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.

Gary Kochert
Botany, Geology/Glaciology

Gary has a lifelong interest in natural history and began identifying plants and collecting fossils in primary school. After serving as a Chinese translator in the U.S. Air Force, he received degrees in Geology and Botany from Indiana University. During more than 30 years as a Professor of Botany at the University of Georgia, Gary has taught a wide variety of courses in biology. He has also lectured as a visiting professor in China, Thailand, India, Brazil, Columbia, Uruguay and many other countries, done field geology in the Rocky Mountains, and has led private tours to a variety of African and Asian countries. In addition to natural history, Gary is fascinated by history, languages, and literature.

Ian Tamblyn
Historian / Entertainer

Ian Tamblyn is a musician , playwright , producer and wilderness guide.  He has recorded several albums and countless soundtracks for theatre and film. Though he sees himself primarily as a songwriter , good fortune and serendipity have lead him to other fields of creative endeavour  and, to far- flung places on the planet . Firmly convinced that everything ties in with everything, Tamblyns’ songs reflect the places he has seen, and people he has met on this journey.   Creative diversity and interdisciplinary connections have been central to his work.

Callum Thomson
Historian/Archaeologist

Callum Thomson spent his early years growing up in Great Britain before emigrating to Canada to manage a dairy farm.  He later completed degrees in archaeology and anthropology, and has spent the last 25 years as a museum, government and consulting archaeologist specializing in circumpolar and North Atlantic cultures.  Callum was recently appointed as a Research Associate at the Arctic Institute of North America.  Since 1995, he has combined his love of the north, its peoples, archaeology and the sea as a lecturer and zodiac driver on about 20 cruises, from Norway and the UK to the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and eastern seaboard, the Antarctic and Siberia. 

Jane Sproull Thomson
Art History and Culture

Jane Sproull Thomson teaches at the University of Calgary and the Glenbow Museum, and is Curator of Art at Red Deer College. She is a Research Associate and Life Member with the Arctic Institute of North America, is a past Curator of Ethnology with the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, and served as both Archaeology Curator and Chief Curator of the Newfoundland and Labrador Museums system. Jane writes and lectures in cultural history, archaeology and art history to school, college, university and vocational groups, and has lectured on cruises around the North Atlantic, Arctic and Britain for the past fifteen years. With over twenty years of museum and consulting experience she is a recognized expert in the field of heritage interpretation and planning and has had a key role in planning new heritage and tourism facilities throughout Canada.