Episode seven of our specialist series, Explore: How To Plan An Expedition, focuses on Ethical Fieldwork. In this episode, Matt speaks with Dr Alasdair Harris about getting started in field research and expeditions, the moral dilemma around travelling for fieldwork, and the critical need to forge meaningful partnerships with host communities and countries. Al also speaks passionately and thoughtfully about the impacts of environmental conservation on communities who depend on nature.

Alasdair is a marine conservationist working at the interface of ocean protection and social justice. His organisation Blue Ventures grew out of his first RGS-funded expeditions in 2001, and focuses on developing locally led approaches to marine conservation that benefit people and nature. Blue Ventures is now helping many hundreds of thousands of people address overfishing and safeguard ocean life in fourteen countries across southeast Asia, Africa and the Indian Ocean. Alasdair holds a PhD in marine ecology and an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Edinburgh. He has spent more than two decades working with coastal communities to rebuild small-scale fisheries across the tropical Indo-Pacific.

You can find out more about the Royal Geographical Society and access advice and support for field research and scientific expeditions by visiting www.rgs.org/in-the-field or follow them on @rgs_ibg on socials.

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