A technician in Antarctica - Working at the end of the world (emf2026)

I have spent my career working as an electrically biased technician supporting scientific and engineering research. In 2022/23 a post-COVID malaise led me to put in a speculative application with The British Antarctic Survey. Sometime later I was flying into Rothera Research Station, Antarctica. Before arriving, I had dreams of being surrounded by Antarctic wildlife such as penguins, seals and whales. I hoped I would be able to ride a snowmobile and engage in snow-covered adventures. I knew that this was somewhat far-fetched as this is just a job, albeit in the most hostile environment on earth. To my surprise I found that, while there were long days of working hard there were also ample opportunities to be surrounded by wildlife and engage the activities I dreamed of. I was even a co-pilot on a project to one of the UK’s most remote Antarctic outposts, the Sky-Blu Field Station. I saw orcas swimming in unison to create a wave to knock seals from an iceberg – just like in the first episode of Frozen Planet! At the end of my adventure, I left Antarctica on Boaty McBoatface for a 5-day voyage across the most dangerous seas on earth. My talk is reliant on sharing the amazing photos I took while I was there. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/34-a-technician-in-antarctica-working-at-the-end-of-the-world