Explore More #2: budgeting and funding

Are you developing an idea for an overseas expedition or fieldwork project and in need of expert guidance on your next steps?

Throughout the first half of 2025, the RGS Explore team will be hosting fortnightly lunchtime webinars, each on a specific topic. You’ll learn how to refine and launch a successful exploratory venture, whether that’s a challenging journey with a purpose, field research in a remote location, or anything in between.

In the second session in this series, we’ll address one of the biggest concerns we hear time and again from expedition planners; that of finding funding. We’ll discuss the importance of good budgeting at the earliest possible stage in your endeavour, as well as the various strategies you might use to secure financial support.

You will learn:

• Approaches to creating a realistic expedition budget that account for all potential costs,
• Strategies for managing your expedition finances effectively, and
• Where to look for funding, including grants, crowdfunding, and corporate sponsorship.

About the hosts

Tom Allen is the Society's new Expeditions and Fieldwork Manager. He is an explorer, author, trail prospector and responsible travel advocate specialising in the Caucasus region, as well a past recipient of the Society Land Rover Bursary.

In addition to supporting our core audience of fieldwork and expeditions practitioners, Tom will be helping the Society to expand the Society’s support to many more people, from leading experts to the simply curious, who want to make the world a better place as they travel with purpose, develop geographical knowledge, and share what they learn.

Shane Winser is the Royal Geographical Society’s Expeditions and Fieldwork advisor, providing advice, information, and training to a wide range of scientific, educational, and adventurous expeditions. Together with colleagues, Shane curates the Society’s annual Explore weekend held each November.

Shane is a member of BSI’s technical panel for BS 8848: the British Standard that specifies operational requirements for organisers of a wide variety of overseas ventures including university and academic fieldwork, gap year experiences, adventure holidays, charity challenges and research expeditions. She is a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, now in its third edition, and editor of the RGS Expedition Handbook, soon be to be updated as digital resources.

About our guest

James Kempton's PhD was in bird flight biomechanics, and his current post-doctoral employment supports his research on malaria epidemiology. James also has a great interest in biogeography, and this is what led he and his team to the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea in 2023.

The purpose of Expedition Cyclops was to survey the arthropod, reptile, amphibian, and mammal fauna of the Cyclops Mountains – as well as to conduct a thorough geological survey – to better understand the evolutionary origins of New Guinea’s contemporary biodiversity

While enduring leeches in eyes, earthquakes, malaria, and snakes marauding through camp, the team climbed over 11,000 metres of mountain to deploy 80 camera traps and collect thousands of biological specimens for their research.

Expedition Cyclops also captured new video footage of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna. Not seen since 1961, this echidna is a member of the enigmatic egg-laying mammals called monotremes, a lineage that has been evolving independently of other mammals for around 200 million years. Only five monotremes are known to have survived to the modern day.

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Booking information

• Advance booking for this event is required. In order to book you will need an account on our website. If you already have an account you will be prompted to log in when you click 'book now'. Please create an account if you do not have one yet (you do not need to be a member of the Society to create an account).

Attending online

• Joining instructions will be included in your confirmation email.

If you have any questions or require assistance with your booking, please email events@rgs.org