SHACKLETON MEDAL 2026 - THE SHORTLIST
Whoever receives the Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions this year will join four winners who have all proved to be true leaders in raising awareness about issues in the Arctic and Antarctic. Dr Heïdi Sevestre has recently completed a monumental kite-skiing trek across Antarctica to collect data for UNESCO using Ground Penetrating Radar. Legendary polar explorer Pen Hadow has presented a paper about strategies for protecting the Central Arctic Ocean at the UN-affiliated International Marine Organization. Indigenous leader Valérie Courtois has won Canada’s prestigious Douglas H Pimlott award for her revolutionary ideas about conservation. Radical lawyer, Cormac Cullinan, is preparing to finalise his ground-breaking Declaration for Antarctica Rights on December 1st this year.
In the fifth year of the medal, the judges have once more been inspired by the extraordinary calibre of the candidates on the longlist. Following an intense debate at the Royal Geographical Society last week, they have now narrowed the longlist of 28 down to a list of 7 finalists. These include the first female leader of Ukraine’s Antarctic Expedition and the man who has overseen the construction of the new Tara Polar Station, a drifting observatory for analysing the Arctic’s ecosystems in depth. After interviews with each finalist, the winner will be announced in June.
2026 SHORTLIST
Dominik Bahlburg (Germany) - Marine biologist and expert on krill
Head of a six-year study which analysed 30,000 hours of echo sounder recordings from krill fishing vessels to show that fishing in the Southern Ocean consistently interferes with species – like whales, penguins, and seals – who feed on krill.
Ellen Bowler (UK) - Machine learning researcher, British Antarctic Survey
Head of a crucial AI survey to predict the timing of caribou sea ice migrations.
Anzhelika Hanchuk (Ukraine) - Meteorologist
The first female leader of Ukraine's Antarctic Expedition – 2026/2027. Like many on the expedition, she is also dealing with the stress of leaving her family behind in a warzone.
Susana Hancock (USA) - Climate activist, policy expert, and transdisciplinary polar scientist
Susana is a highly respected cryosphere scientist who often attends international climate negotiations. She recently skied across Greenland to install sensors that can help predict the rate of sea level rise and ocean warming around the world. As part of the expedition she held live online education sessions with schoolchildren.
Denise Landau (USA) - A sub-Antarctic and Antarctic tourism and environmental protection expert of international stature
President and COO of the Colorado-based Friends of South Georgia Island
Sara Olsvig (Greenland) - International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council
Campaigner and politician agitating for why Indigenous Knowledge and human rights must be at the core of Arctic policy.
Romain Troublé (France) - Molecular biologist
For spearheading the incredible Arctic initiative around the new Tara Polar Station and its goal to foster science and ambitious Arctic Ocean protection.
Huge congratulations to everyone who has reached this stage. Congratulations too to all the other nominees for their immensely valuable work in protecting the poles.
The judges for this year’s awards were:
Professor Lewis Dartnell (chair), Sunday Times Best Selling Author and Professor in Science Communication
The Hon Alexandra Shackleton, President of the James Caird Society
Felicity Aston, British Polar Explorer
Ian Dawson, Photographer, Filmmaker, and Picture Editor
Klaus Dodds, Dean for the Faculty of Science and Technology at Middlesex University
Sue Flood OBE, Wildlife and Travel Photographer
John Geiger, Chief Executive of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Geir Kløver, Director of the Fram Museum in Oslo
Chris Michael, Guardian US Live News Editor
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi, President of the Sámi Parliament of Finland
Emily Shuckburgh, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Martin Siegert, Vice President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall) of the University of Exeter
