Professor Jean Malaurie, director of the Centre d’Etudes Arctiques (Centre of Arctic Studies) at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and director emeritus for research at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), is a leading ethnohistorian and geomorphologist.

Born in 1922 in Mainz, Germany, first European to reach the North Pole in May 1951, Professor Malaurie has led more than 30 scientific expeditions that have taken him throughout the Great North from Greenland to Siberia. The author of numerous books, including "The Last Kings of Thule", translated in 23 languages, and "Call of the North", he founded the Terre Humaine publishing house to make ethnology accessible to a wider public.

His designation as Goodwill Ambassador, in charge of arctic polar issues, recognizes his "personal commitment to promoting environmental issues and to safeguarding the culture and knowledge of the peoples of the Great North".