To get a Marsden Fund is a lifetime opportunity for a researcher here in New Zealand. This year I was fortunate to get invited to submit a full proposal. After the fifth attempt, I made it into the second round! It was a lot of work before the submission. Many people supported me by discussing my ideas and helped me to find a way through it that in the end a proposal could be submitted. Now I have to wait for the comments of reviewers, can submit a response to it and at the end of October I will know then if I will have the chance to continue with my research on historic weather data and how early Antarctic explorer reacted to the extreme weather, and how their interactions, well-being, decision making, etc. were influenced by the low temperature and strong winds.
Preliminary results, which I worked on supported with a COMNAP research fellowship in 2012/2013, are published in the latest issue of the The Polar Journal. This is the basis for the Marsden Fast Start Fund proposal.
The picture shows scientists from the Drygalski Expedition (1901-1903) taking ice temperature.
