Dr Kaitlyn Martin, selected by Royal Society Te Apārangi, and Kelly Davenport, a meteorologist in Wellington, selected by MetService, joined the group of 22 young New Zealanders to travel with the Antarctic Heritage Trust to an island in the South Atlantic Ocean in 2023. The group journeyed to South Georgia to honour the centenary year of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final expedition, the ‘Quest’. Come and hear Kaitlyn and Kelly talk about their ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience.

Kaitlyn and Kelly will introduce you to some of South Georgia’s inspirational inhabitants, including seals, penguins, and majestic bird species, as well as its rich marine biodiversity. They will also talk about the impact climate change is having on the island.

About the Inspiring Explorers™ trip to South Georgia

In October 2023, the Inspiring Explorers™ group traveled via Chile to the Falkland Islands, where they boarded their ship the Magellan Explorer. The voyage across the Scotia Sea to South Georgia took more than 2 days, and once there, the team explored twelve different locations over 7 days.

This life-changing expedition connected the team with Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legacy – intrinsically linked to the remarkable island of South Georgia. By pushing themselves outside their comfort zone, the Inspiring Explorers™ took lessons from the explorer mindset that Shackleton and his team embodied.

About Dr Kaitlyn Martin
Kaitlyn, an early-career researcher, has gone on to earn an exciting role as a Programme Coordinator for the Antarctic Heritage Trust, helping to inspire the next generation of explorers. She has lectured in STEM Education at the University of Canterbury and the University of Waikato, where she taught trainee teachers, and researched attitudes and aspirations in science.

As a science educator, researcher, and communicator, Kaitlyn has worked with students during their early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Her interests span science-learning experiences across biology, astronomy, and the polar regions.'

About Kelly Davenport
Kelly has a BSc in Physics from the University of Otago and a Masters of Meteorology from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She has worked for MetService for the past three years and is a passionate meteorologist.