Role:

• International Collaboration Officer for Southern Hemisphere, 2021-2022

Contacts:

• Email: x.a.aguilar.vega@stir.ac.uk; international@polarnetwork.org

Background:

Ximena is a PhD researcher at the University of Stirling. Her research focuses on bio-optics and Earth Observation tools to assess the dynamics between glaciers and the ocean and the role these systems play in the carbon cycle in polar regions. She is a member of the Mexican Agency for Antarctic Studies (AMEA) and Homeward Bound (Team HB6), a ground-breaking, global leadership initiative that aims to heighten women’s influence and impact in making decisions that shape our planet.

Ximena has participated in two Antarctic scientific expeditions (2019 and 2020) led by the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), and she travelled to Antarctica with NASA’s IceBridge mission in 2018. In June 2019, she was selected from among 789 candidates of 88 different nationalities to participate in the oceanographic campaign called ‘South-North Atlantic Training Transect’ (SoNoAT), aboard the German scientific vessel RV Polarstern, an initiative led by the AWI, Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean, among others. Ximena is also a photographer; she deeply believes in the synergy between science and art as an infallible tool for climate change awareness.