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.

2017-2018 EXPEDITION SPOTLIGHT

Ulyana Horodyskyj: Impacts of Black Carbon and Dust on Kahiltna Glacier, Denali, Alaska

Ulyana Horodyskyj will study the impacts of pollution and dust on snow and ice melt on Denali, a mountain in Alaska and the highest peak in North America.

Due to their dark color, these contaminants absorb more of the sun’s energy, making the surface less reflective than it should be and leading to accelerated melting.

Remote sensing data from orbit are not effective at detecting black carbon on the ground, which is why Ulyana will travel to Denali herself to understand how these contaminants are impacting alpine glaciers.

Ulyana will depart in May and return in June.

Laly Lichtenfeld: The Women's Beekeeping Initiative

Laly Lichtenfeld is the co-founder of African People & Wildlife, an environmental conservation organization in Tanzania. Through the Women’s Beekeeping Initiative, the organization works with 950 women, many of whom are part of the Maasai Tribe, to help them develop entrepreneurial skills.

After completing entrepreneurship training, participants are eligible for microgrants to launch their own individual beekeeping businesses. By selling local wild honey, the women develop revenue streams which they can use to support their families, send their children to school, invest in health care and reduce their families' environmental impact. 

The women also support each other through mentorship and knowledge-sharing. 

Silvia Schrötter: Reducing the Overexploitation of the Bengal Tiger Habitat

Silvia Schrötter, a Master’s student at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, spent five months in India researching methods to help reduce the overexploitation of the Bengal tiger in the Manas National Park. 

The tiger population is dwindling due to poaching, overgrazing by cattle and the collection of thatch, food and wood fuel by the local people.

Schrötter is collecting data about homestead gardens and will create a pamphlet in the Bodo and Assamese languages to share information about how these gardens can provide alternative fuel and income to local communities.

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 >>

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