Being a Polar explorer gives you a lot of time to think, to question your desire to continue. But Antony Jinman never does. The question was answered at 22, when a snowboarding accident split a vertebra and broke his back. He vowed never to leave a what-if unexplored.

There is no set career path to becoming an explorer. No degree or apprenticeship. Exploration is a realisation of a dream. After five years in the armed forces, Antony left to pursue this dream. He became an adventure tour guide at 23 and then an expedition leader at the age of 25, travelling extensively all over the world.

Through his years of travelling Antony has become an informed and passionate conservationist, working hard to support our understanding and protection of our ecosystems and biodiversity.

His first trip to the Arctic was the 2007 Baffin Island Expedition for the Mitchem Trust, raising over £200,000 for vulnerable children. This was the start of a special relationship as Baffin Island has become the hub for Antony’s Arctic expeditions, which have taken him to Greenland and the ultimate challenge: the geographic North Pole in 2010.

The Geographic North Pole expedition saw Antony and his two team mates ski and snow shoe (and sometimes swam) over 500 miles from Cape Discovery to the Geographic North Pole in just 51 days, collecting valuable scientific data for the University of Plymouth. Realising his boyhood dream to reach the pole at the age of 29 might seem like the end of his ambition but this is very much not the case: it is as an educator, rather than an explorer, that Antony wants to be remembered.

For the past three years he has been developing his school outreach program, visiting schools and communicating his passion for expedition to children, hoping to inspire them as he was by his hero Captain Scott. This work has flourished to become Education Through Expeditions, a not-for-profit, community interest company that aims to bring real-time case studies to educators on a global basis.

This project (Education Through Expeditions) is a unique pioneering web based resource whose purpose is to inspire and educate children of all ages across the world about global climate change issues and to create a greater respect for the planet. It will achieve this through interactive expeditions and related school outreach work.

Vernor Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education (2004-2010) – Human Rights Council. United Nations

“I have learnt through a colleague of your work on education and climate change through expeditions. May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your innovative approach to education and to encourage you in your aim to inspire and educate children globally about climate change. I wish you well. Warmly and with a smile”

In July 2011 Antony was awarded an Honorary Degree Doctor of Education from the University of the West of England for his contribution to Education and the development of Education Through Expeditions.

Antony has also received medals from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, been endorsed by the Royal Geographical society and this year was the UK’s sole representative at the International Polar Year Teachers Conference in Oslo. He is a popular and experienced public speaker, delivering talks at True North, National Geographic store and Oxford University.

“The expedition carried out in 2010 by Antony Jinman was considered to be a great success and has contributed significantly to our understanding of the presence of sea ice algae in the northern Arctic Ocean. As such, we wish to thank Antony for their efforts in obtaining these valuable samples and enabling us to further extend our understanding of this important environment.”
Dr. Thomas A. Brown – Biogeochemistry Research Centre – University of Plymouth