To complement the lecture and lab-based learning we offer, we have expanded our teaching to field-based activities as well. The sleep deprivation study on the South Downs in 1998-2003 paved the way for exploring environmental physiology in a more adventurous way. As part of the 50th celebration of the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Norgay Tenzing we held a commemorative Operation Everest Event.

From 2004 to 2024 we took students on an expedition to the Brecon Beacons as part of a 3rd year Expedition Physiology Module. This allows the theory around survival in extremes to benefit from practical survival skills. However, to prepare students’ navigation skills ahead of our expedition we take them out into the South Downs to practice before heading to Wales.

In 2013, we went a stage further and took 24 students on an expedition to Peru – Learning Through Adventure that had a cultural, research and expedition focus. It was a truly memorable experience and is a testament to the passion we have to explore how our bodies cope in environmental extremes.

At the postgraduate taught level, we have been offering an environmental physiology-based module since 2007. It has evolved from a very research, theoretical module to where it stands now…Applied Environmental Physiology with a problem-based learning emphasis that is trying to enable students to be practitioners and tackle any environmental extreme.