Dr John Shears CGeog

Biography

Dr John Shears is a polar geographer and expedition leader. He has over 35 years of experience of working in both Antarctica and the Arctic, first with the British Antarctic Survey, then the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge and now running his own polar consultancy business Shears Polar Limited. In recent years, John’s polar expeditions have focused on the search for Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance in Antarctica. In 2019, he was the expedition leader for the Weddell Sea Expedition. Then, in 2022, he was the expedition leader of Endurance22, which made the historic discovery of Endurance on March 5, 2022, at a depth of 3,000 meters under the ice. He is the co-author with Nico Vincent of the acclaimed National Geographic book “Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship,” published in 2024, a companion to the hit National Geographic documentary film “Endurance” released the same year. Currently, John is advising the South Georgia Heritage Trust and helping to organise their “In the Footsteps of Shackleton” expedition cruise to South Georgia in November 2026, during which he will attempt the Shackleton mountain crossing of the island. John is a long-standing fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a former vice president of the Society, and a chartered geographer. He is a fellow of The Explorers Club and a recipient of an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Explorers Club Visionary Award in 2024. John was awarded the Polar Medal by Her Majesty the Queen in 2019 in recognition of his “outstanding achievement and service to the United Kingdom in the field of polar research.” In 2023, he became a visiting professor in the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Southampton.