Felicity Aston MBE – Polar explorer & Research Scientist

Felicity Aston is a pioneering climate scientist and polar explorer.

She is renowned for her solo Antarctic ski crossing and contributions to polar research.

She discusses the importance of sustainability in travel and the impact of fast moving global environmental changes.

British polar explorer Felicity Aston MBE is an author, speaker and student research scientist.
In 2012 she became the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica.

It was a journey of 1744km that took 59 days to complete and which gave her a place in the book of Guinness World Records.

At 23, Felicity travelled to Antarctica for the first time with the British Antarctic Survey as a Meteorologist.

She spent a continuous period of two and a half years (including two consecutive winters) at Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula to monitor climate and ozone.

Felicity has gone on to organise and lead numerous expeditions to remote places around the world, but particularly to the Polar Regions.

Her expeditions have included the first British Women’s crossing of Greenland, a 6000km drive to the South Pole, a 36,000km drive to the Pole of Cold, leading international teams of women on record-setting ski expeditions to both the North and South Poles, and, most recently, spearheading a four-year, pan-Arctic project to collect scientific information about Arctic Ocean sea ice – a project supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative.

Felicity continues to explore, specialising in new and exciting ways to communicate the expedition experience to the wider world.

Her Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition was the first to ‘Tweet to the Pole’ and material from her Pole of Cold expedition was developed into a travelling art exhibition.

She has written five books, contributed to several others, and regularly produces articles for various publications in the UK and abroad.

In 2013 she spent a month flying across North America in an airship co-presenting a two-part BBC Science documentary about the atmosphere called ‘Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the Skies’ and in 2016 retraced the route of the 1898 Klondike Goldrush across the Yukon, co-presenting a documentary mini-series for BBC History.

She has since taken part in numerous independent films including a film about climate change by Groundtruth Productions for COP26 and Exposure, a Holly Morris film about Felicity’s 2018 Euro-Arabian North Pole expedition project.

When not on expedition, Felicity has worked closely with a number of expedition-related organisations, charities and projects as trustee, patron or ambassador: including The British Antarctic Monument Trust, Equal Adventure, the First Women project and the Great Britain and Ireland Chapter of The Explorers Club.

She is proud to be Godmother to the PC6 ice-class expedition ship, Silver Endeavour.

Felicity has been elected Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York and is an elected member of the Society of Women Geographers.

She is a 2008 Churchill Fellow, has received the Ginny Fiennes Award from the Transglobe Expedition Trust, the 2014 Women of Discovery Award from WINGS WorldQuest, the 2019 Special Contribution Award from National Geographic Traveller UK, the Womenomics Science Award 2021, an Honorary Doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University and was shortlisted for the 2024 Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions.

She has been awarded The Queen’s Polar Medal and appointed MBE for services to polar exploration.

Felicity divides her time between her home in Iceland (Vigur Island) and her native UK. She is currently undertaking research investigating airborne microplastic deposited on Arctic Ocean sea ice and is based at the National Oceanography Centre / University of Southampton.

The measure of a good talk is the ability to completely engage the audience no matter whether it is a small group of executives, a conference of several hundred, or a public lecture in a theatre.

Felicity does just that, expertly blending memorable stories from her expeditions with though-provoking messages that prompt new thinking.

She crafts each talk to accommodate any time frame and to ensure that her presentations are always poignantly relevant to everyone in the room.

Popular Talks by Felicity

B.I.G. Arctic research expedition

Felicity recounts how failing to reach the North Pole enabled her team to forge a multiyear, pan-Arctic project far more ambitious in scope and impact than anything they would have dared propose at the outset. The expedition faced unexpected challenges as they ventured into an Arctic environment that is changing faster than anywhere else on the planet to collect snow, ice and water samples for crucial scientific research.

Discussing issues around failure, resilience and sustainable achievement, Felicity explains how the team consciously adapted their mindset to navigate setbacks and tackle vulnerabilities while also cultivating flexibility, innovation and ultimately, successful outcomes.

Failure, it turns out, need not be permanent.

Alone in Antarctica

In 2012 Felicity became the first woman in the world to ski across Antarctica alone.

The 1084-mile journey took her 59 days skiing unaccompanied through a monotonous and hostile landscape.

Describing her record-making expedition she reveals – with astonishing honesty – the fear, the doubt and the loneliness of the experience, reflecting issues many of us face on a daily basis.

Felicity examines the sources of motivation that drove her forward day after day and talks about the importance of perseverance, sharing with her audience ways to cultivate this most vital of qualities when vulnerable and under pressure.

Through her thought-provoking, highly relevant and often poignant talk, Felicity provides an insight into recognizing and developing the innate resilience within us all.

Living in Antarctica

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to stand in the coldest place on Earth or to live without the sun for months on end?

Packed with stunning images, this presentation creates a tangible impression of what it is like to live and work in Antarctica.

Sharing her own experiences over-wintering, Felicity describes life on an Antarctic Research Station – the wildlife, the scenery, and the science.

Completely isolated from the rest of the world for 7 months of the year, Felicity and her colleagues not only had to overcome the challenges of living in the most hostile environment on Earth but also of living with each other.

Polar Exposure

How can you prepare for what you don’t know is coming?

In April 2018 Felicity led a novice team of ten women recruited from across the Middle East and Europe on a ski expedition across the fractured and constantly shifting sea ice of the Arctic Ocean to reach the Geographic North Pole – the top of the world.

Complete with exhiliarating photography and film footage, this thrilling account of the team’s experiences on the ice and during the more than two years of preparation, explores risk management, decision-making and adaptive leadership in a fast and high-stakes environment; an environment in which the only certainty is change.