What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic
The Team
Arctic Basecamp is made up of a small team of part time and pro bono scientists, data experts and communications staff. If you would like to contact a member of the team please email info@arcticbasecamp.org
Executive Team
Professor Gail Whiteman is the founder of Arctic Basecamp and Professor of Sustainability at the University of Exeter’s Business School (UK).
She is an expert on global risk arising from the systemic changes occurring in the natural environment. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Frontier Risk and was a scientific keynote speaker at WEF’s 2020 session at Davos “What’s at Stake: The Arctic” alongside panelists including Finland’s Prime Minister Sanne Marin and Former US Vice President, Al Gore. Since 2012, she is the Professor-in-Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and is actively involved in building science-based targets collective business action, including those for a future low-carbon economy. Her research utilises organisation theory on information flows to analyse how a range of actors (companies, civil society, and local communities) make sense of ecological risk, and how these actors transform and build resilience across scales given environmental pressures and social inequities. She has over 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including in prestigious journals Nature, Nature Communication, and the Academy of Management Journal. Her PhD is from Queen’s University and her field work was conducted in the subarctic region of Canada. She is regularly interviewed by the press. You can follow her @GenerationCO2
Professor David Hik
Chief Science Officer, Arctic Basecamp
Simon Fraser University
David grew up in Burnaby and Ottawa, and completed his university education at Queen’s University, University of Toronto, and the University of British Columbia, with a postdoc at CSIRO in Canberra, Australia. For the past 37 years, his research interests have focused on the ecology and ecosystem dynamics of Arctic, mountain and arid environments; impacts of climate variability and change on biodiversity and Earth system processes; determinants of social-ecological resilience; and the interface between science and policy. He is currently conducting research in northern Canada and Iceland.
David previously held the Canada Research Chair in Northern Ecology (2002-2012) at the University of Alberta, and served as Executive Director of the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) Secretariat (2004-2009). He also completed terms as President of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and Vice-Chair of the Arctic Council’s ‘Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON)’ initiative. David is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) and recipient of the RCGS Martin Bergmann Medal for Excellence in Arctic Leadership & Science, the Patricia Roberts-Pichette Award (Environment Canada), and the Polar Medal (Canada).
David lives and works in Vancouver (Canada) on the traditional unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations.
Dr. Lovro Valcic
Director of Logistics, Arctic Basecamp
Bruncin Ltd.
Director of Operations: Dr. Lovro Valcic is the founder and CEO of Bruncin Ltd, an agile and dynamic company with an outstanding team of R&D experts, working closely with scientists to develop custom solutions, systems, and sensors to facilitate fieldwork and research in the Polar regions.
Bruncin Ltd participates as a partner in various EU and USA funded research projects and field campaigns, providing a wide variety of solutions and support in hardware, communications and software. Lovro has previously worked as Senior Developer at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK and as the head of ICT for the Alaska Volcano Observatory Remote Sensing team at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
Science Team
Professor Alun Hubbard
Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway
Dr. Jennifer Francis
Woodwell Climate Research Center
Dr. Jennifer Francis is a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. She has studied the Arctic climate system and how rapid Arctic change is affecting areas beyond the Arctic, particularly extreme weather in the northern hemisphere. She is regularly interviewed for radio and TV news programs, and is often quoted in major media outlets.
Professor Julienne Stroeve
UCL Earth Sciences
Professor Stroeve is Professor of Polar Observation & Modelling at UCL, with wide-ranging research interests in the Arctic, including atmosphere-sea ice interactions, synoptic climatology, sea ice predictability, climate change and impacts on native communities.
Dr. Julie Friddell
Data Partnership Coordinator
Julie is a lifelong environmentalist with a background in paleoceanography, climate variability, and Arctic data management. She has a Ph.D. in Holocene climate variability and paleoceanography and has spent her professional career working in climate research, directing a national-level polar data archive for Canada, and leading environmental cleanup of contaminated industrial sites.
Data Science Team
Klaus Paul
Data Scientist and Data Weaver
Klaus provides data, information, and insights to make the right decisions as all key aspects when dealing with the challenges posed by global warming, and climate change. Arctic Basecamp does #speaksciencetopower and I am so excited to be part of that team to help with data driven story telling.
This encompasses the full suite of data science, knowledge of computer and OS architectures, database systems, modern scalable architectures, data wrangling, cataloguing and mapping, providing services that make the data available, devise analytics that turn data into information, and, finally, develop data driven stories.
Ewout Mante
Data Governance and Artificial Intelligence
“Applied technology strategy” is Ewout’s focus. He has 20 years experience with Data, AI & Machine Learning. Currently, Data Governance, Semantics, and Linked Open Data are a strong area of interest.
Ewout’s working life started as a McKinsey consultant and spent the next 15 years building disruptive companies in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley. Developing and implementing strategies means, you are equally likely to find him in a code review, at a client, or in the board room. Idea to implementation tends to take about three years. He still writes software. This keeps him current and it greatly informs his thinking on technical and corporate development.
Communications & Coordination Team
Helen Clay
Communciations Manager
Arundeep Singh
Project Coordinator
Melina Turčinov
Project Manager
Ian Virtue
Communications Executive
Science Associates
Dr. Jeremy Wilkinson
British Antarctic Survey
Dr. Jeremy Wilkinson is a recognised authority on sea ice and upper-ocean physics and has organised and participated more than 20 polar field campaigns. Working for the British Antarctic Survey, he represents the UK in international marine and Arctic forums.
Professor Johan Rockström
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Johan Rockström is Director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He is an internationally recognised scientist for his work on global sustainability issues. He helped lead the internationally renowned team of scientists that presented the planetary boundaries frameworkas fundamental in maintaining a “safe operating space for humanity.”
Dr. Jan-Gunnar Winther
Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic, Norwegian Polar Institute
Dr. Jan-Gunnar Winther, is Director of the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic, Nofima, and Specialist Director, Norwegian Polar Institute. He is an experienced polar researcher and expedition leader, and serves on a large number of national and international committees.
Dr. Dmitry Yumashev
Lancaster University, Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business.
Dr. Dmitry Yumashev is a mathematical modeller at The Pentland Centre for Sustainability of Business at Lancaster University, specialising in Climate Policy and Sustainability. He investigates regional and global impacts of climate change in the Arctic as well as implications of e-waste and the analysis of soil-related risks using model outputs.
Professor Bruce Forbes
University of Lapland
Professor Bruce Forbes is based at the Arctic Centre | Arktinen keskus, University of Lapland, and has conducted fieldwork in the Arctic for 33 years. His research is interdisciplinary and his participatory approach aims for co-production of knowledge with regional stakeholders.
Professor Craig Lee
University of Washington
Professor Craig Lee is a physical oceanographer at University of Washington. He specialises in observations for ocean research. Part of this work involves identifying advances that could be achieved through novel measurements and developing instruments to meet these needs.
Professor Konrad Steffen - In Memoriam
Swiss Federal Institute
Professor Konrad Steffen was Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. He researched processes related to climate, cryospheric interaction, and sea level rise in Polar Regions based on in-situ and satellite observations. Konrad passed away in August 2020 whilst conducting fieldwork in Greenland. We will be forever grateful for his passion and research.