A passion for leading teams in extreme conditions is driving our new Antarctic Station Leaders this season.

Simon Goninon will be in the leadership role at Davis research station, where he will lead a team of up to 100 expeditioners over the next 12 months.

With a background in policing and operations in the hospitality and tourism sector, Simon has wanted to work in Antarctica for most of his adult life, watching Australia’s icebreaker Aurora Australis sail up and down the River Derwent in his home state of Tasmania.

Simon will oversee a busy science program including research on the Sørsdal Glacier and the installation of an atmospheric measurement instrument or LIDAR.

Casey research station will be led by operations specialist Chris MacMillian over the next 12 months.

Chris has a background in search and rescue with the US Coast Guard and Australian Maritime Search and Rescue Authority.

She is a self-confessed weather tragic and is looking forward to seeing the colourful atmospheric lights of the aurora australis for the first time.

Her team will support scientists drilling ice cores at Law Dome over summer and retrieving equipment from the Totten Glacier which has been measuring ice speed and flow.

Kyle Williams will be Station Leader at Mawson research station.

This will be the former public servant's second stint as an Australian Antarctic Division Station Leader, after spending a year on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island in 2017.

He thinks the role with the Australian Antarctic Program is the best leadership and management job on the planet. This season at Mawson his team will be supporting some key seabird research on penguins and petrels.

On sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, Kat Panjari, will be leading the team.

Kat has had an extensive career in local and state government in Victoria and Western Australia. She also been Station Leader at Mawson station over winter.

This season on Macquarie Island, Kat will be supporting a range of science projects and the beginning of the construction phase of the new station.

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