A young woman from Mawnan Smith is raising funds to pay for an expedition to a remote Arctic island to help combat climate change.

Kirsty Goodman, 20, will be swapping the slightly warmer Mawnan Smith for a summer on an island half way up the western coast of Greenland, called Disko Island.

Kirsty, who is currently studying a degree in biology at Bath University, will be one of only 60 students to be selected from across the UK to take part in the trip.

This challenging expedition organised by the youth development charity, BSES Expeditions, will bring together students from different backgrounds from across the UK with the aim of working together to carry out valuable environmental fieldwork and contributing to the body of knowledge on climate change.

They will spend six challenging weeks from July 12 to August 16 in the rugged, glaciated wilderness surrounded by icebergs with field scientists collecting data to observe the effects of climate change and the biodiversity of Greenland.

Kirsty said: "This is an amazing opportunity. Global warming is becoming more of an issue everyday and affects us all. The research we conduct may even feature in academic journals. I cant wait to be able to say I helped with something so important."

For the students are required to make a substantial contribution towards the cost of their travel, logistics, food, equipment and insurance.

Kirsty has already started her fundraising and will be doing a sponsored skydive on March 17, to sponsor her and find out more information about her trip visit www.arcticambitions.com