Polar Bears - Icons on Ice

Following on from the College's Sustainability Week, we were delighted to welcome Rod Downie OL (Olds 1981-1986), World Wildlife Fund’s Chief Advisor, Polar, as our speaker for this term's Head Master’s Lecture at the end of March. His talk was titled Icons on Ice.

Mr Downie has worked in the polar regions for 25 years, at the British Antarctic Survey and for the last 11 years with the World Wildlife Fund. He has undertaken 15 field seasons in Antarctica, spending just over  two years living and working on the ice. He has also worked in the Canadian, Russian and Norwegian Arctic and leads a wide portfolio of scientific and conservation projects ranging from the study of krill and humpback whales to polar bears and ‘Walrus from Space’.

An advisor to the UK Government at the Antarctic Treaty, as well as sitting on numerous advisory bodies, Mr Downie facilitated Arctic Voices, a series of dialogues between the UK Government and indigenous Arctic leaders. He also represents WWF at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), most recently at COP26 in Glasgow.

The Lecture took place on Zoom and can be viewed on the link below:

VIEW ROD DOWNie'S LECTURE HERE