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Panel of speakers on stage in the Ondaatje Theatre at Explore 2022.

Speakers

Expert speakers and workshop leaders will share tales from the field and give advice on your own future projects and expeditions.

Find a speaker

Explore symposium

Natalie Hewit

Natalie is an award-winning and BAFTA-nominated filmaker who has been making prime-time documentaries for major broadcasters for more than a decade. Her most recent project, Endurance documented the expedition to find the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship and was selected to Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival 2024 to critical acclaim.

Explore symposium

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.

Challenging road trips

Jude Kriwald

Jude Kriwald is an explorer, filmmaker, adventure mentor and winner of British Exploring Society’s Leader of the Year Award. Jude’s debut film, Alone Across Gola, takes the audience deep inside the Liberian rainforest as he attempts to retrace a lost track never before undertaken by bicycle.

Inclusive expeditions

Loel Collins

Dr Loel Collins has worked in the expedition and adventure sector for over 35 years. He is a prolific author, with many books, chapters, and research articles to his credit, and is one of a few researchers investigating the specifics of coaching and guiding.

Oceans and marine

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.

Expedition and wilderness medicine

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.

Monday Night Lecture

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.

Explore symposium

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.

Monday night lecture

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.

Video and film-making

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.

Human and social sciences

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.

Oceans and marine

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.