This evening I am starting day 2 of the Explorer's Festival with Explorers Symposium: Reflecting on a Year and a Legacy. 
"For 133 years, National Geographic has illuminated our world and what it means to be human. To reflect on the past year is to listen intently to voices new and old and to learn from immense change. To reflect on our legacy is to tell stories with an even more expansive audience and to engage in an even deeper exploration of the world. It's an hour and a half of inspiring discovery from across the world."
​One example - Justine Ammendolia, who is an amazing example of an adaptable young scientist making a difference in difficult circumstances, from a failed project in Greenland, to making the most of being stuck without a project in a city, during COVID. "When you're in the field and things fail, you have to adapt." 

Later on I will be joining my colleagues in polar research as we discuss a new Polar Hub to facilitate working together and sharing resources in this incredible part of the world.  

Coming up next week, the first virtual National Geographic Explorers Festival has over 6000 explorers invited and I am excited to attend. 

​In 2016, a National Geographic Research and Exploration grant, in combination with the Polar Continental Shelf Program and the NSF division of Polar Programs, funded my field season at three sites in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago – Beaver Pond, Fyles Leaf Beds, and Ekblaw.  Five years, three international moves, and three fellowships later, the samples we took keep allowing me to answer questions about what the Arctic was like in the nearest analogue we have for our near future climate.

Although 5 years ago, National Geographic is still supporting my career with training in Effective Mapmaking, Advanced Storymaps with ESRI, and Making an Impact. I look forward to applying these new skills to my new research on palaeoclouds, as well as the related work we keep trickling out on fire in the Pliocene Arctic.