Alex Cowan

Alex has long held a fascination with the natural world and with especially the polar regions, having studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. His graduate research included work on laboratory modelling of volcanoes as well as carbon sequestration techniques for the purposes of mitigating climate change.

Alex has worked in the Arctic for eight years on tour vessels in Svalbard, East Greenland and Franz Josef Land, and he has visited the north pole six times.

Alex also works in the Antarctic where, as well as leading ship based expeditions, he has worked in the field with the Government of South Georgia on guideline reviews. He is interested in realising the research and data collection potential of the diverse fleet of polar tourism vessels, and each summer spends several weeks collecting sea ice data in the Arctic Ocean from a nuclear powered icebreaker, surveying the summer melt of the pack from helicopters and via direct measurements on the ice.

Alex worked for several years as a yacht master and instructor, and he is also an experienced mountaineer, having skied and climbed throughout several parts of Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Greenland and Africa; when not on a ship he can usually be found with skis or sticky rubber on his feet. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and The Explorers Club, and also belongs to the Arctic Club.