Nicole Clerx

Geologist, glaciologist

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Although I was born in Switzerland I grew up in possible the flattest country on earth: the Netherlands. I was nonetheless always fascinated by the mountains, so when I found out that in geosciences an important of the curriculum was fieldwork my study choice was easily made: I would become a geologist. After an Erasmus-exchange in Grenoble (FR) I realised that diehard geophysics maybe was less my thing, so I switched to a more applied branch of geology and became a petroleum engineer. Several years of working in the oil and gas industry left me unsatisfied, and wanting to live closer to the mountains I found a PhD-position at the university of Fribourg. Since 2019 I have been studying hydrological processes in snow and firn on the Greenland ice sheet.

When I’m not working on my research, I try to spend as much time as possible in the mountains: biking and (trail) running, or more often climbing, mountaineering and (tour) skiing. By being an instructor in Inspiring Girls Expeditions, I would like to share my enthusiasm for the mountain- and glacier world, and show that you don’t have to be a mountain goat to be in the natural sciences.

instructor Girls* on Ice Suisse 2022, 2023