The competitive commission determined the composition of the 25th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition (UAE). This will be the youngest team (the average age of winterers is 37 years). The 25th UAE is half composed of newcomers and includes two women.
The expedition will leave for the station in March 2020 and work there for a year. As usual, the wintering team consists of 12 participants: 7 scientists, a doctor, a cook, a system mechanic, a diesel operator – electrician, and a system administrator. Yurii Otruba, an experienced specialist of the National Antarctic Scientific Center, was elected the head of the 25th UAE. For him, this will be the sixth wintering at Akademik Vernadsky station.
Basic team of the 25th UAE:
- Salganskyi Oleksandr – biological research, Kyiv, third wintering, born in 1987;
- Prekrasna Ievgeniia – biological research, Kyiv, first wintering, born in 1989;
- Otruba Yurii – geological and geophysical research, Kyiv, sixth wintering, born in 1986 (Head of the Expedition);
- Artemenko Ihor – hydrometeorological and oceanographic research, Kyiv, first wintering, born in 1981;
- Zhukovsky Vadym – hydrometeorological and oceanographic research, Odesa, second wintering, born in 1981;
- Soina Anna – hydrometeorological and oceanographic research, Kharkiv, first wintering, born in1982;
- Sopin Andrii – geospace research, Kharkiv, second wintering, born in 1982;
- Omelianovych Vasyl – cook, Malyn (Zhytomyr Reg.), fifth wintering, born in 1985;
- Bilous Maksym – system mechanic, Shepetivka (Khmelnytsky Reg.), first wintering, born in 1982;
- Lyshenko Iurii – diesel operator – electrician, Kharkiv, third wintering, born in 1973;
- Prokopchuk Yevhenii – system administrator, Bucha (Kyiv Reg.), first wintering, born in 1984;
- Deineka Ihor – doctor, Rivne, first wintering, born in 1982.
Each of the UAE’s main team has an alternate – in case of an unforeseen situation before the expedition leave when someone from the main staff will be forced to give up wintering. Soon, the participants approved by the commission will have a special multi-day training, where they will learn the skills necessary for life and work at Akademik Vernadsky station.
We recall that the selection for the 25th UAE was announced in early October 2019. The selection process had several stages, in particular, competition of documents, interview, psychological testing, and physical examination.