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.

Helen Balfour was brought up in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. She travels from 60° North to almost 60° South to work in South Georgia. Following in both her grandfathers’ footsteps, as they each travelled to South Georgia for employment in the island’s whaling industry in the 1950s.

Helen studied her honours and master’s degree in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. Her research interests include social history, anthropology of craft and making, museum anthropology, whaling history, and Shetland’s history. She has worked for Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums and the Shetland Museum and Archives.

Helen enjoys making things and combining this with her love of the outdoors. South Georgia is the perfect place for her with its mixture of beautiful landscape, fascinating wildlife and a small island community.

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.

Will Wood studied zoology and ecology at university before working in a range of practical wildlife roles both in the UK and overseas. He most recently worked as a tour guide in the Highlands where he shared the natural and cultural heritage of Scotland with visitors from around the globe. He is excited to continue sharing the important stories that comprise our natural and cultural heritage – albeit this time in the even more remote and breathtaking backdrop of South Georgia.

In his spare time Will enjoys watching wildlife, walking in the outdoors, and learning about the world. With albatrosses, seals, hills, huts, and the fascinating setting of Grytviken whaling station all on South Georgia Museum’s doorstep he’s certain he won’t be bored.

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 fourth season and is excited to FINALLY summit Duce, actually  maybe stick to a running schedule and to hopefully see the elusive orcas.

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.

Livvie Southall is returning for her second season in South Georgia. Truth be told, she missed the fur seals too much to pass up the offer of returning.

Livvie did a history degree at the University of Manchester. She thought Manchester would be the coldest and rainiest place she would ever live, but she was very wrong about that! Livvie loves her practical skills, she was a BMC climbing coach and sailing skipper before entering this role.

When Livvie isn’t working you may find her crafting, sketching or trying to befriend gentoo penguins (unsuccessfully so far, but this year she has new strategies).

Livvie is looking forward to working with the curatorial team, bringing to life new and exciting exhibitions in the museum, alongside delivering presentations to share the work of SGHT aboard visiting ships. She will certainly miss fresh bananas.

Rachel Davies is a North Wales based conservationist, with a huge passion for the outdoors. She studied Zoology at Bangor University, and then completed a masters in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Chester. Her interests centre around the world of invertebrates and she has a fondness for leeches, running the Freshwater Leech Recording Scheme in her spare time.

When she’s not studying the natural world, she is adventuring in it, often hiking, climbing and swimming. Rachel is really looking forward to exploring South Georgia, as it is a fantastic place to combine her love for wildlife and adventure. She is very excited to share this wonderful location with visitors this season, educating them on the remarkable history and impressive wildlife.

Emily Donnelly has lived across the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, the central belt, and in Norway. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in History & Politics and cares most about engaging communities in their own social history.

Emily has worked as a tour guide in Orkney and volunteered in museums and archaeology projects across Scotland while also trying her hand working with wildlife ranging from voles and stoats, to seabirds, to marine mammals, to reindeer. Most recently, she has worked as a community organiser and held development roles in Edinburgh. If she’s lucky, she finds some time to take photos and paint.

Having looked to the far north and Arctic for a long time, she is excited to turn south and trade her well loved Stromness and Leith for their South Georgian counterparts.

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.