Keith Makinson
Mining Engineering (1988)

British Antartic Survey

It's a fact: engineering can really take you places.

And for Keith Makinson that means Antarctica! Keith has been a Drilling Engineer with the British Antarctic Survey since graduating from Nottingham.

"I grew up on a farm and I was used to mending things like tractors and machinery. I knew I liked the outdoors and I was always a practical person. I joined the Survey in mid-July and by the middle of September I was on a ship sailing from Grimsby, bound for the Antarctic."

His work involves designing, developing and operating ice core and hot water drilling equipment for use in the Antarctic to depths of up to 1,000m. Keith has also worked on the Greenland Ice Cap as part of an international team, which extracted a 3km ice core containing more than 150,000 years of climate history.

"We were the first group to get successful oceanographic measurements from underneath an ice shelf the size of France. At the BAS we are at the forefront of this type of work and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction in knowing that I'm contributing to world science."