International Antarctic role for Otago Professor

27 June 2018

International Antarctic role for Otago Professor

Antarctica New Zealand is delighted to announce that Professor Gary Wilson has been elected Vice President of SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research).

Thirty-two voting nations and a number of International Science Unions elected University of Otago’s Professor Wilson for the four-year term.

SCAR is responsible for initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. SCAR provides independent scientific advice to organisations, particularly Antarctic Treaty Consultative meetings.

Professor Wilson says he’s honoured to be elected by the SCAR member countries.

“SCAR is an important part of Antarctic research, it’s where we develop international strategy in how we tackle the challenges of Antarctic research and I’m very pleased to help lead that” he says.

Professor Wilson joins new Vice Presidents Dr M Ravichandran (India) and Dr Catherine Ritz (France) along with Prof Jefferson Simões (Brazil), Prof Steven Chown (President) and Dr Chandrika Nath (SCAR Executive Director) on the SCAR Executive Committee.

Antarctica New Zealand Acting Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr Fiona Shanhun, is thrilled New Zealand has a seat at the leadership table.

“This is an excellent result and highlights the esteem in which Professor Wilson, and New Zealand, is held in the international Antarctic research community” says Dr Shanhun.

Professor Wilson’s election follows last week’s announcement that Antarctica New Zealand’s Chief Executive, Peter Beggs, was elected Vice Chair for the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP).

ENDS

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