The submission of documents for participation in XXIV Ukrainian Antarctic expedition has ended. All the necessary documents were submitted by a total of 178 people including 32 women.
40 scientists, 15 mechanics, 16 electric diesel engineers have expressed their willingness to work for a year at Akademik Vernadsky station.
Extremely competitive is the position of a system administrator (documents were submitted by 47 applicants), slightly less competitive are the positions of a cook (33 applicants) and a doctor (27 applicants).
NASC Acting Director Evgen Dykyi noted that this year, thanks to media coverage, significantly more documents were submitted to the competition; in comparison with previous years especially many applications were from women.
Subsequently, the Selection Committee will assess candidates’ professional skills.
After that they will pass a medical board and psychological testing which will evaluate the ability of candidates to live in a closed area and in isolated team for a year. The selection process will end in January 2019.
We remind that the team of winterers will consist of 12 people: seven scientists, three engineering experts (diesel operator – electrician, system mechanic, and system administrator), a doctor and a cook. Also, 12 people will be selected as a backup team. So, they all will undergo training camps, on the basis of which the final composition of the expedition will be approved.
The expedition will depart to Akademik Vernadsky station in March 2019 and will stay there for a year.
The competition to select the participants of the XXIV Antarctic Expedition took place from September 27 to November 30, 2018.