Innovation is at the heart of our organisation. Scientific exploration of the polar regions is made possible through the inventive approach we take to our work. We aim to apply this creativity by taking our expertise wherever else it could add value. The Innovation Team, led by the Director of Innovation and Impact, facilitates this process and helps to unlock our potential to create benefit for society and economy.
The core Innovation team brings together the Innovation Champions community. Each team across BAS has a designated champion for innovation. They collate and develop innovation ideas arising from within their teams, and facilitate internal and external collaboration.
Partnership is central to innovation work at BAS. We are grateful for the collaboration and active contributions of our Entrepreneur in Residence, Simon Hombersley from Puntios. Simon supports BAS in identifying pathways to create value and impact from our knowledge assets.
Discover more about our ongoing events and partnered projects.
Our mission is to create space for collaboration within the British Antarctic Survey – addressing issues of global importance and helping society adapt to a changing world. The Aurora Innovation Centre offers a space and support services for interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle environmental challenges and increase real-world benefit of polar research.
23 June, 2023
A recent study published in the journal Earth Science, Systems and Society sheds light on the experiences and viewpoints of staff working for British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from minority backgrounds. …
19 October, 2021
The Innovation Showcase explains how innovative science and technology is helping or, in future, could substantially help the goals of COP26 and of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enabling adaptation to climate change or informing action related to climate change.
12 October, 2021
A dramatic art installation symbolising our warming climate will be launched at the Cambridge Cleantech annual conference on 20 October as the city’s innovators and scientists gather together to brainstorm …
5 March, 2021
This week over 100 early career researchers and students from underrepresented groups, particularly BAME, LGBTQ+ and the Disabled, took part in Polar Horizons 2021. The Polar Horizons Initiative, funded by …
4 March, 2021
Findings from a polar science Race Impact Survey are reported this week (4 March) by the Diversity in Polar Science Initiative (DiPSI). The Survey, carried out during October 2020, generated …
27 July, 2020
The Government of the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) celebrate the contribution of LGBTQ+ people by declaring 18 November …
6 May, 2020
A new album with the unique ‘sounds of space’ recorded from Antarctica is released free today (6 May 2020). Aurora Musicalis contains the natural radio ‘sounds’ of our planet, recorded …
10 September, 2018
People, Plastics and the Planet is an international workshop to tackle the global plastic waste problem taking place at British Antarctic Survey’s Aurora Innovation Centre from 18th – 21st September 2018. Organised by BAS, Cambridge University and Value in Enterprise offers the unique opportunity for scientists and entrepreneurs to spend four days developing and testing ideas to address challenges posed by plastics in our environment.
21 July, 2017
The new Aurora Innovation Centre that will support cross-discipline research to tackle environmental challenges and increase the real-world benefit of polar research was officially opened today (Friday 21 July) by …
18 March, 2016
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) staff joined forces with building representatives from ISG, colleagues from neighbouring organisations and Cambridge University this week to mark an important milestone in the building of …
6 October, 2015
NERC funds PhD training in robotics and autonomous systems
20 August, 2015
Tender for the construction and fit of a new Innovation Centre at British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge
13 December, 2013
Architectural design opportunity – British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has advertised an opportunity to design and deliver a new Innovation Centre at its Cambridge offices. The commission …
22 March, 2023 by Emily Newton
Composer Ewan Campbell has written a piece of music for trumpet inspired by the 21-year journey of the A22a iceberg. The new composition was also illustrated onto a British Antarctic …
3 September, 2020 by Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley
BLOG. Director of Innovation and Impact aims to enhance innovation culture through diversity and inclusion.
6 December, 2023 by Cecilia Liszka, Pilvi Saarikoski, Sophie Fielding
Pursuing an academic career in marine science requires a range of skills that can be applied across different contexts, including experimental or computational proficiency, policy engagement, teaching, and seagoing fieldwork.…1 December, 2023 by Andrew Wood, Jaume Forcada, Pete Bucktrout
With environmental change, understanding how species recover from overharvesting and maintain viable populations is central to ecosystem restoration. Here, we reconstruct 90 years of recovery trajectory of the Antarctic fur seal…
1 September, 2018 by Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley, Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Threats to global food security have generated the need for novel food production techniques to feed an ever-expanding population with ever-declining land resources. Hydroponic cultivation has been long recognised as…Read more on Can the optimisation of pop-up agriculture in remote communities help feed the world?
1 July, 2018 by Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley
Safe and accepted limits for nitrates in drinking water are exceeded in around one-third of the groundwater bodies in Europe. Whilst anion exchange (AEX) is an effective technology to strip…Read more on Growth of microalgae using nitrate-rich brine wash from the water industry
Director of Innovation and Impact
Aurora Cambridge
