National Portrait: Antarctica NZ CEO Sarah Williamson

Friday, 12 July 2019

She might be Antarctica NZ's new CEO, but on her first trip to the ice, that won't earn Sarah Williamson a free pass on lunch duty.

The newly appointed Williamson will travel to the frozen continent in the spring and although her itinerary has yet to be finalised, she'll be expected to muck-in with the rest of the staff.

'My first trip down is in November, so it's going to be quite exciting,' she says.

'I do know that when you go there that you help out. One of the Board members told me, it's one of the few places that a Board member might go and still help out cooking lunch.' 

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Williamson took the helm at AntNZ in June and her first week brought her into contact with hundreds of scientists and delegates at New Zealand Antarctic Science Conference.

'New Zealand has a number of the best Antarctic scientists in the world and the science conference brings them all together.

'There are scientists that look after the ice, the soil, dry valleys, little bits of bacteria. So it was a great snapshot - I had a full brain by the end of the week.'  

Antarctica New Zealand is the Government agency responsible for carrying out research and exploration on the southern continent.

The organisation flies staff and equipment to and from NZ's permanent facility at Scott Base, which is home to 300 people throughout the summer months. 

Williamson says her role will be to ensure the continued delivery of AntNZ's core services.

'One is to make sure that we run a really slick logistics team, so that means we need to be able to manage New Zealand's activity down on the ice,' she says.

'The second is that we have a strong push for science. And the last is to work really closely with all the other parties.'

Her recent appointment followed 19 years at Air New Zealand, where she held a range of managerial positions, meaning she is familiar with operating in high-stress and logistically-challenging environments. 

'There are some similarities. In Antarctica you can't really afford for something to go wrong. And that's almost the same on an aircraft, you're a long way up if something goes wrong. So (I've been) working in environments that make you really conscious of risk.' 

The 53-year-old has a Masters in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Psychology, but she said she's unsure how much preparation the qualifications will provide when conversing with high-level experts.

'Probably any degree gives you an ability to at least be able to think conceptually, but the scientists we have in New Zealand are world-renowned, it's their complete career,' she says. 

'They're incredibly skilled and professional at what they do, so probably it's not going to be too much help in being able to have conversations with them. 'Typically. scientists are good at translating what they are studying and what they have discovered into words that I can understand.'

Williamson was born and raised in Auckland but moved her family to Christchurch 10 years ago. 

She said her mother's family has been farming in South Canterbury for four generations, while her two children, aged 14 and 16, consider themselves fully-fledged Cantabrians.

​AntNZ, Antarctic Heritage Trust and the International Antarctic Centre are all based in Christchurch, while the city centre is home to a statue of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who visited the region twice before his famous Antarctic expeditions.

And Williamson said the city has an intimate connection with the polar region. 

'When I moved from Auckland I didn't realise how much Christchurch is the stepping-off point but when you drive around this area you get a real sense (of) Christchurch being a gateway to Antarctica.

'It was a stopping-off point for a whole bunch of really amazing and courageous journeys and it brings in quite significant amounts - around $230m - of revenue and additional jobs. 

'Christchurch is inherently linked to Antarctica. It would be quite hard to separate them now.' 

Her tenure at AntNZ followed the sacking of the organisation's former CEO, Peter Beggs, last August, but Williamson says she 'can't really comment' on her predecessor or the negative headlines generated by his dismissal.

Instead, she says she's looking forward to the unique and exciting challenges the role will afford her.

'For lots of people, Antarctica is a fascinating place. It's such an enormous continent but almost relatively untouched, and so the role gives (me) an opportunity to play a part in taking on the stewardship of this amazing continent,' she says.

'Everyone's really motivated to make sure that we are very ecologically aware and not destroying the very thing we're researching - right down to the point that if you go out in the field and you need to do number ones, then you have a little bottle and you bring your number ones back.'

Among the projects Williamson will oversee will be the $250m redevelopment of Scott Base, some of which dates back to 1957

'Our next big challenge is the Scott Base rebuild. That's one of the biggest things in terms of budget for us.

'The last update of those buildings was in the 1980s. As time's gone by, and the scientific needs have changed, the base hasn't really kept up. 

'Logistically, that's a challenge but you need to be careful with what you do with things like sawdust, because that's not a normal thing to find in Antarctica, so there are some special challenges that come with building in that environment.'

In June, the prime minister's chief science adviser, Professor Juliet Gerrard, said there were too many competing Antarctic science organisations.

She said there were nine separate groups that fund and administer Antarctic research. 'That is an awful lot of logos for a community this [small].'

But Williamson says she does not share the concern. 

'From my point of view, I'm not really clear about what the problem is.

'When you sit with the science community you realise that they seem to be really collegial and interconnected and they work really closely together.

'It's quite hard to be an Antarctic researcher and be sleeping in a tent with someone for a week and not get to know them quite quickly. 

'Scott Base is relatively small, it's only got 86 beds, so the environment down there is one that brings people together.

'I'm pondering whether it's an issue with the level of connectivity across the science community or whether it's indicative of a perception that there's no one place to go for information.'

New Zealand was one of 12 countries to sign The Antarctic Treaty in December 1959.

The legal agreement prohibits mining and the establishment of any military bases on the continent.

'It's only when you start in the role that you really get an appreciation for the Treaty system,' Williamson says.

'I don't know how many other treaties in the world are like it. It's a system that says we will all work together for the good of Antarctica. 

'I don't think people have an appreciation of that until you get close to the continent.'

The current treaty will be reviewed in 2048, prompting fears the region will be exploited for mineral and oil extraction, but Williamson remains hopeful.

'There's always an overarching concern to keep Antarctica as a place of peace and scientific research and collegiality. We all work really hard to keep that ethos going.' 

When she eventually leaves Christchurch in November and travels 3800km south, Williamson says she is looking forward to witnessing the vast expanse for herself.

'I think that when you get down there, that experience of being on the ice, it's meant to be absolutely amazing.

'I guess you can't get the sense from photos, so being there and experiencing it will be quite incredible.'