Meet our Team

Museum Curator Jayne Pierce grew up with a love of natural history and geology. She graduated from Leicester University with a degree in Geology before completing a master’s degree in Micropalaeontology at University College London. After a spate of travelling and working on a gold mine in Western Australia, she returned to the UK to follow a career in museums, first at the Natural History Museum then with UCL Museums & Collections. Jayne spends part of the year at South Georgia and the rest at home in Bath, UK.

Passionate about the great outdoors, Jayne developed an appetite for travelling which led to hiking the Himalayas of Nepal, the Rocky Mountains of Canada, the volcanoes of New Zealand and Bolivia and now working in South Georgia.

Jayne enjoys visiting and exploring all aspects of culture and heritage, from city art galleries and museums, architecture and formal gardens, to post-industrial landscapes and open wild spaces.

Deirdre Mitchell is responsible for overseeing SGHT operations on South Georgia, including the operation and management of the Museum. Deirdre studied history and museum studies at the University of St Andrews, before embarking on a curatorial career. This led to her first role at the South Georgia Museum as a Curatorial Intern in 2014-15. This experience sparked Deirdre’s fascination with all things South Georgia and Antarctica. For the next seven years she worked as a Naturalist on board expedition ships in the region and subsequently for the British Antarctic Survey at both Rothera and King Edward Point Research Stations.

As a Scot, Deirdre is particularly fascinated by the many Scottish elements of South Georgia’s whaling history, and also enjoys being surrounded by the island’s incredible wildlife and landscape.

Livvie Southall grew up in sunny Devonshire performing in her village pantomime and making mud pies by the streams near her house. Soon she developed a taste for adventure beyond her little village woods. Her local national park, Dartmoor, holds many memories for Livvie, she has always loved the solitary beauty of its landscape (which can sometimes be a little unforgiving) and the isolation from the bustle of commuters and vehicles. This is where her fascination with South Georgia and Antarctica began.

When she’s not thinking about penguins Livvie coaches indoor climbing and sails as an RYA skipper. She also has a degree in History from the University of Manchester. Livvie is passionate about preserving the heritage of South Georgia and is thrilled to be a part of the team for the upcoming season.

Lauren Elliott grew up in Portsmouth, UK, where city life is a vast contrast to the life on South Georgia. Lauren studied a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Ethics and spent the next few years in an operations team opening stores across the UK and Ireland before landing her dream job in Antarctica.

Lauren worked at Port Lockroy for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust which sparked her love for the polar regions, from the history to the wildlife, and led on to her working in South Georgia from 2022 for SGHT. Lauren, essentially a fossil at this stage, is returning to South Georgia for her third season and is excited to FINALLY summit Duce, continue “Mac and Cheese Mondays” and maybe join Dee for a Parkrun.

Helen Balfour was brought up in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, so is travelling from 60° North to almost 60° South to work in South Georgia. She is following in both her grandfathers’ footsteps by making the journey to South Georgia, as they were both employed in the island’s whaling trade in the 1950s.

Helen has spent the last 5 years studying for both her honours and master’s degree in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. Her main interest for both dissertations was based on heritage and museum studies, with a focus on Shetland and the NE of Scotland. She has worked for Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums and the Shetland Museum and Archives. She is also working with the South Georgia Heritage Trust on the current Whalers’ Memory Bank Project.

Helen enjoys making things, whether with traditional Shetland material of black oat straw or producing lino prints.

Bodil Malmose was born and raised in Denmark where her love of exploring and the outdoors was awakened with camping, hiking, and cycling trips around Scandinavia. Bodil also lived in Iceland where her love for the outdoors led her to volunteer work with path maintenance and landscape conservation across the island. Later she moved to Glasgow where she completed an archaeology degree at the University of Glasgow in 2023.

Bodil is passionate about museums and public archaeology. She also enjoys crafting, particularly spinning and knitting. She can often be found winding down with a crafting project after a long day.

Bodil first joined the museum team last year as Operational Assistant (formerly Museum Assistant). During last season she assisted with curatorial tasks and started the Whaler’s Library Project. She is excited to return to South Georgia to carry on curatorial work and share her passion for South Georgia’s heritage.

Liz Adams is the Buyer for the museum gift shop. She is based in England and worked for 22 years as the retail manager and buyer for a major tourist attraction before joining the South Georgia Heritage Trust in 2010. Her main aim is to increase the profitability of the shop and to source unique high quality gifts for our visitors. Liz concentrates on products that are environmentally friendly and produced ethically.