A former Edinburgh University student has become a top Antarctic expert and has visited the South Pole six times despite being told it was "no place for a woman" at a careers fair.
Camilla Nichol is now one of four female leaders dubbed the 'Ice Girls'. She is also Chief Executive of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and a wave of girl power now means the UK's presence on Earth's frozen ice caps is now dominated by female leadership.
Some of Camilla's brave and gruelling encounters while subjected to extremely cold temperatures include being thrown out of bed on stormy seas on a two-week voyage escorting Princess Anne to South Georgia.
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She has also braved subzero temperatures of minus 37°C camping in a tent at the foot of Mount Erebus and plummeted 100 metres in a second in a helicopter being buffeted by fearsome winds on a hair-raising trip to Cape Crozier.
Speaking on International Women's Day, Camilla said: "I feel immense privilege being one of the female leaders bringing girl power to the Antarctic because for 200 years of its human history it was so male dominated.
"As a kid growing up, I remember the adventures of Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott being big in my life. I’ve still got the Ladybird book about Captain Scott that inspired me.
"It was always my dream to get there and even as a student I had a map of Antarctica on my wall. But when I was making my career choices at university, I remember the British Antarctic Survey and oil exploration companies visiting and the opportunities for women were much more limited.
"It was unlikely you’d get spend much time in the field. At that point, it felt like I would never get to work in Antarctica.
"It felt like some options were not open to me, but thankfully things have changed dramatically since the 90s. Within my career lifespan we’ve gone from women not being allowed to winter in Antarctica, to now we’re leading it, so it’s a massive change."
East Sussex-born Geology graduate Camilla launched her career working for the Scottish Football Museum, followed by roles at the Scottish Shale Oil Museum, in Livingston, and Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum.
She continued: "There have been so many pinch-me moments. Within three weeks of starting my job in 2014, I was despatched to the Ross Sea to see Scott and Shackleton’s huts. To go there and see them felt like a religious experience to me.
"I had the real privilege of joining a trip with Princess Anne to South Georgia in 2016 as a guest of Dundee-based South Georgia Heritage Trust, for the centenary of Shackleton’s Endurance rescue, commemorating the incredible moment his ship was destroyed by Antarctic ice and their battle to survive.
"It was two weeks on a very, very rocky ship. I remember being sea sick in rough seas until I eventually got my sea legs after a few days. The Princess Royal and her husband were admirably stoic and upright, although the whole party was trying to work out ways in which we could wedge ourselves in our bunks, so we were not thrown out of bed.
"I’ve camped in temperatures of -37°C but the wildlife, the breathtaking scenery and the history make it all worthwhile."
Camilla's story comes in the wake of the UK government announcing its first International Women & Girls strategy - putting gender equality at the forefront of UK foreign policy.
Speaking on this, Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said: "Advancing gender equality and challenging discrimination is obviously the right thing to do, but it also brings freedom, boosts prosperity and trade, and strengthens security - it is the fundamental building block of all healthy democracies.
"Our investment to date has improved lives around the world, with more girls in school, fewer forced into early marriage and more women in top political and leadership roles.
"But these hard-won gains are now under increasing threat. We’re ramping up our work to tackle the inequalities which remain, at every opportunity."
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