Join us throughout this year's Explore festival, which runs from Monday 30 October to 6 November 2023, as we examine the history of exploration, hear tales from the field, and learn more about travel with purpose. You can take your pick from stimulating events including: two expedition-themed Monday night lectures, a Be inspired talk featuring items from our historic Collections to examine the cultural politics of nature reserves in Jordan, practical workshops where you can develop the artistic skills needed to document your journeys, and an inspiring panel discussion about overcoming adversity through adventure following catastrophic injury.
And if you're interested in planning and undertaking your own expedition or fieldwork project, then the Explore symposium is for you. Over the weekend of 4 and 5 November 2023, the Explore community will gather to meet and learn from a wide range of expedition professionals, field scientists, intrepid travellers and each other.
Find out more about the Explore symposium
The full festival line-up
[In-person and online] How do we responsibly ensure that young people have fairer access to the transformative impact of expeditions with purpose? Part of the Explore festival.
[In-person] In this Mount Everest Foundation lecture, Brian Hall tells the story of climbing through the 1970s and 1980s, looking particularly at his memories of 11 friends with whom he climbed.
(In-person) Keeping a field notebook can both deepen our connections to the natural world and help us learn more about it. This workshop will introduce the tools and processes of keeping a nature journal.
[Online and in-person] Join our panel as they discuss how exploring, studying and drawing what they observe deepens their connections to, and inspires conservation of, the natural world. Part of the Explore festival.
[In-person] Three men attempted to become the first unsupported, all disabled team to cross Europe’s biggest ice cap to demonstrate how people can overcome the challenges of a catastrophic injury through adventure. Part of the Explore festival.
[In-person and online] Short presentations from recently returned expeditions and field research projects. Hear what they did, and lessons they learned. Part of the Explore festival.
With over 90 leading field scientists and explorers, our expedition and fieldwork planning weekend is unmissable for anyone wanting inspiration, advice or contacts for their own project.
[In-person] An insight into expeditions to Jordan during the 1960s by UK-based ornithologists, conservationists and biologists, to set up nature reserves there. Part of the Explore festival.
[In-person and online] The Great Spine of Africa expeditions work with community members and multidisciplinary teams to traverse thousands of kilometres of rivers never scientifically documented. Part of the Explore festival.
Watch recordings from some of the 2022 festival events
Hear why the climate at the roof of the world matters so much, from the team that just installed a weather station on top of Everest.
From pastoralist communities in the remote Turkana region of northern Kenya to the tundra ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic, Sam and Isla explore our changing world through Society funded fieldwork.
Alice explores the priorities and practice behind recruiting for Antarctic expeditions, and asking how we define a good candidate in the past and present of polar exploration.
As we face myriad global challenges, what are the responsibilities and tasks facing travellers, adventurers, and field scientists, and where do they overlap or differ?