Alison graduated from the University of Edinburgh, UK, with a First Class degree in Geology and Physical Geography in 2008. Already a keen climber and mountaineer, it was there that she developed a fascination for glaciers. Alison is currently nearing the completion of her PhD at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on modelling the hydrology of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Alison recently won a Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award and plans to use her prize money from this to adapt her hydrological model to a region in the Nepal Himalaya.