Draft:Alison McLure

Alison McLure (born 1965) is a Scottish physicist, Arctic and Antarctic explorer, chess player and the Head of Scotland for the Institute Of Physics.

Biography
Alison McLure is a Scottish physicist. She was born in Thurso, Scotland and grew up in Glasgow to physics teacher parents. She gained her degree in Physics from the University of Aberdeen.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and worked for the Met Office for 10 years, working in research and then as a weather forecaster. She presented the weather on ‘Reporting Scotland’ until 1994: "My short spell on TV was with BBC Scotland to cover between one presenter leaving and the famous Heather the Weather arriving in 1994."

She went on to work in farming policy for the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. She holds a Diploma in Outdoor Environmental and Sustainability Education, and has been part of scientific expeditions with British Schools Exploring Society, including to South Georgia in Antarctica.

She has undertaken several expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She co-authored an article in the Royal Meteorological Society's journal on the benefits of weather forecasting for British Antarctic Survey operations. She spoke at the Hebridean SciTech Festival in 2010. She gave a talk at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on women in science and the Antarctic experience in 2013. .

She strongly advocates for STEM careers in her role with as Head of Scotland Institute of Physics, explaining that inspiring young people to pursue science is among her proudest achievements.

Chess
McLure at one point held a chess ranking of over 2000. She has spoken at the University of Glasgow Students' Representative Council for International Women's Day about her passion for chess. She has represented her country as part of the Scottish Women's team. She competed internationally numerous times with Chess Scotland.

Hobbies
McLure has expressed that she grew up with a love of the outdoors and especially sailing and mountaineering. She has described how this upbringing led her to undertake Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. McLure has also described how she is part of the mountain rescue team in Tayside.