The Expedition Team
Scientists first, hosts second.
Every programme is designed and led by professors, researchers, university lecturers, educational specialists, and professionals across our fields of study. They are the team that positions us between a research association and a tour operator.
PhD Ornithology & Ecology, Kyoto University · Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, Université d'Antananarivo
Distinguished Malagasy scientist and Professor of Animal Ecology and Biology. President of the Malagasy Full Professor Association, author of three books on Malagasy birds and some sixty scientific articles, and recipient of Japan's Order of the Rising Sun. Full profile in his card.
Malagasy biologist & lecturer-researcher · Zoology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Antananarivo
Conservation scientist specialising in the systematics, ecology, and conservation of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates: insects, crustaceans, spiders, and freshwater molluscs. Two decades of field inventories, molecular systematics, invasion biology, and postgraduate training. Full profile in his card.
Researcher, University of Antananarivo · Vice-President, Madagascar Birding Association
Malagasy ornithologist, field researcher, conservation consultant and specialist bird guide. Three decades documenting Madagascar's avifauna across dry forests, wetlands and mangroves, co-author of the first Malagasy-language bird field guide. Full profile in his card.
PhD Natural Ecosystems, University of Mahajanga · Research & Conservation Coordinator, Planet Madagascar
Malagasy primatologist and conservation biologist studying how forest fragmentation, edges and human-modified landscapes shape Madagascar's lemurs and small mammals, with a focus on the dry deciduous forests of the northwest. Full profile in his card.
Zoology & Animal Biodiversity, University of Antananarivo · Chief Research Officer, Madagascar Birding Association
Malagasy ornithologist and biodiversity researcher recognised for his knowledge of forest birds and the reproductive ecology of the Vangidae, with wide field experience across birds, lemurs, reptiles and amphibians. Full profile in his card.
Agronomic & Forestry Engineer · DEA Applied Botany · 35 yrs in natural resource governance
Former Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment and coordinator of the Tsingy de Bemaraha World Heritage site, she leads community consent, tenure briefings, and the socio-economic components of every programme.
Gem-A Diploma, Gemmological Association of Great Britain (London) · Mining Engineer, École Supérieure Polytechnique d'Antananarivo
Gem-A London qualified gemmologist and mining engineer with decades of field experience across Madagascar's gemstone provinces, from the sapphire fields of Ilakaka and Sakaraha to the pegmatite districts of the highlands. Senior mining consultant and lecturer in gemmology and Earth sciences. Full profile in his card.
PhD Avian Phylogenetics · Université d'Antananarivo
Twenty-two years documenting the vanga radiation across Masoala and the Maromizaha corridor. Peer-reviewed publications on eastern-forest community composition and bioacoustic monitoring; full publication list available to reviewing faculty on request.
PhD Tropical Forest Ecology · Chartered Environmentalist
Holds a chair in conservation science at a UK partner university, named in the academic file supplied to reviewing departments. Designs the syllabus, contact-hour structure and assessment framework that home institutions use when awarding credit, and reviews all doctoral proposals submitted to the researcher track.
MSc Marine Biology · PADI Divemaster
Runs the reef-survey and coral-restoration science at Andavadoaka in partnership with the Vezo fishing communities who steward the locally-managed marine areas.
PhD Predator Ecology · Camera-trap methods
Maintains the long-running fosa population study at Kirindy, training participants in telemetry, camera-trap grid design, and capture-recapture analysis.
PGCE · Expedition Risk Management
Translates rigorous field science into curriculum-linked, age-appropriate learning for school groups, and owns the risk management and safeguarding that parents and teachers rely on.
Wilderness First Responder · 18 yrs in-country
Handles transfers, permits, in-country safety, and community liaison: the operational backbone that lets scientists and students focus entirely on the fieldwork.
Doctoral & Postdoctoral Track
Bring your own protocol. We carry the rest.
Doctoral candidates and established researchers do not need a programme; they need a permit, a station, a vehicle, and a Malagasy collaborator. We provide those as a serviced field season, so the intellectual work stays entirely yours. Enquiries are reviewed by our academic lead against feasibility, permit horizon, and site carrying capacity, typically within fourteen days.
Undergraduate and taught-postgraduate cohorts are served by the credit-bearing field schools rather than this track. Final-year dissertation students sit between the two: they join a field school and run an independent project within it, supervised on site and assessed by their home institution.
Permit Sponsorship
We act as the in-country sponsor for your research authorisation, preparing and submitting the dossier to the Ministère de l'Environnement et du Développement Durable and Madagascar National Parks, and holding the site agreements your project runs under.
Station & Logistics
Bed space, laboratory and drying-room access, power and connectivity, vehicle and porterage, field assistants, and the transfer chain from Antananarivo to the trailhead. Costed per person-day so it fits a grant budget line.
Malagasy Collaboration
Introduction to and co-supervision with Malagasy academics at the relevant faculty, structured as genuine co-authorship under our equitable authorship policy rather than as an acknowledgement.
Existing Time Series
Access to our accumulated datasets for co-analysis: fixed point-count stations at Maromizaha run across successive seasons, an annotated dawn-chorus acoustic archive, and camera-trap capture histories from the Kirindy grid.
Sampling & Export
Where a project requires biological material, we arrange Nagoya-compliant prior informed consent, mutually agreed terms, and, where justified, the export permit and material transfer agreement. Material otherwise remains in-country.
Field Assistance
Trained assistants for effort-intensive protocols, and, where it suits both parties, supervised cohort participants collecting to your protocol under your inter-observer reliability standard.
Select "Researcher / Academic" on the enrolment dossier