Hannah Lawson
Expedition Leader/ Mammologist

Hannah Lawson spent her childhood watching wildlife, drawing pictures and looking after a multitude of pets. After a period living in Israel (at school, in the army, painting murals and watching the raptor migration) she returned to Britain to read zoology at Liverpool University. To get close to big mammals, she spent a summer in Kenya looking at the intestinal parasites of black rhinoceros and gorillas. She has also worked as the artist in residence at Chester Zoo, a researcher in Uganda and as an illustrator for various conservation projects. She has also completed a masters in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art in London. Her love for nature has taken her around the globe, watching, drawing, photographing and learning about the creatures she has encountered.

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.

Johannes Koch
Geologist

Johannes Koch completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada in April 2006. His research focus was the effects of climate change on alpine environments, especially glaciers and treelines. He has worked in remote areas in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, the St. Elias Mountains in the Yukon, Canada, and the southernmost Patagonian Andes, Chile for the past 7 years. An important component of his research is public outreach and education. He has given talks to the general public, and has published and has been featured in articles in newspapers and magazines.

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.

Dr. Ingrid Visser devotes her research interests in studying Orcinus orca. She is the first person to study these animals in her native country, New Zealand. She has made many world first discoveries in relation to this population of Orca, including new methods of feeding and a new food source. Ingrid is one of the few people in the world who actually study Orca underwater, getting into their environment without backup support such as shark cages. She has worked with internationally renowned Discovery Channel to produce a documentary about her research.