Philip was born in Surrey and worked as a Research Fellow at various Universities before joining BAS sixteen years ago. Philip enjoys the open countryside surrounding Cambridge and finds it a very pleasant place to live and work.
Philip learned about BAS from its scientific work in Geology and wanted to apply his geological skills and experiences to one of the least known parts of the world. He wasn’t particularly looking for a long term career and although it has been hard work at times, his expectations have been exceeded.
The role
Philip is a geochemist. He uses ancient volcanic rocks to reconstruct the past geological history of the Antarctic continent and the surrounding oceans. Philip has worked in his present role for just over a year and it is the latest in several different roles he has had since joining BAS.
The most fascinating part of the role for Philip is visiting remote sites in Antarctica, where few people have ever visited before, and piecing together the geological history of parts of Antarctica.
Humbling experience:
“It’s a fantastic experience,” says Philip “Much of the time it is incredibly beautiful, it’s a time when new opportunities, challenges and exciting experiences follow hard on the heels of one another. Antarctic experiences stay with you for the rest of your life.”
Philip has undertaken many other activities including geological field work from field camps and supported by ships using helicopters.
Philip promotes BAS as an exciting science environment to work in. There is daily contact with scientists from a wide range of life and physical science backgrounds.
“Carrying out research in Antarctica is challenging but at the same time, exciting”.