Felicity Aston

Felicity Aston MBE is a British polar explorer, climate scientist, expedition leader, and record-breaker. She is both the only woman in the world to have skied across Antarctica alone and the first person in the world to have traversed the continent purely by muscle power. During more than 20 years of undertaking challenging expeditions in the world’s most extreme environments, she has instigated, organized, and led many ground-breaking expeditions—including the largest and most international team of women ever to ski to the South Pole. The novice explorers came from countries such as Ghana, Brunei Darussalam, and Cyprus. Felicity’s ongoing commitment to diversity has plugged data gaps, reshaped scientific understanding, and shown that it is the individual and not the stereotype that counts.

Felicity’s first journey to Antarctica was to monitor climate and ozone as a Meteorologist with the British Antarctic Survey when she was posted to Rothera Research Station for a continuous period of two and a half years from 2000 to 2003, including two consecutive winters. The experience forged her ongoing passion for the polar regions. Her research is now based at the National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, investigating airborne microplastic pollution on polar sea ice.

Felicity has published five books about exploration and her expeditions, co-presented two BBC documentary series, and produced two award-winning feature-length film projects about the polar world (with a third in progress). She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York, serving as Patron of the Great Britain and Ireland chapter since 2021. She has been appointed MBE for services to exploration, as well as awarded the Polar Medal (Arctic and Antarctic), by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Language spoken: English