Oxford University Exploration Club

University of Oxford Student Society

Email:

secretary.ouec@gmail.com

Address:

H B Allen Centre

Oxford, UK

OX2 6NN

Foundation Date

1927

The History of the Oxford University Exploration Club

The Oxford University Exploration Club was established in December 1927 by Edward Max Nicholson, Colin Trapnell, and Charles Sutherland Elton.

The Club aims to support and advise students in planning original expeditions abroad. Recent expeditions to Tibet, the Congo, Greenland, Trinidad, Mongolia, Svalbard, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, and the remote Comoros Islands have discovered new species of birds, insects, and plants, published scientific papers on the rainforest canopy, found some of the world’s deepest caves, scaled unclimbed peaks and recorded the folk music of nomads; all in co-operation and collaboration with local people and organisations.

The Club was merged in 1965 with the Oxford University Women's Exploration Club (founded by Henrietta Hutton), with equal status granted to both male and female members.

Former members include:

Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton - Chairman 1932-33, member of the 1932 expedition to Sarawak in Borneo, organised by Tom Harrisson, along with the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition (led by Gordon Noel Humphreys)
Wilfred Thesiger - Treasurer of the Club's Committee 1931-1932
Alex Hibbert
John Buchan - President 1930 - 1934
Gerald Harvey Thompson - assistant entomologist on the 1938 expedition to the Cayman Islands
James Fisher (naturalist) - Junior Treasurer 1932-34
Andrew Croft - Oxford University Arctic Expedition, 1935–36
Kenneth Mason (geographer) - Vice President 1933 - 1938

Past Arctic Expeditions

The Oxford University Exploration Club has a long history of Arctic expeditions. The uniqueness of arctic locations allows for novel insights into wildlife, microbiology, culture, and geology. From vast glaciers to soaring mountains, the Arctic regions are a stunningly extreme environment. In more recent years, the impacts of climate change have been a cause for concern, driving researchers and explorers to understand and document the shifts in arctic conditions.

Below is a list of Oxford University Expeditions to arctic locations, each with a bevy of research objectives and scientific findings.

a) Greenland: Expeditions of 1928, 1935-36, 1938, 1962, 1965, 1982-83.

b) Iceland: Expeditions of 1947, 1958, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1980, 1982, 1986.

c) Norway:

i) Finnmark: Expeditions of 1947, 1950, 1959-61, 1963-65, 1968-73, 1976-77.

ii) Svalbard: Expeditions of 1933, 1949, 1953, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1997, 2001.

Noteworthy OUEC Expeditions

Oxford University Greenland Expedition, 1928

Oxford University British Guiana Expedition, 1929

Oxford University Expedition to Lapland, 1930

Oxford University Hudson Strait Expedition, 1931

Oxford University Expedition to Sarawak (Borneo), 1932

Oxford University Expedition to Lapland, 1930

Details to come.