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.
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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.
Catherine Souch
Catherine is Head of Research and Higher Education at the Society.
Dusan Materic
Dusan Materic is the Head of the Microplastics, Nanoplastics and Elements Research Group at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig.
Heidi Sevestre
Heïdi is a glaciologist, member of the AMAP Secretariat, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, one of the Working Groups to the Arctic Council.
Isla Myers-Smith
Isla is a global change ecologist, she studies plants in the Arctic and beyond and how ecosystems are responding to climate change.
James Chapman
James Chapman is the co-founder of Project Amu Darya, a documentary and environmental education initiative focusing on the ongoing impact of the Aral Sea Crisis in Uzbekistan, and working to promote environmental opportunities for youth in the Aral Sea region.
Jan Mertens
Jan is an entomologist, joins expeditions in his spare time to help protect the natural environment, and has a keen interest in Afrotropical butterflies.
Merlijn Jocque
Merlijn is an ecologist specialised in biodiversity assessment with a keen interest in exploring tropical and remote pristine ecosystems and is associated with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and chairman and founder of Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation (BINCO) NPO.
Oscar Turner
Oscar Turner is the co-founder of Project Amu Darya, a documentary and environmental education initiative focusing on the ongoing impact of the Aral Sea Crisis in Uzbekistan, and working to promote environmental opportunities for youth in the Aral Sea region.
Sarah Tingey
Sarah is a glacial biogeochemist at the University of Bristol and has been involved in expeditions to mountain glaciers such as the Andes and Himalayas.
Simon Hutchinson
Simon teaches geography at the University of Salford and works as a researcher in sediment-based reconstruction of past environmental change and human impact. He is passionate about making geoscience more inclusive and uses Digital Visualisation Tools to support students’ fieldwork.
Susie Seddon-Cowell
Susie is a mechanical engineering PhD student with a background in microbiology, palaeontology and astrobiology, and a particular interest in microorganisms in extreme environments. She is an analogue astronaut on Space Health Research’s Meili II mission and a keen advocate for disability inclusion in space exploration.
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