150 scholar - Henry Evans

From university to the South Pole
Henry Evans at the South Pole

Henry Evans is a marine biologist who graduated from University of Plymouth in 2012. He completed the two man International Scott Centenary Expedition to the South Pole to celebrate the centenary of Captains Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, arriving at the Pole on the 5 January 2013. It proved to be a life-changing experience and he hopes to use this to continue to explore the world, working in marine biology and education.

Henry is a global ambassador for University of Plymouth, a writer for the Daily Telegraph, marine biologist and science communicator. He obtained a 150th scholarship from University of Plymouth for Outstanding Achievement, and was also nominated in the “Outstanding Student” category at the Vice-Chancellor's Enterprise Awards.

Henry is now sharing his experiences, by giving talks and workshops to schools, businesses and local groups across the world. Each talk is tailored for each age-group and is highly interactive.

Journey towards Antarctica

In December 2010, Henry entered a national competition run by the International Scott Centenary Expedition (ISCE) and the Daily Telegraph. 

As part of the Scott Centenary celebrations, the winner would have a place on a two month expedition to Antarctica taking place in December 2012, where they would be part of a team skiing the last two degrees to the South Pole. After writing an essay to enter the competition titled “Why is Captain Scott important to me?” he was told that he had made it down to the final ten candidates, with himself being the youngest. 

Throughout 2011, numerous selection events followed, including five days of Royal Navy training at HMS Raleigh in Cornwall and three days of Royal Navy Officer training at HMS Sultan in Hampshire. There were physical and psychological tests, which were incredibly arduous but great fun. All this was taking place while Henry was finishing his final two years of his degree.

The final four were announced in September 2011, with Henry being one of them, and taken to Northern Norway for two weeks cold weather training during November 2011, where they learnt how to survive in a polar environment and conducted a one week expedition. A few weeks after returning, Henry was announced as the winner.

The International Scott Centenary Expedition completed the trek of the last two degrees to the South Pole, covering a distance of 120 nautical miles in 14 days. Battling extreme temperatures as low as -35 degrees celsius was dangerous, but they finished with no major problems. 

During the expedition, Henry conducted a scientific project which is in association with University of Plymouth, with the samples to be analysed by the British Antarctic Survey on return. Snow samples were collected every three miles, with the stable isotopes to be analysed across the traverse. The team also delivered ten winning letters from the Wildlife and Wetland Trust Scott 100 letters competition to the South Pole. 

Since winning this competition, Henry has had the joy of meeting David Attenborough, HRH Princess Royal, appearing on BBC Spotlight and talking on BBC Radio Devon and Radio Plymouth. 

He has appeared in and written articles for the Daily Telegraph and local papers including the Plymouth Herald, Western Morning News, Saffron Walden Reporter and the Cambridge Evening News. 

The University of Plymouth are now sponsors of the ISCE charity and Henry is currently carrying out media work and an education and out-reach programme in co-ordination with them.

Education

Henry's passion is to inspire and educate people of all ages about weird and wonderful science, such as our magnificent ocean and the incredible diversity of life it contains. With this aim in mind, he has set up his own website at www.magoce.com.

His latest creation is FotD (Fact of the Day), where an amazing fact is posted every day at www.facebook.com/FotDhenners.

Throughout his three years, Henry took part in hundreds of hours of marine based volunteering, including working with the Shark Trust, the National Marine Aquarium, the Marine Biological Association, Wembury Marine Centre, the Barn Owl Trust and also various beach cleans with the University’s volunteering department.

While at the University, Henry was Vice-Captain of the BUCS Mens Futsal 1st team and competed in Sheffield at last year’s national competition. He was also captain of the regionally well known futsal team called Futsal Campbell, who in three years won six tournament trophies and four league titles. 

Research

His final year dissertation was titled “The diet of the juvenile cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis” and involved research trips across the south coast of England. It was conducted in conjunction with University of Plymouth and the Marine Institute. 

Further information