AN ABERYSTWYTH University professor has been awarded the prestigious Polar Medal.

The award to Prof Bryn Hubbard is made in recognition of his work as a polar scholar in glaciology, glacial geology and the structure and motion of ice masses.

Prof Hubbard joins an illustrious list of recipients including Captain Robert F Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, who accompanied Scott during the 1902-4 expedition, and Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs who led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1957-8.

Prof Hubbard is one of three glaciologists with links to Aberystwyth University to have been awarded the Polar Medal: Prof Michael Hambrey, former director of the Centre for Glaciology and Profr Julian Dowdeswell, former head of the department of geography and Earth Sciences being the others.

Vice-chancellor Prof April McMahon said: “This is a remarkable achievement and just recognition of a life dedicated to the discipline of Glaciology.

"Prof Hubbard and his colleagues at the Centre for Glaciology are at the cutting edge of understanding the effects of climate change on some of the Earth’s most extreme and inhospitable places and of developing the scientific models to help us understand better how our planet is likely to respond to an increasingly warm environment.

“It is particularly pleasing that a member of staff at Aberystwyth University has been acknowledged in this way, and underlines the relevance of research undertaken here to some of the pressing issues faced by humankind.”

Prof Hubbard said: “I am very honoured to be awarded the Polar Medal, recognising both the challenges and the importance of carrying out scientific research in our planet’s polar regions, and am grateful for the support of colleagues at the Centre of Glaciology at Aberystwyth University who have made all this possible”.

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