Peter Carney specialises in the history of Polar exploration of the Victorian era, focussing particularly on the Royal Navy's search for the North-West passage and the ill-fated Franklin expedition of 1845. He writes a blog "Erebus and Terror files" and has authored and contributed to scientific papers on the modifications to the polar ships and the question of lead poisoning from tinned food.
In 2019 he lived for a week solely on a simulation of the ship-board rations of the era, including home cured salt beef and pork, ship's biscuit, and canned meat made to the original specification including the cans being sealed with lead solder.
He has lectured to audiences in Britain, Ireland, the USA, and Canada where he was recently made a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Peter is one of the four co-editors of the book, May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition, published in September 2022.