Cambridge charity begins search for new Port Lockroy Antarctic team

Port Lockroy is home to a colony of gentoo penguins

The search has begun for a team to live and work in Antarctica, where their jobs will include a daily penguin count.

There will be no access to wi-fi or running water during the five months at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island.

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT), based in Cambridge, is offering five jobs, including at the world's most southern Post Office.

Camilla Nichol from UKAHT said the positions were "incredibly popular".

The outpost marks its 80th anniversary this year and is located about 9,000 miles (14,484km) from the UK.

The team will be responsible for caring for the flagship site, running the Post Office and gift shop, maintaining artefacts at the museum at Bransfield House, and conducting daily counts to protect the colony of gentoo penguins.

UKAHT is looking for a base leader, postmaster and wildlife monitor as well as two conservation carpenters to restore parts of Bransfield House following a period of heavy snow.

New recruits will need to be resilient, physically fit and environmentally aware, the charity said.

The team will have to run the Post Office and base on the remote site in Antarctica

Ms Nichol, UKAHT chief executive, said: "We are excited to offer an opportunity like no other, living in a landscape that makes you feel pure awe and wonder and working at Port Lockroy - the birthplace of the British Antarctic Survey - where pioneering generations have gone before us making ground-breaking discoveries about our world.

"Last year we received a record number of applications for just four roles based on Goudier Island."

Applications close on 26 March for the jobs on the base, while those looking to take on the role of conservation carpenter will need to submit applications by 12 April.

Interviews are due to take place online, with those shortlisted invited to a two-day selection event in Northamptonshire before undertaking training in Cambridgeshire.

Successful candidates will live and work at Port Lockroy from November until March 2024, while conservation carpenters will arrive at the site in January 2024 for six to eight weeks.

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