Adrian is an ‘accidental educationalist’. Quite what that actually means, is anyone’s guess.
From an eclectic background in sports science, pub management and purchasing, Adrian found his nirvana when he made a non-risk-assessed leap into the world of adventure travel in 2001. His travels started long before that though and he’s now sampled the delights of over 55 countries worldwide. If you let him, he’ll bore you with stories of digging two-wheel-drive delivery trucks out of Africa’s Heart of Darkness. The same African expedition involved an unusual story of a hyena, too much to drink and the legend of the lost ear, but we don’t have time to go into that now.
In 2006, Adrian established The School Travel Consultancy (now STC Expeditions). He has previously sat on the National Council for the Young Explorers’ Trust and is currently on the South West regional committee for the Royal Geographical Society where his presence has halved the average age (their words, not his – he’s far too polite to bring it to anyone’s attention).
He has lectured on the subject of ethical travel for the Royal Geographical Society, The Festival of Education and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow as part of their Diploma in Expedition Medicine. He regularly gives talks and presentations to schools on a number of topics: promoting the life-enhancing benefits of expeditions and pushing boundaries, highlighting why conventional career paths are so last century or encouraging students to continue with Geography when he has his ‘Geography Ambassador’s’ hat on.
Adrian is a trainer for the 'Off-Site Safety Management' course and believes in practical, user-friendly risk management systems. As ultimate head of safety for both STC and The Bioasis, Adrian has 18 years experience in managing risk on school trips and expeditions both here and abroad, with expertise across British Standard 8848, training international tour guides, Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge audits and creating robust safety management structures within adventure organisations.
A keen skier, surfer and squash player, his new hobby is falling off a mountain bike. That’s when he’s not playing cricket in the summer. If he moved his feet, he could be quite a good batsman…
Recent visits to conduct safety audits & explore: Ghana & Costa Rica 2019 | Sri Lanka, South Africa, Morocco 2023