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PHILLIP LAW MEDAL RECIPIENT 2026

DR TREVOR MICHAEL ‘MIKE’ CRAVEN AAM

The ANARE Club is honoured to award the 2026 Phillip Law Medal to Dr Trevor Michael “Mike” Craven AAM, in recognition of his outstanding and sustained contribution to Antarctic affairs and to the Australian Antarctic community over more than four decades.

Mike, known to many as “Duk”, has made an exceptional contribution across Antarctic science, field leadership, logistics, environmental understanding and public engagement. His Antarctic career has included participation in six winter and eight summer Australian Antarctic Division expeditions, beginning with his work studying pulsating aurorae at Macquarie Island in 1983 and 1985. He went on to winter as an auroral physicist at Davis in 1988 and Mawson in 1991, contributing at a high level to research, administration and the training of expeditioners in atmospheric and space physics.

Mike later moved into glaciology, wintering at Davis in 1994 and participating in the 1994–95 Lambert Glacier Basin Traverse, a major 2,200-kilometre scientific traverse between the Larsemann Hills and Mawson. In 1995, he led a remote field team to the Amery Ice Shelf to undertake precise GPS measurements of surface elevation, contributing important data for satellite radar altimetry calibration.

One of Mike’s most significant achievements was his leadership of the Amery Ice Shelf Ocean Research project, known as AMISOR. Appointed as scientific and field manager in 1999, Mike oversaw the development and construction of a hot-water drill and led multiple successful deep-field programs. Under his leadership, the project drilled through hundreds of metres of ice shelf to make measurements in the ice, boreholes and underlying ocean, revealing important and unexpected features of ice shelf-ocean interaction, marine ice formation and the environment beneath the Amery Ice Shelf. These discoveries have helped inform the direction of major international research into the role of Antarctica in global warming and future sea level rise.

Mike’s contribution to AMISOR was not only scientific, but also logistical and collaborative. He successfully managed complex field operations involving aircraft, helicopters, skidoos, deep-field camps and specialist drilling equipment. He fostered strong interdisciplinary collaboration between glaciologists, oceanographers, meteorologists, geodesists, sedimentologists and marine ecologists, and encouraged the participation of expert international scientists from the United States, China and Japan.

His proven expertise in field operations and people management led to his appointment as AAD field manager at Wilkins Aerodrome in 2008–09 and, in 2010, as Station Leader at Mawson. Across all of these roles, Mike has demonstrated outstanding leadership, judgement, resilience and commitment to the safety, training and support of fellow expeditioners.

Beyond his work with the AAD, Mike has been a passionate and highly effective advocate for Antarctic science and conservation. Through his work as an onboard guide and lecturer on Antarctic and Arctic voyages, and as a commentator on Antarctica overflights, he has brought Antarctic knowledge, humour, insight and enthusiasm to broad public audiences.

For his distinguished service to Antarctic science, leadership, logistics, international collaboration, environmental awareness and public understanding, Mike Craven is a most worthy recipient of the Phillip Law Medal for 2026.