Innovation team

Innovation is at the heart of our organisation. Scientific exploration of the polar regions is made possible through the inventive approach we take to our work. We aim to apply this creativity by taking our expertise wherever else it could add value. The Innovation Team, led by the Director of Innovation and Impact, facilitates this process and helps to unlock our potential to create benefit for society and economy.

Innovation Champions community

The core Innovation team brings together the Innovation Champions community. Each team across BAS has a designated champion for innovation. They collate and develop innovation ideas arising from within their teams, and facilitate internal and external collaboration.

Aurora Events & Partnerships

Discover more about our ongoing events and partnered projects.

Aurora Innovation Centre

Our mission is to create space for collaboration within the British Antarctic Survey – addressing issues of global importance and helping society adapt to a changing world. The Aurora Innovation Centre offers a space and support services for interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle environmental challenges and increase real-world benefit of polar research.

Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley

Director of Innovations and Impact

Pilvi Muschitiello

Impact Facilitator

Nikola Kalous

Aurora Front of House

People on a snowy mountain range holding a rainbow flag

Pride Day declared on 18 November

27 July, 2020

The Government of the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) celebrate the contribution of LGBTQ+ people by declaring 18 November …

New album Aurora Musicalis brings the ‘sounds of space’ to the public

6 May, 2020

A new album with the unique ‘sounds of space’ recorded from Antarctica is released free today (6 May 2020). Aurora Musicalis contains the natural radio ‘sounds’ of our planet, recorded …

Plastic debris on a beach at Bird Island

Plastic solutions: workshop at BAS

10 September, 2018

People, Plastics and the Planet is an international workshop to tackle the global plastic waste problem taking place at British Antarctic Survey’s Aurora Innovation Centre from 18th – 21st September 2018. Organised by BAS, Cambridge University and Value in Enterprise offers the unique opportunity for scientists and entrepreneurs to spend four days developing and testing ideas to address challenges posed by plastics in our environment.

Jo johnson wearing a suit and tie holding a cell phone.

Growth of microalgae using nitrate-rich brine wash from the water industry

1 July, 2018 by Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley

Safe and accepted limits for nitrates in drinking water are exceeded in around one-third of the groundwater bodies in Europe. Whilst anion exchange (AEX) is an effective technology to strip…