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“Truly remarkable” – HM King Charles III
Felicity Aston MBE is a British polar explorer, climate scientist, expedition leader, keynote speaker, and record breaker.
She is the only woman in the world to have skied across Antarctica alone, and was the first person ever to have traversed the continent using just muscle power.
Felicity has spent over two decades undertaking challenging expeditions in some of the world’s most extreme and hostile environments. She has organised and led several ground-breaking expeditions, including instigating and leading the Greenland expedition becoming the first British women’s team to cross the Greenland ice sheet.
Felicity Aston was appointed an MBE by the late Queen Elizabeth for services to exploration, Her Majesty also awarded her with the Polar Medal (Arctic and Antarctic). Felicity is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, The Explorers Club in New York, and is a member of the Society of Women Geographers.
Felicity Aston is passionate about diversity, reducing gender and data gaps, and has reshaped scientific understanding of these inhospitable environments.
Felicity Aston’s love for the natural world started early, and she went on to study Ocean and Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton, Applied Meteorology at the University of Reading, and Science, Physics and Astronomy from UCL.
Upon graduation, Felicity became the senior meteorologist at Rothera Research Station off the Antarctic Peninsula, where she stayed for three years monitoring climate changes.
This stemmed her love for harsh environments, and in 2005 she raced across Arctic Canada to the North Magnetic Pole, becoming part of the first all-female team to compete – they came 6th out of 16 teams.
Since then, she was part of the first British all-female expedition across the Greenland ice sheet, and was the team leader of the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, which saw seven women from six Commonwealth countries ski to the South Pole in 2009.
In 2012 she became the first person (and first woman) to ski alone across the Antarctic using just her muscle power. In 2018 she led the all-women EuroArabian expedition to the North Pole; she has also walked the ice of Lake Baikal, and completed the Marathon des Sables.
Felicity isn’t just doing these challenges for fun. They are proving a vital component of her research, which is now based at the National Oceanography Centre, where she is investigating airborne microplastic pollution on polar sea ice. Since 2021, she has been leading the B.I.G (Before It’s Gone) North Pole expedition, aiming to collecting material to help research into ocean sea ice.
A fascinating life means she has a lot of tales to tell, which she has done so in five published books.
– Polar Exposure: An All-Women’s Expedition to the North Pole (2022): “What sets the book apart is the enriching firsthand accounts from the team members interspersed throughout.” – Publisher’s Weekly review
– Life Lessons From Explorers: Learn How to Weather Life’s Storms From History’s Greatest Explorers (2021)
– Chasing Winter: A Journey to the Pole of Cold (2014): “This is an amazing book which, in words and pictures, reveals the incredible beautify of Siberia’s frozen north, the harshest inhabited environment on earth” – Robin Hanbury-Tenison
– Alone in Antarctica (2013): “A brave and often terryfing account of a record-breaking journey” – Sir Ranulph Fiennes; also named as National Geographic’s Best New Travel Read of 2014.
– Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole (2011): “An inspiring tale which will stir the hearts of women and men around the world” – Benedict Allen
She has co-presented two documentaries for the BBC – Operation Cloud Lab, and Operation Gold Rush – and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, and National Geographic.
– Resilience and Mental Health
– The Explorer’s Mindset
– Sustainability and the Environment
– Virtual and Hybrid Teams
– Self-Leadership
– Isolation and Re-Integration
– Motivation: Finding It and Keeping It
– Team Performance and Improvement
– Goal Setting and Setbacks
– Risk vs Rewards
– Global Environmental Change
– Peak Performance
– Alone in Antarctica
– Taking the World to the South Pole
– Polar Exposure: To the Top of a Changing World
– Call of the White
– Pole of Cold: A Journey to Chase Winter
– Crossing Greenland
Felicity is a fascinating keynote speaker, sharing her expedition experiences at trade events, corporate conferences, training sessions, theatre tours, festivals, and after-dinner talks.
Google, National History Museum, HSBC, Chicago Ideas Week, Microsoft, Apple, EY, Globe Series, SAP, Women’s Forum, Airbus, United Nations, Deloitte, Sky, TEDx, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Fujitsu, M&S Bank, Accenture, Bae Systems, Boehinger Ingelhelm, Capital One, Goldman Sachs, Hachette, Kiehl’s, RAL Space, Swiss Re, JLT, Credit Agricole, Asda, RICOH, Heineken, Legal and General, Wipro, Withers
Felicity delivered perfectly and attendees loved it.
Microsoft
Your messages truly resonated with our audience and their level of engagement was clearly illustrated by the number of questions asked.
Goldman Sachs
You told a truly remarkable story, in an incredibly personal and accessible way – a true inspiration to all of us. I’ve already received a number of praises for your performance…the delegates were captivated.
BAE Systems
The speech was entertaining, inspiring, it was a very good motivational speech for our audit team, people in the audience were captivated.
Deloitte
I have been in banking now for over 25 years, and have seen many styles and techniques in management, but I can say that I now have a few new thoughts to add to the mix, so thank you.
Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank
Your presentation was perfection; honest and thought-provoking.
Sir Ranulph Feinnes