Presentations at IMAS | Australian Antarctic Festival 2026

The Hidden World Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Professor John Priscu is a Regents Professor Emeritus at Montana State University and Research Scientist at the Desert Research Institute, Nevada. A world-leading polar microbiologist, he has spent more than 40 field seasons in Antarctica studying life beneath ice shelves, glaciers and the Antarctic ice sheet. He led pioneering expeditions that proved functional ecosystems exist beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and has contributed to research in Greenland, Tibet and the Arctic. Professor Priscu has published more than 300 scientific papers, mentored over 200 students in polar research, and received numerous international awards for his groundbreaking contributions to Antarctic science.

• The Hidden World Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet's website

Antarctica Up Close: Small-Ship Adventures at the End of the World

Dr Roger Kirkwood is a marine biologist, author and Expedition Leader who has been exploring the polar regions for more than 40 years. Roger first travelled to Antarctica in 1984 as a krill research assistant on an Australian Antarctic Division marine science expedition. Captivated by the continent, he returned nine more times to study zooplankton, seals, penguins and albatrosses. Much of his research was conducted from remote field camps, including in the Vestfold Hills, on glaciated Heard Island and on isolated rock stacks in the Drake Passage. He also spent a year living beside an emperor penguin colony, 60 kilometres from Mawson Station, while completing his PhD on emperor penguin foraging ecology. Since 1999, Roger has worked as a Naturalist and Expedition Leader with Aurora Expeditions, primarily in Antarctica, as well as in the Arctic and Scotland. Combining scientific expertise with decades of hands-on field experience, he is passionate about helping expeditioners understand the wildlife, landscapes and remarkable ecosystems they encounter. Roger has published more than 100 scientific and general-interest articles and written four books, including two textbooks and two children’s books. His career has also included roles with Tasmanian Sea Fisheries, CSIRO Fisheries, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, Phillip Island Nature Parks and Wageningen Marine Research in the Netherlands. His research has ranged from fisheries and seabirds to seals and the effects of human activity on marine mammals. Roger’s fascination with what lies beneath the ocean’s surface first inspired him to pursue marine biology. Antarctica has kept drawing him back ever since. He brings Aurora Expeditions a rare combination of scientific knowledge, practical experience and a long-term perspective on the changes taking place across the polar regions.

• Antarctica Up Close: Small-Ship Adventures at the End of the World's website

Mawson’s Icy Legacy: The four Australian’s: Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, Bertram Armytage and John King Davis’s far reaching contributions to Ernest Shackleton’s 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition

Jonathan Chester is a leading polar guide, photographer and expeditioner. For more than thirty years he has travelled to the world's most wild and remote places, gaining international recognition for his achievements as a mountaineer, author, film and web producer. Jonathan has also taught and lectured on polar history, geography, penguins, global warming, the Antarctic, the Arctic, the Himalaya and photography. He markets his photography through his company, Extreme Images, and his work has been exhibited internationally.

• Mawson’s Icy Legacy: The four Australian’s: Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, Bertram Armytage and John King Davis’s far reaching contributions to Ernest Shackleton’s 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition's website

Connecting Super-Cool Clouds, Iron-Starved Microscopic Life and Global Ocean Circulation: Lessons from the Multidisciplinary Investigations of the Southern Ocean (MISO) Project

Presented by Dr Annie Foppert, Tom Holmes and Sonya Fiddes, The Multidisciplinary Investigations of the Southern Ocean (MISO) voyage was a major 65-day research expedition aboard CSIRO’s RV Investigator. Travelling more than 9,000 kilometres from Hobart to the edge of the Antarctic sea ice and returning to Fremantle, the team studied how the ocean, atmosphere and marine life interact to influence clouds, climate, carbon storage and biological productivity. The voyage brought together 39 scientists from eight institutions and collected one of the most comprehensive datasets ever gathered in this region, including detailed measurements of iron and other trace elements essential to Southern Ocean ecosystems.

• Connecting Super-Cool Clouds, Iron-Starved Microscopic Life and Global Ocean Circulation: Lessons from the Multidisciplinary Investigations of the Southern Ocean (MISO) Project's website

Patricia Selkirk

Dr Patricia Selkirk AC AAM is a plant biologist specialising in bryophytes, including mosses, and the environments in which they grow. Between 1979 and 2005, she completed 19 summer field seasons across the Antarctic and subantarctic, including Macquarie Island, Heard Island, Îles Kerguelen, Casey and the Dry Valleys. Her research covered plant distribution, reproduction, genetics, vegetation mapping and environmental history. After a 40-year academic career, Patricia retired in 2002 but continues to contribute to Antarctic and subantarctic research.

Katherine Scholes

Katherine Scholes is an internationally bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker, with more than two million books sold worldwide. In 1985, she became one of the first artists to travel to Antarctica with the Australian Antarctic Division. The experience inspired her award-winning novel The Blue Chameleon, set partly at Casey and Wilkes stations. Born in Tanzania and now based in Nipaluna/Hobart, Katherine has written fourteen books translated into more than a dozen languages. Her latest novel, One Night at Silver Lake, was published in April 2026.

Joan Russell

Joan Russell served four times as an over-wintering Station Leader with the Australian Antarctic Program: at Casey in 1990, Macquarie Island in 1994 and 2002, and Mawson in 2004. She also worked as Camp Manager and Cook at Cape Denison during the 1997–98 Mawson’s Huts Expedition. Before her Antarctic career, Joan worked in the South Australian Public Service, specialising in equal opportunity, social justice, ethics and integrity. She later became a management consultant and served on several boards across the public, private and community sectors. In 2019, Joan received the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community.

Moderator: Emma McEwin

Emma McEwin is a writer and a great-grandchild of Antarctic explorer, Douglas Mawson. She works at Adelaide University, has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, and is the author of two books, An Antarctic Affair (2008) and The Many Lives of Douglas Mawson (2018). Other publications include ‘Capturing the subject: Virginia Woolf’s Battle with Biographical Boundaries’, in Fear of Theory, (Brill Academic Publishers, 2021), ‘Atkinson, Nancy (1910-1999)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography (online, 2022), and ‘The Fêting of Douglas Mawson: Homecomings, Farewells, and Other Notable Occasions’ (Bibliophile, Journal of the Friends of the State Library of South Australia, 2024). Emma has been to the Antarctic twice as a guest of Aurora Expeditions, first in 2008, and more recently, in 2025, on a new ship, the Douglas Mawson.