WINGS WorldQuest Flag Carriers are women leading original field research or documentation that focuses on investigating questions about the nature of our world and advancing conservation efforts on land, air and water through science and advocacy.
As part of their expeditions, all accepted Flag Carriers plan to write reports, make films, or otherwise formally share information about the findings and discoveries with the scientific community and the public. WINGS WorldQuest Flag Carriers are not associated with tourist trips or paying participants on tours.
WINGS Flag Carriers must submit a formal report, complete with high resolution images, to WINGS so that the expedition findings can be shared with the greater public. These reports are posted on the WINGS website and published elsewhere as appropriate.
WINGS is not accepting unsolicited applications. If you meet the above criteria and are interested in finding out more about the program, please email us at info@wingsworldquest.org.
Check out our interactive map to see everywhere the Flag Carriers have explored.
2016-2017 EXPEDITION SPOTLIGHT
MEG LOWMAN: CONSERVING ETHIOPIA'S FORESTS
For ten years, Margaret “Canopy Meg” Lowman has been working on the Church Forests Project, an effort To conserve Ethiopia’s remaining forests, after decades of over-harvesting.
Many of the forests that still remain exist around Orthodox Christian Churches, who have preserved them as sacred sites. The Church Forest Project is a partnership between conservationists and the local churches, and provides local communities the resources they need to build stone walls around their forests, thereby protecting the forests from stray cattle and plowing while simultaneously improving the agricultural yield in their fields.
Lowman's goal is to build 30 walls. So far, 15 have been built.
Read Her Flag Report Here >>
arita baaijens: The Land That Speaks
Arita Baaijens, who was inducted as a WINGS Fellow in 2014, conducted an expedition from November 2016 through February 2017 to Mount Bosavi, a volcano in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. This is the second time she carried a WINGS Flag.
For over two months she lived with the local indigenous people, the Kaluli Tribe to learn about how their unique environment has impacted their culture. She slept like they do, hunted with them and ate the same food, including bats. She conducted a 14-week ethnographic survey and employed the "deep mapping" method, a participatory mapping tool designed for hard-to-reach communities. This will allow the Kaluli people to record their ecology, geography, mythology and linguistic history in their own terms. The results of the study will be published in National Geographic and other news outlets.
READ HER FLAG REPORT HERE >>
ROSALY LOPES
Volcanologist Rosaly Lopes, who received the WINGS Air & Space Award in 2009, spent one month at Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth, working on book project that will use landscapes in Antarctica as a model for what landscapes look like on other planets.
Lopes took special interest in Mount Erebus because it features one of the only lava lakes that exists on earth; they’re a phenomenon that is common on Jupiter’s moon Io, however.
The book will feature artwork by astronomical artist and science writer Michael W. Carroll. The two are completing their work through the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
READ HER FLAG REPORT HERE >>
HOMEWARD BOUND
Seventy-six women spent 21 days aboard a ship to Antarctica during the inaugural Homeward Bound voyage, an initiative that aims to elevate the voices of women in science in the hopes that they will play a large role in influencing scientific policy in the years to come.
One of the goals of Homeward Bound is to discuss sustainability and global issues related to climate change, making Antarctica a fitting backdrop because of its importance in the study of global warming. Homeward Bound’s leaders hope to reach 1,000 women with critical science backgrounds over the course of 10 years.
READ THE FLAG REPORT HERE >>
Sophie Hollingsworth: Female Chiefs of Maewo Island
Sophie Hollingsworth and her team carried the WINGS World Quest flag on an expedition to Maewo Island, located within the Pacific Island Nation of Vanuatu, during which they observed a multi-day festival featuring the women chiefs of the island.
The women are seeking to gain official status as part of the Vanuatu National Council of Chiefs, which they have previously been denied.
Hollingsworth met and interviewed these women chiefs to learn about their customs and ceremonies. During the festival, the women demonstrated their practices and powers, undertook grade promotions, engaged in traditional dancing and performed secret ceremonies, including the use of black and white magic. Hollingsworth also visited nearby villages to learn more about both female and male chiefs.
In performing the first and only ethnographic study on the women, Hollingsworth’s work may help the female chiefs gain official status.
Read her flag report here >>
WINGS WORLDQUEST FLAG CARRIER MAP
Use our interactive map below to roam the world, and see where our Explorers have visited.
FLAG EXPEDITION Archive
Below is a partial listing of expeditions with links to WINGS WorldQuest flag reports. The names of flag carriers who are WINGS Fellows contain profile links.
Reports bY region:
Africa
Kenya and Tanzania
No Water No Life takes to the Mara River Basin, Allison Jones, 2009
Namibia and South Africa
Field Study: How African Elephants Use Water, Terrie Williams, 2007
Sahara Desert
Water Supply: Across Borders, Helen Thayer, 2013
Ethiopia
Conserving Ethiopia’s Church Forests, Meg Lowman, 2017
Asia
India
Access Water : Ganges River Valley, Ann Bancroft & Liv Arnesen, 2015
Pamir Mountain Range
Kate Harris : BORDERSKI, Pamir Mountain Range, 2015
- A film about this expedition is being made! Check out the teaser
Altai Mountains
Expedition to Paradise, Altai Mountain Range, Arita Baaijens, 2013
Eastern Tibet
Documenting Flora on the Tibetan Plateau, Diane Agaki, 2007
Western China
Cycling the Silk Road: On the Trail of Marco Polo, Kate Harris, 2007
India
Studying the Habitat of the Greater One-Horned Rhino in West Bengal, Gitanjali Banerjee, 2006
Atlantic
Northern Bahamas
Tracking Three Generations of Wild Dolphins in the Bahamas: 26 Years in the Field, Denise Herzing, 2010
South Atlantic Ocean
5 Gyres Expedition: The World’s First South Atlantic Ocean Plastic-Pollution Study, Anna Cummins, 2010
Atlantic Ocean
Crossing the Ocean on a Reed Sailing Boat, Sabrina Lorenz, 2007
Atlantic Ocean
Following the Route of Columbus: Crossing the Atlantic by Sailboat, Beryl Bell, 2007
Bahamas
Collecting Geochemical Samples from a Cave on San Salvador Island, Stephanie Schwabe, 2005
Europe
Greece
Photographing Ancient Sites on the Island of Crete, Marilyn Bridges, 2010
Europe-Africa
Following Endangered White Storks Across Two Continents, Lorie Karnath, 2007
Spain
Tracing the Transition from Neanderthal to Cro-Magnon in Western Europe, Anna Pinto, 2005
North/Central America
Belize
The Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, Jeanette Salfeety, 2005
Columbia River Basin
Exploring the Health of North America's Majestic Columbia River, Alison Jones, 2007
Dry Tortugas
Bird Banding in the Dry Tortugas, Dalia Amor-Conde, 2005
Florida/California, U.S,
Deep-Sea Exploration with New Eyes and Ears, Edie Widder, 2007
Guatemala
Roads, Deforestation, and Jaguars, Dalia Amor-Conde, 2006
Wyoming, U.S.
Searching for Cretaceous Dinosaurs, Sue Hendrickson, 2006
British Columbia, Canada
Tracking Wolves in the Great Bear Rainforest, Heather Bryan, 2008
Upper Columbia River Basin
Exploring Freshwater Values and Management Solutions, Allison Jones, 2008
Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia, U.S.
Swampscapes: Archaeological Exploration in the Great Dismal Swamp, Becca Peixotto, 2016
SOUTH AMERICA
Amazon
The Lower Amazon Archaeology Project: 2005 Reconnaissance in Brazil, Anna Roosevelt, 2005
Argentina Andes Expedition
High-Altitude Archaeology, Costanza Ceruti, 2007
Bolivia
High Lakes Expedition: An Astrobiological Trek Across the Altiplano, Nathalie Cabrol, 2005
Brazil
Saving the World’s Most Peaceful Primate: The Northern Muriqui Monkey, Karen Strier, 2016
Santarem Salvage Project, Anna Roosevelt, 2009
Pacific
Papua New Guinea
Underwater TV: Convict Fish Behavior at Sunrise and Sunset, Eugenie Clark, 2006
Papua New Guinea and Solomon Island
Headhunt Revisited: Charting Cultural Change in Melanesia, Michele Westmorland and Karen Huntt, 2005
Papua New Guinea
Diving to Observe Poisonous Catfish, Eugenie Clark and Anne Doubilet, 2007
Republic of Vanuatu
Female Chiefs of Maewo Island, Sophie Hollingsworth, 2016
Papua New Guinea
The Mountain Speaks, Arita Baaijens, 2016
Polar Regions
Greenland
Exploring the Greenland Ice Sheet, Natalie Kerhwald, 2007
Svalbard
Chasing the Light at 79 Degrees North, Rena Bass Forman, 2008
Lake Baikal
Life On Thin Ice, Felicity Aston, 2008
Alaska
Labyrinth Sublime: The Inside Passage, North to Alaska, Rosemarie Keough, 2008
Kangiqtugaapik/Clyde River, Baffin Island
The Siku-Inuit-Hila Conference on Sea Ice and Climate Change, Lene Keilsen-Holm, 2008
Arctic
Amundsen Expedition -Exploring and Documenting Marine Benthic Ecosystems in the Arctic, Maeva Gaulthier, 2010
Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada
Katujjiqatigii: Working Together, The Sedna Epic Expedition, Susan R. Eaton and the Team Sedna, 2016
Antarctica
Homeward Bound, Joanna Young, 2016
Antarctica
Antarctica and Mount Erebus as Analogues for Planetary Landscapes, Rosaly Lopes, 2016