On February 12th explorer Rosie Stancer presented an illustrated webinar on her expedition across a Kazakhstan desert – the Aralkum. BKS Education Group Chairmnan - David Hardy, acted as a moderator.

Rosie has been an accomplished explorer since 1996, since which she has embarked on a series of major polar and ice expeditions. She has achieved several world records including a speed-breaking record ski-ing solo and unsupported to the geographic South Pole, sledge-hauling over the frozen Siberian Lake Baikal from west to south,and north and east. She currently still holds the record for ski-ing farthest as a lone woman to the North Pole.

In 2021 she turned to the deserts, and the Aralkum. Supported by the British Kazakh Society Rosie and her colleague Pom Oliver trekked across the Aralkum desert – the seabed once occupied by the Aral Sea. One of the planet’s youngest deserts, it was created through what is recognised as one of our planet’s worst man-made environmental disasters. The expedition was the first full crossing of the breadth of the Aralkum by foot, covering a distance of some 600 km.

Rosie holds an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University of Essex from the department of Biological Sciences, researching into Sports Science and Environmental Biology.

She holds the Explorers Club Medal, the Hotung medal for Courage, The Mirror Pride of Britain medal, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is Chair of the Advisory Board of the SES – the Scientific Exploration Society.

Rosie and the SES are supporting BKS as it develops with Kazakh colleagues Expeditions for Young Kazakhs. These expeditions aim to benefit Kazakh society and the conservation of natural resources through international cooperation with Kazakh young venturers.