2024 Global Explorers Forum

In tandem with the WINGS Women of Discovery Awards, WINGS hosts a Global Explorers Forum that showcases the work, challenges and expeditions of the most recent cohort of Fellows, who present their research before their peers and the public. Attending Fellows and Flag Carriers may also present recent initiatives and expeditions. The Forum serves to bring broader recognition to their work while also acting as an ideas ecosystem, a platform for education, and a connector to the next generation.

SPEAKERS:  2024 Fellows Dr. Paula Kahumbu, Dr. Patricia Medici, Ruthmery Pillco, Prof. Adriana Verges, and Dr. Jessica Ware.  Come hear first-hand from the 2024 Fellows about their most recent research, initiatives and breakthrough discoveries!

TICKETS Selected during registration

Standard Single Ticket
$75.00 (1 Attendee)

Student Single Ticket
$25.00 (1 Attendee)
Includes lunch and refreshments

DATE & TIME
Sat, October 26, 2024
9:30 AM EDT

LOCATION
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave
New York, NY

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

9:30am – 10:15am: Guest check-in

10:15am – 10:30am: Welcome

10:30 am: Dr. Patricia Medici, 2024 Woman of Discovery
Conserving the Gardeners of the Forest

11:00 am: Ruthmery Pillco, 2024 Woman of Discovery
In the footsteps of Ukuku, the Andean Bear

11:30 am: Dr. Jessica Ware, 2024 Woman of Discovery
Dragonflies: studying the evolution of the first flying insects from the tundra to the rainforest

12:00 pm: Project Antarctica VR presentation by Three Otters Media *More information below

12:30 pm- 2:00 pm: Lunch break (Second Floor)

2:00 pm: Welcome back

2:10 pm: Prof. Adriana Vergés, 2024 Woman of Discovery
Out of sight, but not out of mind: reviving our vital underwater forests

2:40 pm: Dr. Paula Kahumbu, 2024 Woman of Discovery
Powering up storytelling to transform conservation outcomes in Africa

3:10 pm – 3:20 pm: Break

3:20 pm – 4:20 pm: WINGS Flag Carrier Panel: “Empowering a new generation of changemakers”

Moderated by Sefra Alexandra, Dominique Goncalvez, and Heather Kuhlken
Sefra Alexandra, “The Seed Huntress”, WINGS Flag Carrier and Associate Board Explorer in Residence will be joined in conversation with Dominique Goncalves and Heather Kuhlken. Together, they will explore themes of growth, empowerment, and the importance of nurturing our communities.

Sefra Alexandra – The Seed Huntress – is on perennial BOATanical expedition to safeguard the global biodiversity of our wild & cultivated lands through seed conservation.
From the Global Seed Vault, to disaster zones & The Ecotype Project in the Northeast, USA- her work promotes food security through seed sovereignty & ecological restoration by regenerating the living seed banks of local ecoregions around the world.

Dominique Goncalvez, Ecologist, leads the Elephant Ecology Project (EEP) in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, where she investigates elephant movement and range expansion in relation to habitat use and Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC).

Heather Kuhlken, Executive Director and Founder of Families in Nature, contributes to climate change adaptation and ocean conservation work and leads nature immersion trips to destinations around the world.

4:30 pm: Closing reflections

4:30pm – 5:30 pm: Toast/happy hour reception on the second floor

Emcee
Mandë Holford, Ph.D., WINGS Fellow and Trustee

A Special Presentation by Three Otters Media: Amplifying the Impact of Exploration with VR

Presenters: 

Dr. Louise Edwards (Three Otters Media, WINGS flag carrier)

Tiffany Duong (Three Otters Media, WINGS flag carrier)

Exclusive premiere of Voyage Antarctica Virtual Reality experience

Three Otters Media (TOM) is a female-founded virtual reality (VR) studio that creates digital worlds to give our physical one a fighting chance.  They believe that when people experience the awe and wonder of nature, they are inspired to expand their world and act for good. TOM creates virtual environments and interactive narrative experiences that extend this inspiration beyond a physical expedition, to provide a place for past explorers to revisit and share stories, for potential explorers to taste the possibilities, and for those who cannot travel to these places, the chance to enjoy the next best thing.

Join Otters Louise Edwards (Lead Developer and Science Consultant) and Tiffany Duong (Story Producer) as they share how, after meeting on a WINGS expedition to Arctic Norway (carrying Flag #32), they turned their shared passions for ocean conservation into their first VR game. Based on their expedition, the multi-award-winning Found in the Fjords follows a young female orca learning how to survive and thrive in a changing ocean. During a live playthrough, they will describe how, through its creation, they developed an innovative way to enhance exploration that can amplify the reach and impact of any global environmental cause.

TOM is excited to also share an exclusive first look at their new explorable Antarctic prototype with the WINGS community. In February 2024, they once again proudly carried the same WINGS Flag #32 as part of a Citizen Science Expedition to the southern continent to research their sophomore project, Stories of the Southern Seas. This anthology of immersive mini-games will transport players into the minds and bodies of the Antarctic Peninsula’s fascinating inhabitants, send them back in time to discover the history of Antarctic science and exploration, and much much more.

At lunch, visit TOM at their booth where you can don a VR headset and venture to far off lands, discuss opportunities to collaborate, and create your own digital avatar.

Click here to register

Check out the 2023 Global Explorers Forum here