Explore speakers and facilitators
Meet the world-leading experts at the Explore weekend who have generously shared tales, insights and advice from their deep involvement in expeditions and fieldwork.
Find a speaker
Alex Keefe
Alex is an Emmy-nominated documentary producer-director, aspiring expedition leader and adventure motorcyclist. Alex has a passion for storytelling, science communication and understanding the impact of adventure on mental well-being.
Alex McMaster
Alexander McMaster is a writer and ecologist from the Atlantic coast of Ireland. As a professional diver and seafarer he is involved with scientific research and community engagement in coastal regions. With over a decade of maritime experience, he currently works as a search and rescue leader in the Central Mediterranean.
Anna Shekhdar
Anna is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, fullfilling her passion for skiing and mountains through her role as Medical Director for Endeavour Medical.
Ash Bhardwaj
Ash is one of the country’s top travel writers and broadcasters, co-host of the First Mile podcast, and winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Best Broadcast Programme of the Year.
Belinda Kirk
Belinda is an explorer, author and speaker. Her book “Adventure Mind: Transform your wellbeing by choosing challenge” was the first to explain why adventure is essential to our mental health. She established AdventureMind which is a conference series and an international research collaborative. She’s led dozens of international expeditions.
Callum Munday
Callum is a climate scientist at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. His research focuses on African and tropical climate dynamics and climate change.
Cameron Mackay
Scottish environmental filmmaker and Celtic music producer Cameron Mackay (He/Him) aims to use his media storytelling work to spark new connections between audiences and nature, showcase inclusive solutions to the climate crisis and celebrate contemporary traditional cultural heritage. He currently runs an environmental impact-focused film production company based in Glasgow.
Carl Cater
Carl is Associate Professor in tourism at Swansea University in Wales as well as Professor at the University of Highlands and Islands, Scotland.
Catherine Edsell
Catherine designs conservation expeditions for women to assist in the mitigation of elephant/human conflict in Namibia, coral reef conservation in Madagascar and Indonesia, and rainforest conservation in Peru.
Chad Staddon
Chad was born in Canada and received his PhD in 1996. He researches sustainable water systems in Uganda, Peru, and India, having raised over £2.5 million in grant funding.
Charlotte Austwick
Charlotte Austwick is an award-winning explorer, anthropologist, writer, and public speaker. She is currently a PhD researcher in social anthropology within the Department of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on human-environmental relationships and how they are being transformed in the 21st century.
Christopher Walker
Christopher is the owner of Overland Training Canada, a leading provider of high-quality off-road driver and operator training.
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