Amanda Lynnes

Amanda's role is to support IAATO in meeting environmental obligations arising from its mission, the Antarctic Treaty System and other international agreements. This includes coordinating research and monitoring efforts and citizen science.

Her Antarctic career began in 1996 with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as a penguin biologist and field assistant for the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). She established long-term seabird monitoring projects at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, and at Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula. Her research involved studying the foraging behaviour of Adelie and chinstrap penguins, the findings of which fed into the development of the first CCAMLR Marine Protected Area in Antarctica.

Amanda's passion for communicating Antarctic issues and science led her to a position as press officer in the award-winning Press, Public Relations and Education Department at BAS and a project coordinator for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. Outside of the Antarctic community, she has worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at busy tourist destinations in the Peak District National Park, UK.

She was first introduced to IAATO in 2002 while working at Port Lockroy. Impressed by IAATO's ethos, core values and potential for creating Antarctic ambassadors, she went on to work for an IAATO member operator and eventually the Secretariat in 2013. Her experiences have led her to appreciate the value of polar tourism when it is expertly managed. She believes protecting our wild places depends on giving people opportunities to learn while exploring them first hand. Amanda lives with her family in the English Lake District.