Roger Chao has an Arts Degree (with a double major in Politics and Philosophy), an Economics Degree, and Honours degree in Philosophy, which he hopes to turn into a PHD in philosophy (ethics) later.

Currently he works at the Office of Environmental Sustainability as a consultant on numerous sustainability projects at where he has been working for the past 5 years, and in the past has worked at the wilderness society and for the indigenous tutorial assistance scheme.

He also works as a professional guide and expedition consultant for individual clients, corporate groups, and school groups. He has a a wealth of qualifications and experience in the outdoors, including Swift Water Rescue, Vertical Rescue, Wilderness First Aid, Technical Mountaineering qualifications, and was previously president of the Monash Outdoors Club. 

He also does casual work as a motivational speaker, on leadership, motivation, climate change, teambuilding, and goal setting; for various corporate groups, clients and community groups.

Roger is also an elected member of the prestigious Explorers Club and a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. 

In 2006 Roger was awarded the Australian Geographic Young Adventurer of the Year, and in 2007 completed a full east to west coast traverse of Greenland Icecap.

Roger's past adventures have been covered by periodicals such as Wild magazine, Outdoors magazine, Adventure magazine , Feed the Rat, The Leader, The Mercury, Australian Geographic magazine, and The Herald Sun.  He has also been interviewed live on camera for pod-casts, national television and national radio.

In 2006 Roger was awarded the prestigious Young Adventurer of the Year
medal by the Australian Geographic Society for leading a world first unsupported 5 week mid-winter traverse of the Eastern and Western Arthur's and successful mid-winter ascent of Federation Peak, carrying full rock climbing, hiking, snow and mountaineering gear, food, fuel etc for 5 weeks. As a result he was later elected as a member of the Explorers Club on which he now serves on the executive committee. 

In early 2007 he became the youngest person to cross the Greenland Icecap from East to West, unsupported and unaided(no guides, no dogs, no kites, or food drops), traversing the polar icecap high above the arctic circle, with temperatures(excluding wind-chill) below -50C and winds of over 200km/ph, towing a 130kg sled behind him.

In mid 2007 he also completed a study of the effects of Global Warming
on Inuit culture in a remote east coast village in Greenland, staying
with numerous Village Chieftains, Dog Sledders and Hunters, documenting their lifestyles and traditions, and interviewing them on camera. These results were later published in numerous Journals, used by various NGO's, as a documentary, and presented at numerous schools, community presentations, and corporate presentations. Showing the impact of global warming on these remote indigenous communities living on icecaps.  Throughout this research he had many schools involved in following his research, at which he gave numerous presentations about sustainability and the impacts of global warming on indigenous communities. For this he was later elected as a Fellow of the Royal
Geographic Society.

Most studies on the impact of climate change had been done on island
communities which are low lying in coastal areas, and are thus affected by rising water levels, however not much has been done at all (due to inaccessibility and remoteness) on communities who's livelihoods depend on icecaps, thus this was a great chance to get their plight (and put a human face to it) exposed.

The majority of the research done on climate change had also just been
scientific data (glaciers moving by X metres per year, sea levels rising by Y centimeters, temperatures rising by Z degrees etc) hardly any had been done on the human impact of global warming, and how it affects these cultures around the world and other traditional lifestyles. More "hard science" had been researched on global warming, but very little "social science" about its human impacts had, and this is what this research was designed to do.

Throughout the past 4 years he has also served as a section rep and
delegate for Search and Rescue (working with Victoria police) attending numerous call outs(on 24/7 call out) in all conditions/terrain, as well as being selected for the Vice Chancellors Elite Athlete Support Program for which he was granted a bursary.

This however, will be Rogers most ambitious project yet...