Alex Gossart

Geographer and modeller, Science Instructor

Growing up I’ve always loved looking at landscapes and wondering how they were created. Coming from a flat land, there was not much to look at, until my dad took me tramping to the Swiss Alps. These trips had two good outcomes: I developed my love for mountains and was taught to never give up before reaching the top – even though it sometimes made me cry. 

I picked Geography at university because I figured it would help me understand how countries look as they do and because it is a cool subject to study. However, my love for snow and ice emerged towards the end of my studies, when I spent a few months in Iceland and fell in love with glaciers! Since Belgium rarely gets snow but owns a research station in Antarctica, I became an Antarctic atmosphere-climate modeler during my PhD. I realized that despite my initial doubts, programming and doing science is something I really enjoy doing. And in 2021, after moving to New Zealand for my Post Doc, I had the amazing opportunity to join a field operation in Antarctica!