SIR PETER BLAKE TRUST LEADERSHIP WEEK - DAY 2 - PROFESSOR GARY WILSON AND JACOB ANDERSON
Blake Leader, Professor Gary Wilson, was appointed as the Director of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute in 2012, and is the Scientific Project Director for the Young Blake Expedition to the Southern Ocean & Sub-Antarctic. Early on in his academic career, Professor Wilson developed an international reputation for his research. He held a Fulbright award whilst at Victoria University, followed by the Admiral Byrd Fellowship at The Ohio State University. He was also a New Zealand Foundation for Research Fellow, before taking up a lectureship at the University of Oxford. Gary is Chair of the multi-national ANDRILL (Antarctic Drilling) project, which has been five years in the planning, raising $40 million to cover the required science and logistics efforts. The project involves over 100 scientists from four countries and Gary's ability to build and maintain successful teams to achieve common goals has been an important element. He has also developed skills in outdoor leadership in order to lead seven expeditions to Antarctica. He is an educator and has contributed to the wider understanding of science through public lectures and radio and television appearances, and is a continuous promoter of the importance of science to underpin global environmental stewardship at government level. Above all, in developing multinational ventures in science, Gary has demonstrated leadership as an international negotiator.
Jacob Anderson is the Environmental Programme Manager for the Sir Peter Blake Trust. He manages the Youth EnviroLeaders’ Forum and Blake Ambassador Programmes and is co-ordinating the science communication and outreach for the Young Blake Expedition to the Southern Ocean & Sub-Antarctic. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Earth Science at Massey University and his Master of Science in Geology at the University of Otago, where he held an AINSE Postgraduate Research Award. His research focused on past Antarctic climate and ice sheet behaviour. Jacob has participated in three scientific expeditions to Antarctica and has visited the Auckland Islands as part of the Department of Conservation yellow-eyed penguin monitoring programme.
