison Historian Travel writer and environmentalist, JOHN HARRISON, is a native of Liverpool, England and took First Class Honours in Geography at Cambridge University and a Masters Degree in Planning at Liverpool University.  For twenty years, he worked in planning and environmental matters. His short stories have been broadcast on the BBC and collected in A Short Primer in Vice. His last book, Where the Earth Ends, about South America and Antarctica, was a Sunday Times Book of the Week, and has been translated into German. He is now writing and lecturing full-time, including working as a Field Education Officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He has extensive cruise lecturing experience in polar regions, and has traveled to 45 countries on six continents, and has made radio programs for the BBC on Antarctica and Easter Island.

John Sparks Ornithologist John was born in Colchester, Essex and graduated in Zoology and Marine Biology at London University, and obtained a Ph.D. in bird behaviour.  In 1965, he joined the BBC’s illustrious Natural History Unit in Bristol as a Radio Producer, but then moved into television, eventually being one of the Producers of Sir David Attenborough’s bench mark series, “Life on Earth”.  He has produced many wildlife films including the award winning series Realms of the Russian Bear about the natural history of the former USSR and BBC-2’s flagship series “The Natural World” and has written a dozen books.

Megan Tierney Marine Biologist Megan’s background in Marine Biology and Zoology has provided her with the amazing opportunity to spend five summers and one winter working with Southern Elephant Seals, Royal Penguins and Adélie Penguins at both sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and on the Antarctic continent itself. Megan grew up in northern New South Wales in Australia, with a keen interest in the marine world and originally studied in north Queensland. She currently resides in Tasmania where she is completing her PhD on the diet of Adélie penguins, work which she hopes will assist with the management of the krill fishery and the Southern Ocean ecosystem. When not down south, she enjoys rock-climbing, sea-kayaking, bushwalking and skiing.

Ursula Tscherter Marine Biology Originally a teacher in art and craftwork, Ursula first got involved in environmental education in the forests of Switzerland. In 1993, she joined a whale research and education project where she met her first whales. These encounters changed her life dramatically. Since then, she has passionately studied Minke whales in the summer feeding grounds in Eastern Canada, where she recognizes more than a hundred individuals by heart. Just as enthusiastically, she loves to share her extensive knowledge with field course participants, students and the general public. To spread her fascination she has sewn more than a hundred life-sized fabric images of whales and dolphins to hang up in lecture halls.

Joel Turner Geography Growing up in the Pennine Hills of Yorkshire, Northern England, Joel spent his childhood developing a passion for the natural world. A degree in Geography from The University of Durham further cemented this interest and has led to many exciting years working and travelling throughout the world. As a qualified SCUBA Rescue Diver, Joel has spent some of his most memorable times underwater, diving at sites across the globe and is enthused by all manner of marine life. A keen interest in Glaciology has drawn Joel to the Polar Regions where he continues to be amazed by their scale and dynamism.