Applications for 2027 opening SOON.
See below for descriptions of expeditions from 2026.
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The Iceland Expedition is a well-established expedition, taking place for the 18th time during the summer of 2026. A team of 6 students travelled to East Iceland and stayed in the Skálanes research station for 6 weeks. The place is very remote, requiring a 17km journey across 3 fords to reach Skálanes reserve from the nearest town, Seyðisfjörður, which has a population of around 700. Iceland is the only expedition located in the Arctic, and has a very unique climate.
Skálanes is home to many animal and plant species. In the summer, many migratory birds such as the Arctic terns and puffins nest in the area to breed. Bird watchers will be amazed by the bird abundance and diversity that can be observed just from the house.
This summer, students continued the monitoring of vulnerable coastal seabirds which act as indicators of wider marine health, adding to a valuable long-term dataset which allows tracking of any population trends. Projects also consisted of understanding the effect of tides on foraging behaviour in puffins, as well as investigating what environmental features help make potential nesting sites more attractive to Arctic terns. There was also a marine based project, which consisted of surveying microalgal communities, and determining ecological conditions of the area using functional trait based indices. The research opportunities at Skálanes are numerous and not limited to wildlife projects.
This expedition is an opportunity to experience living away from civilisation, learn about the local fauna and flora and contribute to research helpful for the management of the reserve. You can gain life experience and skills in scientific fieldwork, organisation, fundraising and communication while meeting people from around the world.
The remote Scotland expedition aims to travel to areas in Scotland to study a variety of topics, including animals, the environment, and much more.
It is currently the longest running expedition of the Exploration society, which started in 1936 on the Isle of Canna. Over the years, expedition teams have studied a wide range of ecological, geographical and earth science-based projects. The expedition is open all students – from any discipline – with a passion for research and outreach.
In 2017, the remote Scotland team went to Islay. The team was made up of five zoologists, one earth scientist and two students studying environmental sustainability – everyone is welcome!
In 2018 the team travelled to the beautiful Isle of Harris, setting up some projects that were continued by the 2019 team.
After the gap in expeditions owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2024 team were back to conduct three research projects on Harris and Lewis with the following themes: bee abundance and machair; sea stars and rockpool diversity; otters and the environment.
Fast forward to 2026, after multiple years of successful expeditions across Scotland, this year a group of eight students went to Uist. The teams projects included, investigating how the behaviour of harbour seals change throughout different moulting stages; how different agricultural management practices effect floral resources for bumblebees in machair habitats; invertebrate abundance and diversity across a range of rugged and complex coastlines; the post-breeding distribution and complimentary predation of waders in relation to invasive hedgehogs.
Alongside these projects, the expedition teams have many opportunities for outreach, and often participate in events with the locals.
The 2026 team traveled to Koh Phangan to conduct both terrestrial and marine projects, with the marine team worked with COREsea (Centre for Oceanic Research) to carry out their projects.
One of this years marine research projects looked at the different environmental factors affecting host anemones, and anemonefish host preferences by using SCUBA based belt transects to record multiple characteristics of the anemone and its surroundings. Another project consisted of surveying both healthy and stressed corals to investigate the influence that coral stress plays on reef-associated communities. The final marine project which was conducted this year was looking at the comparative recruitment of reef building corals on Tridacna shells, as well as on other surrounding substrates. This project used two different transect sampling methods. The data collection for these projects was collected while diving reefs on the north coast of Koh Phangan. The team conducted one dive a day for 5 days a week to collect data, and in the afternoons they would input and analyse the data that was collected.
Alongside the marine projects, a terrestrial project was run with a fully terrestrial team, making 2026 the first year of the Thailand expedition history with a fully terrestrial based team. This project looked at the abundance and diversity of bird species across different levels of human disturbance, measured using both point counts and bio-acoustic monitoring via AudioMoths.
Aside from all the hard work, the team enjoyed fun dives at Sail Rock and Koh Tao; many beach days involving lots of snorkeling; a day trip to Ang Thong Marine park; amazing Thai food from the local restaurants; local night markets; amazing bird watching opportunities; hikes on the island and multiple gorgeous sunsets.
The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, located in the Lesser Antilles within the West Indies is composed of two main islands. This year’s expedition focused on the smaller of the two, Tobago, with our team based in Charlotteville, a town nestled on the northeastern tip of the island within the scenic Man-O-War Bay. Once part of the South American mainland, Tobago is renowned for its incredible biodiversity, home to many unique and endemic species. One of its most prominent features is the ‘Main Ridge,’ a mountainous spine that includes the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve. Established in 1776, this reserve holds the distinction of being the world’s oldest legally protected forest reserve.
Our 2026 expedition was centered around four research projects: bats, moths, birds, and analysing lizard behaviour. Fieldwork for all these projects spanned various locations across the island, with a particular focus on the Main Ridge Forest Reserve. For the bat study, mist nets were set up across various sites to monitor bat species diversity, along with the relative activity of bats across different forest types. The moth research took place at night, using LED light traps to attract and capture specimens for analysis to look at the overall effect on anthropogenic disturbances on moths. The bird project used point counts to help understand the effect of forest type and human disturbances on bird diversity and abundance. Meanwhile, the lizard research used observational study techniques to analyse the behaviour of the Zandolie jungle runner lizard.
In addition to the expeditions research efforts, previous teams have made community outreach a priority by presenting our research findings at the local library as a community talk, aiming to spark interest in the natural environment on both a local and global scale. Our team also participated in beach cleanups organized by local NGOs, contributing to the island’s conservation efforts.
