Peter Barrett, NZAM, is a geologist who first rose to fame for discovering the first tetrapod fossils in Antarctica in 1967. Barrett first went to the Antarctica with the University of Wisconsin in 1962, but it was during his PhD with the Institute of Polar Studies at Ohio State University in 1966 and 1968 that Barrett discovered the early Triassic period tetrapod remains. After finishing his PhD, he took up a postdoctoral fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington to run an Antarctic expedition. Recent research has been core sampling in the Antarctic to determine historical conditions. He is currently professor in the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington and was director of the ARC from its founding in 1972 until 2007. One of his PhD students was Nancy Bertler.[4] For many years he was the New Zealand representative on Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoenvironments, Beacon sandstone of East Antarctica, Sirius deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains, history and future of the Antarctic ice sheet, integration of geological records; especially from drilling on the Antarctic margin, modelling for investigating environmental change, and effective social responses to climate change issues.