Professor Adrian McDonald serves as the Director of Gateway Antarctica at the University of Canterbury, where he leads crucial research into atmospheric processes affecting Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, and New Zealand's climate systems. His distinguished career spans over two decades of Antarctic atmospheric studies, producing one of the longest records of Antarctic atmospheric winds and garnering more than 3,200 citations for his research contributions. As Principal Investigator on multiple
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University of CanterburyDr. Andrea Herbert serves as a researcher and polar specialist with expertise in Antarctic gateway cities and polar tourism, combining academic research with hands-on experience as a polar tour guide. Her doctoral research at the University of Canterbury focused on placemaking and tourism development in Ushuaia, Argentina's Antarctic gateway city, based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork examining the complex relationships between tourism, urban development, and socio-economic dynamics. Currently, she contributes to significant polar research initiatives, including serving as Project Manager for the 2020 SCAR Project "The impact of COVID-19 on Antarctica." Her work bridges theoretical understanding with practical experience, as she continues to work part-time as a tourist guide in both Arctic and Antarctic regions. As Senior Project Coordinator at Women in Polar Science, she actively promotes polar research while maintaining her research focus on human interactions with Antarctica, particularly in environmental management, governance, and tourism contexts.