Barbara Olga Hild

What’s the work that you do?

I am finishing my PhD studying risk management and safety competence development related to leading trips in the Arctic harsh and remote environment. I am interested in understanding the relationship between program curriculum design, teaching methods and students’ experiences in safety competence development among adventure tour guides working in Svalbard, Iceland and Greenland. I am managing a cross-industrial project bridging academia, tourism, and education focusing on knowledge co-creation in field of safety, education and tourism (www.articguideeducation.com). I spent the majority of the research doing participant observation in guides’ education in Svalbard and Greenland, spending more than 120 days in the field. Currently I am a teacher and program coordinator for an Adventure Guiding Program in Greenland. I am a certified Arctic Nature Guide experienced in leading groups in both polar regions.

What keeps you going?

I worked as an outdoor educator in China, Mexico, Iceland, South Korea and USA before I went into Arctic guiding, which made me aware of cultural differences and gave me the ability to learn from our differences. As a guide, researcher and teacher I feel privileged to work with various stakeholders. I love meeting new people and learning about their ways of living, struggles, but also strategies to make a contribution to a better world. I still believe that we can create a better world together and I hope my research will contribute to that, as incorporates the collective knowledge of everyone I met along the way.

And I have the most beautiful “office” in the world – the wilderness of the Arctic!

What’s your message to the world?

As tourism and education are strongly affected by decision-makers, I am working with the motto, “nothing about us without us”, working towards visibility and inclusion of adventure guides in the policy-making process. Guides are the ones on the ground, they know what it takes to be out there (no matter the weather!), they share the unique, beautiful but often harsh environment with visitors. They represent the companies vision, deal with guests’ expectations, and their risk management is a crucial aspect of tourism development and marketing. By listening to what they have to say about their work we can learn not only about tourism, but also their passion for protecting and sharing the polar environment.