Ross Sea 2027

Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ Ross Sea 2027

To celebrate Antarctic Heritage Trust’s 40th Anniversary in 2027, we’re taking a diverse group of Inspiring Explorers™ on a once in a lifetime expedition to Antarctica’s Ross Sea region. They’ll step inside the iconic expedition bases of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, cared for by the Trust on behalf of the world.

The expedition will take place from 5 January to 3 February 2027.

Applications have now closed

Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ 2025 team outside Scott's 'Terra Nova' hut. © AHT/Anna Clare

Celebrating the Trust’s 40th Anniversary

The expedition celebrates the Trust’s 40th Anniversary and the collaboration that has made the Trust’s Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project one of the world’s largest and longest running cold climate conservation programmes.

The 2027 expedition team will reflect the national and international collaboration that has underpinned the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project for more than two decades.

Alongside young people from across Aotearoa New Zealand, the team will include a young person from the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States currently living in New Zealand, representative of these countries’ governance contribution over the last four decades.

Roles within the team include general roles for those with a passion for Antarctica and a desire to step outside your comfort zone, heritage professional roles for those studying or working in conservation, heritage, science, engineering, surveying, or architecture, and a videographer role to capture high quality video footage and audio recordings.

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Inspiring Explorer Louise Piggin at Scott’s Terra Nova hut during the Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ to the Ross Sea in 2025. © AHT/Anna Clare

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Archaeologists Emma St Pierre and Jeremy Moyle using the RTK at Cape Evans. © AHT/Johan Bergman

Contributing to Conservation on-Ice

During the expedition, the team will get the opportunity to contribute to the Trust’s conservation work. Our Inspiring Explorers™ will gather meaningful environmental data from the Ross Sea historic sites they will visit. The data, consisting primarily of permafrost depths, digital photographs, and beach profiles, will be used to inform the Trust’s understanding of how climate change is impacting the sites, and guide their conservation efforts during the coming decade.

The team will employ the same Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GNSS survey equipment used by experts from the Trust’s Conserve team to document vulnerable shorelines and take readings of active permafrost layers across multiple sites.

This project provides an exciting and unique opportunity for those with interests in conservation, heritage, science, engineering, surveying, or architecture to gain hands on experience while developing leadership and teamwork skills in one of the world’s most challenging environments.

Before travelling south, the team will receive specialist training during the team building weekend from Antarctic Heritage Trust experts.

Applications have now closed

Return and Share Your Story

When our team returns home, their journey won’t end. Through the Trust’s outreach programme, our Inspiring Explorers™ will share their experiences with schools, communities and audiences across New Zealand and beyond, inspiring others to embrace their own ‘Explorer Mindset’.

While in Antarctica the team will work on a group outreach project to capture content for a video guide for future visitors to the historic huts. The guide will share the significance of the huts and the Trust’s work to protect them, while helping visitors make the most of their experience and minimise their impact on the historic sites. It will also encourage visitors to become ambassadors for Antarctica’s cultural heritage beyond their visit.

Find out more about outreach here

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Inspiring Explorer Laura Andrews filming Inspiring Explorer Mike Dawson during the South Pole Expedition. © AHT/Marthe Brendefur

Assistant Expedition Leader Lawrence Rothwell and Inspiring Explorer Precious Tupou on the mast of the Bark EUROPA during the 2026 Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ to the Antarctic Peninsula. © AHT/Lisa Blair

Develop Your ‘Explorer Mindset’

As an Inspiring Explorer™, you’ll gain a unique behind the scenes insight into conserving Antarctica’s remarkable cultural heritage in one of the world’s most extreme environments.

Along the way, you’ll be challenged to step beyond your comfort zone and develop your ‘Explorer Mindset’.

The qualities of curiosity, resilience, leadership, innovation and teamwork enabled Antarctica’s early explorers to push the boundaries of science, endure the harshest conditions on Earth, and venture into the unknown!

Becoming part of our Inspiring Explorers™ Alumni Community

Becoming an Inspiring Explorer™ is the beginning of a lifelong connection with Antarctic Heritage Trust and a growing alumni network.

The programme opens doors to future leadership, mentoring, governance, outreach and conservation opportunities, while creating friendships and professional connections that continue long after the expedition.

Building Your Leadership Legacy

The names Shackleton, Scott, and Hillary embody exceptional leadership in the face of adversity, and their stories continue to resonate globally.

The Trust creates pathways within our organisation, offering Inspiring Explorers™ opportunities that extend beyond the expedition, such as the opportunity to be mentors or leaders on other programmes or gain governance experience through our intern programme on our Board.

We encourage you to deepen your knowledge, develop your skills, launch a career inspired by Antarctic exploration and conservation, and grow into a leader for tomorrow, enabling you to drive change and pioneer new perspectives for our rapidly evolving world.

Inspiring Explorers alumni William Pike, Laura Andrews, Lawrence Rothwell, Louise Piggin, Ngawai Clendon, Jake Bailey, Eliza McCracken, and Libby Manning attend the 2026 Explorer Conference. © AHT/Brittany Fox

Heritage Adventurer at Cape Evans © Heritage Expeditions

Come with us to Antarctica!

If you yearn to step foot inside the huts of Scott and Shackleton, and experience the wonders of Antarctica, here’s your chance.

Join us in January 2027 on a voyage to the Ross Sea with Heritage Expeditions to witness our Inspiring Explorers™ in action, and take a close up look at what the Trust has achieved over 40 years working to protect Antarctica’s significant historic sites.

You’ll travel alongside the 2027 Inspiring Explorers™ team of eight young people. As they contribute to the Trust’s conservation work and begin their outreach projects, you’ll witness them developing their ‘Explorer Mindset’ and stepping out of their comfort zones.

Book as a Trust supporter and Heritage Expeditions will donate part of your fare back to us to support our ongoing work.

GET THE EXPEDITION BROCHURE AND FULL DETAILS TO BOOK YOUR BERTH

About the Inspiring Explorers Expeditions™

Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Expeditions™ provide opportunities for young people to experience and challenge themselves in Antarctica and the polar regions. These expeditions connect young people with the legacy the Trust cares for and encourage them to embrace that same spirit of exploration. It is a spirit as critical in the 21st century as it was over a century ago.

Our expeditions also create opportunities for the young change-makers of tomorrow to connect with and be inspired by the qualities of the early Antarctic explorers. The programme draws on the legacies of the great polar heroes to help participants grow an ‘Explorer Mindset’ and foster the Shackletons and Hillarys of the future—the young people who will drive change and instigate new perspectives for tomorrow’s world.

By making the legacy the Trust cares for relevant, we hope young people will identify with it, value it, and in the future be motivated to protect it.

The expeditions not only change participants’ lives, they create a platform to share inspiring stories and experiences with participants’ communities and a wide audience.

Previous Inspiring Explorers Expeditions™

Antarctic Peninsula 2026

A team of eight Inspiring Explorers™ sailed to the Antarctic Peninsula on the BARK EUROPA, a century-old tall ship, giving them a taste of what life was like for Antarctica’s early explorers, and how Scott and Shackleton’s ships played an integral part in the heroic era of Antarctic exploration.

Ross Sea 2025

Eight Inspiring Explorers™ travelled to the Ross Sea region with Expedition Partner Heritage Expeditions, to step inside the iconic expedition bases of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton cared for by the Trust on behalf of the world.

South Georgia 2023

Twenty-two Inspiring Explorers™ ventured to South Georgia, a remote island steeped in polar history. Their journey honoured Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legacy, marking 100 years since his final expedition (Quest 1921–1922) and death, while also commemorating the close of Antarctic exploration’s heroic era.

South Pole 2022

To celebrate 150 years since the birth of legendary polar explorer Roald Amundsen, in November 2022–January 2023 three Inspiring Explorers™ completed a 1000km guided traverse from the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole.

In the Footsteps of Hillary 2022

In February 2022, three young people from South Auckland, New Zealand summited their first mountain on the Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ In the Footsteps of Hillary.

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Mahu Whenua Traverse 2022

In partnership with the Mountain Turk Club, this expedition team completed the new and unique alpine ski traverse in the Queenstown Lakes District of New Zealand, the Mahu Whenua Traverse.

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Antarctic Peninsula 2020

A team of eight Inspiring Explorers™ journeyed to the Antarctic Peninsula with a focus on kayaking.

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Antarctic Peninsula 2019

Our Inspiring Explorers™ journeyed to the Antarctic Peninsula with a focus on kayaking with our students from Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate from Otara South Auckland joining us for the first time.

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Greenland Ice Cap 2018

A 560km ski expedition across the Greenland Ice Cap in honour of the 130th anniversary of Fridtjof Nansen’s original crossing.

Mount Scott 2018

The Inspiring Explorers™ ascended Mount Scott on the Antarctic Peninsula, named after iconic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

South Georgia Island 2015

This first Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ followed in the footsteps of Shackleton, Worsley and Crean’s epic journey across South Georgia Island, honouring the centenary of that crossing following the loss of Endurance and the epic journey in the James Caird to South Georgia Island.

With thanks to Expedition Partner Heritage Expeditions and our Inspiring Explorers™ Fund Donors

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