Arctic Research Group-Environmental scientific research expeditions in the High Arctic : Registered charity : 0% paid employees : 100% volunteers : Patron: Dame Joanna Lumley DBE, FRGS "ARG is doing absolutely vital work" : : Founded 1988 Since then the Group has completed more than a dozen ARG expeditions and individual members have been on more than twenty, including two International EU funded research expeditions. The Group has gained the reputation of being one of the most respected private expedition groups currently operating in the UK. The membership over the years has included professors at various Institutions, and many holding a PhD, or other upper degrees. Several members have achieved academic qualifications stemming from or including research work undertaken on ARG expeditions. Members combine their high academic qualifications with many field skills, involving the more obvious ones of mountaineering and camping in severe conditions. The Group regularly includes both new members and young scientists in the research teams so that the work may continue to be varied. This also helps expeditions to remain interesting and more viable as well as encouraging the long-standing tradition of scientific research in the Arctic. Funding for the trips is all raised within the Group by sponsorship, grants and by personal contribution. ARG expeditions to date are valued at well over £500,000, not counting the EU funded international research project valued at over £1m. Major companies, both national and international have sponsored the Group by manufacturing and donating or loaning specialist equipment for use on project work. In 1990 the Group won the Rolex Award through the Royal Geographical Society for small expeditions. Following this, a world first system for the monitoring of glacier ice movement (devised and developed by members) gained EU funding and has been used by several international expeditions. Collaborating parties on projects have included among others Scott Polar Research Institute Cambridge, Norsk Polarinstitutt, the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Oxford, Imperial College and the University of Oslo. A significant number of research papers have been published by members on a variety of topics from glaciology to pollution. Long-term studies by the Group on polluted sites on Spitsbergen have drawn substantial interest after being presented as a poster at an international conference. Several companies have chosen the Group to take their brand of new innovative equipment for field assessment. In this way both sides benefit and a more useful product may be offered on the open market. The Group promotes environmentally friendly options on research, with new techniques being tried and revolutionary ideas proposed for development. In this way both the public and private sector stand to benefit from the research carried out. In cases where poor management or continued pollution of areas is recorded the problem is pointed out to the responsible authorities. In these situations it is hoped that restitution alternatives may eventually be suggested. On each trip some time is set aside for members to enjoy and appreciate the areas visited. Mountains are climbed, regions explored, flora, fauna and topography photographed. Over 30,000 photographs, both on transparency and more recently in electronic format, are held in the Group’s photographic library. These cover every aspect of the Group’s activities.
