The Young Explorers’ Trust is pleased to announce the recipients of grants and awards for expeditions taking place in 2025. The awards are named after explorers who have achieved great feats in the past or were leaders of youth expeditions.
Peer Group Awards
Stephenson Expedition Award
The Desolation Sound Expedition aims to explore by kayak the northern gulf islands between Vancouver Island and Mainland British Columbia Canada and includes some mountain hiking and climbing.
Sir Vivian Fuchs Award
Ski/Sail Expedition in Finnmark Arctic Norway. The Imperial College students aim to explore the islands of Stjernøya, Seiland, and around the fjords of Øksfjord, combining explorative ski touring with sailing, using the sailboat as both transportation and accommodation.
Individual Awards
John Hunt Awards
Michael Petch is a member of The Berkshire Scouts’ Alps25 event ‘Jamboree in the mountains’. This is a flexible ‘jamboree’ style event in the French Alps with a range of both adventurous and cultural activities for Scout Explorers and Scout Network Members from Berkshire.
Freya Jones is taking part in my first international trip into the Swiss Alps to the oldest of the guiding world centres. I will be hiking and kayaking on a glacier-fed lake and cooking over and open fire.
Stephenson Awards
Alana Inveron plans to take part in a jungle survival course in Guyana. It is a 15-day venture starting with an instruction phase which refreshes survival skills, continuing to an expedition phase where those skills are applied, and ending in an isolation phase of two days where the skills are put to the test.
Adwyn Mae Roberts will experience an action-packed itinerary in Malaya that includes turtle conservation and a trek over several days through the Taman Negeri Rompin Rainforest, one of the oldest ecosystems in Malaysia. This unique trek through arduous terrain will include the group sleeping under the stars and seeing unique animals and habitats.
Jim Bishop Awards
Zoe Brind is a member of the Basingstoke West scouts who are planning an adventure packed expedition to the Scottish Highlands. Activities include canoeing & sailing on the Scottish Lochs and, rock climbing.
Emily Brudenell in July 2025 will travel independently to Nepal to participate in a conservation-focused volunteering project in Chitwan’s Community Forest; a critical buffer zone between Chitwan National Park and surrounding villages Activities include monitoring wildlife populations, collecting data on biodiversity, and contributing to habitat restoration.
David Hollier Awards
This a joint award to twins Dan & Meg White, who are part of the Halesowen Explorer Scout’s adventurous expedition to the Swiss Alps. Activities will include exploring the mountains and lakes and helping with environmental conservation
Shaun McQuilton Hull from West Lancashire Scouts will be visiting Malawi to help upgrade and renovate orphanages, part of the “Scouts of the World” initiative. Shaun is in foster care enjoys a better life so wishes to be able to the same for other people in a way to give back.
Megan Osborn will take part in a 4-week expedition to Kenya, Africa. Whilst there she will be helping to support education and community development in two rural communities. She will be part of the community living and working alongside local people, learning about the challenges they face.
Sir Vivian Fuchs Awards
Elliot Connor will be exploring part of the world’s biggest wilderness, the Oceans as a member of an expedition recreating Charles Darwin’s historic voyage aboard the Beagle. Helping, hoisting and filming aboard the tall ship Oosterscheld, from Cape Town via St Helena & Ascension, to the Azores. He will make detailed pelagic bird counts, between sailing duties for five hours a day, in stretches of the Atlantic that have never been surveyed.
Ruben Marden Liebownitz will be undertaking voluntary work in multiple Peruvian communities aiming to improve sanitation, educational infrastructure food security. In remote rural villages. He will also go on a four day trek in the Andes.
Peter Smith Awards
During the trip Joshua Rockenbach will be immersed in local Ecuadoran life, living and working alongside a local primary school, refurbishing and extending classrooms and constructing additional buildings. He will go to three different camps in different parts of Ecuador, and will also be involved with constructing hutches for guinea pigs, which the locals use to sell or as a reliable source of food. He will also help preserve a wildlife area through planting and reforestation initiatives ending with visit to the Galapagos Islands.
Ava Muir is a member of an expedition to Tanzania. She will experience the magic of a safari and learn about the true Tanzanian culture. For the main part of her adventure, she will be working closely with local people and living alongside the communities in authentic Banda camps. We’ll be working together with the communities to improve the local infrastructure and making a positive impact on their natural environment, for example repairing homes and schools. She is really interested in design tech, and is keen to learn how other countries construct their homes and community buildings with different materials than we use in the UK.
Liv Jones, an archaeology student, is joining an expedition to the Ancient Mayan city of Calakmul. This project involves three weeks of forest ecology and one week of marine ecology. Additional activities gained within the expedition include knowledge of the Ancient Mayan city, and its relationship with the flora and fauna of the forest.
Everest Awards
Thomas Swindells is an active beekeeper. Sadly there is a global decrease of pollinators, and the majority of those pollinators are the honey bees. As a member of an expedition to Nepal carrying out community and trekking ventures, this will be an opportunity to study the difference in techniques of hive management, learning about the way the Nepali Beekeepers are trying to combat the Yellow Legged Asian Hornet. Hopefully he will be able to implement that into his hives in the UK.
Samuel Hiscott is a member of the Essex Boys & Girls Clubs expedition to Nepal. They will trek for 10 days to an earthquake devastated village where they will help in the restoration before trekking out and white-water rafting!
The Borneo Trek Expedition is a four-week trip, where Deion Wyn Jones will get to go trekking through the jungle and helping local communities. During the trek through the rainforest, he will see amazing wildlife and learn about protecting orangutans. He will also stay in a village and work on projects that help people, like building things or looking after the environment. It’s a chance to try new things, work as a team, and learn about a different culture.
Maryam Sheikh is a member of a student climbing expedition to a remote mountainous area in the Dinaric Alps of Bosnia & Herzegovina. With help from local climbers, they aim to create 10 new bolted climbing lines, contributing to the establishment of a new crag. The project is designed to engage with the local community. They plan to work alongside local climbers to improve infrastructure, such as paths and informational signage, and to conduct an introductory climbing session for schoolchildren.