Lorraine Craig has chaired the Exploration Board since 2006 and has overseen and advised on many successful adventures to every corner of globe.

Firstly, tell us about the two penguins wearing ties in your office

That’s a nod to my background in polar research, particularly geology field trips to Svalbard and Greenland. The penguins are actually from the early Antarctic expeditions in the 1900s, but the ties are awards of mine for fellowships of the Royal School of Mines and Imperial Student Union!

What’s the application process for expeditions?

First the team submit a plan anywhere between three and 40 pages long. They’ll then get grilled by the Board which consists of a diverse group of 20 people, some Everest mountaineers, health experts, representatives from the Union, the College and the various associated Colleges. After preliminary approval, I’ll see them a few more times or recommend someone to polish the plan. We see them for final time in June just before they go, which is along the lines of “remember to stay within your comfort zone, and tell your parents where you’re going.”

Any particularly hairy moments over the years?

We received an emergency call from a team in Alaska a few years ago. They’d climbed a peak and were skiing down with their equipment. One of the students slipped, fell on an ice screw and opened up three big gashes in their leg. It was night, the satellite phone was running out and they had problems getting hold of the helicopter pilot. Eventually we got through and the first thing I asked was: ‘how’s the weather?’ I knew if it was good they’d have the student out the next day; if not we had a real problem on our hands. Luckily it was the former. Our emergency incident plan worked based on a proper evacuation procedure risk assessment.

• Imperial College Exploration Board