Explorers
Fellows
Flag Carriers
2025 Women of Discovery
Dr. Yara Barros
Dr. Yara Barros is a Brazilian conservation biologist and the Executive Coordinator of Project Jaguars of Iguaçu, a flagship initiative dedicated to the conservation of…
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. She is co-founder…
Dr. Divya Karnad
Dr. Divya Karnad is an Indian marine conservationist and associate professor at Ashoka University, dedicated to sustainable seafood, fisheries management and marine biodiversity protection. With…
Dr. Nurzhafarina Othman
Dr. Nurzhafarina (Farina) Othman is a conservation scientist and community advocate dedicated to the protection of the endangered Bornean elephant. With a PhD in Bioscience…
Dr. Grace C. Young
Dr. Grace C. Young is a Research Engineer and Lead Scientist at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory (formerly GoogleX), where her team is creating radical new technologies to protect…
All Explorers
Bolortsetseg Minjin
Born: 1973 Hometown: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Education: Ph.D in Earth & Environmental Sciences Occupation: Director, Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs Expeditions: Gobi Desert (Mongolia), Malta and Rudyard (Montana)…
Cristina Mittermeier
CRISTINA GOETTSCH MITTERMEIER, one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time, has dedicated her life to protecting the world’s oceans and wild places…
Citlalli Morelos-Juarez
DR. CITLALLI MORELOS-JUÁREZ is a primatologist working in the Ecuador’s Chocó rainforest – one of the world’s last coastal rainforests and a global biodiversity hotspot. Director…
Aimee Morgana
Aimee Morgana is an artist and scientific researcher best known for her work on communication with animals, which she describes as exploring the…
Alexandra Morton
Alexandra Morton was born in 1957 in Lakeville, Connecticut. She developed her love for animals at an early age when she explored in…
Gina Moseley
Palaeoclimatologist and polar explorer Gina Moseley specializes in improving our understanding of how the Arctic responds to a warmer world. Gina has led two pioneering…
Thandiwe Mweetwa
Thandiwe Mweetwa is a senior ecologist and community educator with the Zambian Carnivore Programme. Her work focuses on studying population dynamics and threats to survival…
Nalini Nadkarni
Nalini Nadkarni is known as the “Queen of the Forest Canopy.” For three decades, she has used mountain-climbing techniques, construction cranes, and hot air balloons to…
Irina Nikolaeva
Born: 1962 Hometown: Moscow, Russia Education: Ph.D. in Linguistics Occupation: Professor of Linguistics Expeditions: Various places in Siberia – from the Urals in the West to the…
Daphne Soares
Born: 1972 Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Education: Ph.D. in Neuroscience Occupation: Neuroecologist Expeditions: Caves in China, Mexico, Ecuador, and USA Favorite Places: Galloping through an open field and cave…
Marla Spivak
Dr. Marla Spivak is a leading entomologist in the movement to protect and enhance the health and diversity of the world’s declining honey bee population….
Eleanor Sterling
Eleanor Sterling, Jaffe Chief Conservation Scientist, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Dr. Eleanor Sterling is passionate about the intersection…
Jill Tarter
Born: 1944 Hometown: Berkeley, CA Education: Ph.D. in Astronomy Occupation: Astronomer; former Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute Expeditions: Chasing after signals from distant technologies…
Liz Taylor
Since 1992, President and CEO Liz Taylor and her team have grown DOER Marine (Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Marine) from a consulting and field services firm…
Sabriye Tenberken
Born: 1970 Hometown: Cologne, Germany Education: Central Asian Studies at Bonn University, Germany Occupation: Co-founder of Braille Without Borders (Tibet), an international organization for the blind in…
Marie Tharp
Years: 1920 – 2006 Hometown: Ypsilanti, MI Education: M.A. in Geology Occupation: Oceanographic cartographer Expeditions: At sea on the following research vessels: Eastward to the North Atlantic & Caribbean,…
Helen Thayer
In 1988, at 50 years old, Helen Thayer was the first woman to ski to the Magnetic North Pole, solo. Accompanied by her husky dog,…
Maya Tolstoy
Born: 1967 Hometown: New York, NY Education: Ph.D. in Earth Sciences/Marine Geophysics Occupation: Marine geophysicist Expeditions: 27 research cruises in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the…
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Alifa Haque
Dr. Alifa Bintha Haque is a marine biologist and ethno-conservationist focused on conserving sharks and rays in the global south context. Her research covers sustainable…
Elizabeth Bennett
Elizabeth (Liz) Bennett is the Vice President for Species Conservation at WCS. She conducted the first ever detailed field study of the proboscis monkey in…
Marilyn Bridges
Marilyn Bridges studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is noted for her black-and-white aerial photographs of sacred sites around the world. Born: 1948 Hometown:…
Susan Shaw
Dr. Susan D. Shaw is recognized for her landmark research on chemical contamination in marine mammals and commercially important marine fishes along the northwest Atlantic…
Constanza Ceruti
Dr. Constanza Ceruti, the first high-altitude woman archaeologist in history, is also a pioneer in the anthropological study of sacred mountains around the world. She…
Three Otters Media
Tiffany Duong, Aya Walraven, and Dr. Louise Edwards have come together to create Three Otters Media (TOM), which leverages virtual reality and immersive technologies to…
Grace Alawa
Wildlife and biodiversity conservationist Grace Alawa is carrying Flag #42 to Andoni Island in Rivers State, Nigeria. The goal of her expedition is to understand…
Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Strom
Co-founders of Hearts in the Ice Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom are returning to the Arctic with Flag #14. Dedicated to conservation, polar exploration,…
Fiona Ogutu
Obtaining her Ph.D. at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Fiona is carrying Flag #34 to Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya, to assess the bioaccumulation and biomagnification…
