Jean-Luc Portner

I’m Jean-Luc Portner, a second-year DPhil student in Mathematics. I grew up in Vienna, Austria, before spending ten months in Riga, Latvia, completing my civil service with the Austrian Embassy and at two Holocaust museums. I then moved to Zurich, where I earned my BSc and MSc in Mathematics at ETH, and discovered my passion for the outdoors.

During my time in Switzerland, I took up orienteering and mountaineering. I particularly enjoy spending time in the high mountains on glaciers and above 4000 meters ski mountaineering in winter; hiking and climbing in summer. Orienteering has taken me across the UKs grimmest forests, and I served as the club’s treasurer from 2023-2025.

I look forward to contributing to the expedition through mapping and surveying, while also embracing new mental and physical challenges.