Speakers Bureau

Inspire, Challenge, Motivate

National Geographic Speakers Bureau represents the world’s boldest Explorers, scientists, photographers and storytellers. These tailor-made experiences inspire, challenge and motivate audiences — from dynamic corporate keynotes to unforgettable gala evenings. Contact us today to bring the world to your private event.

Available Speakers

Showing 9 of 11 results

Babak Tafreshi

Science, Photography, Technology, Space

Babak Tafreshi is a science photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer who, since beginning astrophotography in the 1990s, has merged art and science through visual stories. Using photos, videos and 360 immersive media, he has documented breathtaking night scenes from all continents. Since 2007, Tafreshi has been directing a growing team of photographers in nearly 25 countries for “The World at Night” project. His other long-term projects are “Life at Night Atlas” (where, since 2023, he has documented the night-time ecosystem and impact of light pollution) and “From Above & Below” (where, since 2024, he has achieved coordinated Earth-space night photography). His imagery aims to reconnect humanity with the natural world, reveal the wonders of science to public, and connect cultures through common interest in the night sky. In 2009, he received the Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized scientific imaging award at the time, and in 2022, he earned the Royal Photographic Society Award and the National Geographic Society’s Wayfinder Award. The International Astronomical Union named the minor planet 276163 — an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter—after Tafreshi, whose interest in astronomy began when he first saw the moon through a telescope as a child in Tehran, Iran.

Benjamin H. Mirin

Photography, Culture, Conservationism, Technology, Wildlife

Ben Mirin is the founding director of the Creative Conservation Lab (CCL) in partnership with Cornell University and UNC Chapel Hill. CCL combines biodiversity, art and storytelling to make conservation more inclusive, and is currently seeking collaborators in these spaces to advance their mission. By training, Mirin is an acoustic biologist, storyteller and artist who studies sound in nature and biocultural conservation. He also composes music from his sound recordings and performs live as a “wildlife DJ.” Mirin completed his Ph.D. in 2024 at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he studied birdsong and the wildlife trade in Indonesia. Through science, music and media, he combines his passions to engage new audiences in a more inclusive and sustainable future for all life on earth. Mirin is the creator and host of the digital and television series "WILD BEATS" on National Geographic Kids and Nat Geo Wild. He is also a 2016 National Geographic Explorer, Certified Educator, and Speaker with NG Expeditions and Nat Geo Live. Mirin has been a senior fellow at The Safina Center and The Explorers Club, and the first Artist in Residence at the Bronx Zoo with additional residencies at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India and the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the recipient of Fulbright Hays, Department of Education FLAS, and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, the Scott Pearlman Field Award in Exploration, and a four-time TED speaker. His online game, BeastBox, has been distributed to over four million students worldwide, and he has written, produced and starred in films about science for National Geographic, bioGraphic, Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American Online, Audubon Magazine and others. He lives between Ithaca, New York; Boston; and Washington D.C.

Brian J. Buma

Adventure, Climate Change, Conservationism, Science, Technology

Brian Buma is a climate scientist and published author. His work focuses on dynamic change in ecosystems—from wildfires to landslides to the ordinary migration of species in response to changing climates. He utilizes a range of methods, from field expeditions to satellite imagery, to gain a unique perspective on regional and global questions. Buma led an expedition to the back of Glacier Bay, Alaska, to rediscover the oldest running permanent plot network in the world. These sites, monitored consistently since 1916, were lost in the late 1980s. He is also leading the field documenting the effects of snow loss on forests around the world, running studies in the boreal of Alaska and high country of Colorado and chairing international sessions on the topic. In 2019, Buma led an expedition to southern Chile to document the furthest-south trees in the world, found in the wild ocean islands of Cape Horn. His latest work explored the northernmost land on the planet, off the north coast of Greenland. A senior climate scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund and associated research professor at the University of Colorado Denver (and affiliate professor at the University of Alaska), Buma’s findings have been featured in National Geographic, the New York Times, Northwest Native News, High Country News, and international peer-reviewed journals.

Eduardo Sampaio

Science, Wildlife, Technology

Eduardo Sampaio is a field biologist, ethologist, and National Geographic Explorer that investigates how animals think, adapt and interact in a dynamic world. His research spans behavior, ecology, cognition, and evolution, with a special fascination for cephalopods: octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. Across his career, Sampaio has studied a wide range of questions, from social learning in cuttlefish to cooperative hunting partnerships between octopus and fish, offering rare insight into the roots of cooperation and social intelligence beyond the familiar world of mammals and birds. Sampaio’s work aims to reveal how these mysterious animals perceive and respond to the world around them, helping to illuminate bigger biological questions about convergent evolution and the emergence of intelligence across the tree of life. His research has been featured internationally, including by The New York Times, BBC, and Euronews, bringing the hidden lives of marine animals to audiences around the world.

Kenneth Broad

Adventure, Climate Change, Culture, Leadership, Resilience, Sustainability, Teamwork, Technology, Wildlife, Conservationism

Kenny Broad is an environmental anthropologist who studies the relationship between humans and their environment. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1999 and in 2011 he was chosen as the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year, with the late Wes Skiles. Broad was selected as a National Geographic 2006 Emerging Explorer and was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009. He is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain and commercial helicopter pilot. Since 1992, he has participated in over 20 National Geographic expeditions, including extreme scientific and filmmaking projects on every continent - from studying cocaine distribution patterns to tracking venomous snakes to exploring the deepest caves on the planet - to gather information that sheds light on little known environmental and cultural subjects. He has published dozens of interdisciplinary papers on social and natural science topics, and he regularly collaborates with ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists, psychologists, and a host of other scientists across unique disciplines. He served on the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, is on the Nat Geo Live Speakers Bureau, and has traveled as an expert on many Nat Geo Expeditions travel excursions. Broad served as co-director of Columbia University Center for Research on Environmental Decisions for over 15 years. He is currently a professor of environmental science and policy and director of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy at the University of Miami.

Krithi K Karanth

Leadership, Science, Storytelling, Resilience, Conservationism, Climate Change, Sustainability, Technology, Wildlife, Teamwork

Krithi Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies at Duke University. She has a Ph.D. from Duke (2008), a M.E.Sc from Yale (2003), and B.S and B.A degrees from the University of Florida (2001 ). Karanth’s research in India and Asia for the past 23 years is on the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. She has conducted macro-level studies assessing patterns of species distributions and extinctions, impacts of wildlife tourism, consequences of voluntary resettlement, land use change, and understanding human-wildlife interactions. She has published 100+ scientific and popular articles in English and Kannada. Karanth served on the editorial boards of journals Conservation Biology, Conservation Letters, and Frontiers in Ecology and Environment. She has mentored over 200 young scientists from India, US, Chile, UK, Australia, Indonesia etc. and engaged 750 citizen science volunteers in her research and conservation projects. As a conservationist, she has designed the Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, and Wild Surakshe programs. Karanth has collaborated with painters, illustrators, film-makers, and photographers. Her conservation and research work has been featured in three award-winning BBC Series and in documentaries by CBC and PBS. She has co-produced 4 documentaries Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale, and Flying Elephants. In 2020, she co-starred with Kevin Pietersen in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic. She has written a bilingual children's book with artist Raghava KK. Karanth’s work has been covered by over 250 international media outlets and has garnered her more than 40 awards and recognitions. In 2019, she was chosen as one of the five Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureates. In 2020, she became an Eisenhower Fellow and in 2021, she was recognized as a WILD Innovator, Ananta Aspen fellow, and featured by the Government of India’s Invest India.

Leslie Dewan

Climate Change, Leadership, Science, Sustainability, Technology

Dr. Leslie Dewan is a nuclear engineer and conservation technologist. Leslie received her Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT, as well as S.B. degrees from MIT in mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering. Previously, she was the CEO of Transatomic Power, a company that designed safer nuclear reactors that leave behind less waste than conventional designs. Leslie has been awarded an MIT Presidential Fellowship and a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. She has served on the MIT Corporation, MIT’s board of trustees, and on the National Academy of Engineering’s study, “Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States.” Leslie has been named an MIT Technology Review "Innovator Under 35," a National Geographic Explorer, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Louise Nicol Leakey

Science, Storytelling, Adventure, Technology, Teamwork

Louise Leakey is an award-winning paleoanthropologist whose three decades of field research in Kenya's Turkana Basin have produced landmark discoveries that continue to reshape our understanding of human evolution. The daughter of Meave Leakey and granddaughter of Louis and Mary Leakey, she carries forward one of science's most celebrated legacies, while firmly establishing herself as a leading figure in her own right. Numerous transformative discoveries have been made by her team over the decades including new species found at Lake Turkana extended human fossil diversity back 3.5 million years. Recent publications include the upper skeleton and dentition of Homo habilis, and the hand of Paranthropus boisei published in Nature in 2025. A hominin trackway was reported in Science in 2024 as well several yet unpublished finds in recent years. These discoveries deepen our understanding of Plio-Pleistocene human origins in East Africa. A National Geographic Explorer at Large since 2008, Leakey leads the Koobi Fora Research Project, a long-term field program in the Turkana Basin. She holds a Research Professorship in Anthropology at Stony Brook University, serves as a Research Associate at the National Museum of Kenya, and sits on the board of the Turkana Basin Institute. She earned her PhD in Biology from University College London in 2001. Beyond fieldwork, Leakey is a pioneer in digital paleontology and public engagement. She founded AfricanFossils.org, a virtual laboratory offering global access to 3D fossil models from the Turkana Basin, and co-developed FossilFinder.org, a citizen science platform using UAV imagery for crowd-sourced fossil mapping. A TED speaker and sought-after international lecturer, she also brings science directly to Kenyan schoolchildren through LeakeyJourneys.org. Her commitment to making human origins accessible drives her continued work at the frontier of paleoanthropological discovery.

Mike J. Libecki

Climate Change, Conservationism, Adventure, Culture, Health, Leadership, Photography, Resilience, Science, Storytelling, Sustainability, Teamwork, Technology, Wildlife

Mike Libecki is a National Geographic Explorer, an honor received from The Expeditions Council of the National Geographic Society. He was also named a 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his commitment to exploring and climbing in the world’s most remote places. He has completed more than 100 major expeditions that have taken him to over 125 countries—from Afghanistan to Antarctica, Greenland to Guyana, Siberia to Socotra Island and everywhere in between. His adventures support science, conservation and humanitarian projects, as well as shed light on powerful, emotional stories that inspire us all to take care of our world. Libecki is a producer, director, videographer, photographer, conservationist, humanitarian with his own nonprofit and a leader of cutting-edge science teams. He is also a math and tech nerd at heart, using the latest technologies—virtual reality, 3D imagery and artificial intelligence among others—on his expeditions to share stories of the planet’s magic, power and beauty. Mike has also received numerous grants and awards. He has appeared on PBS, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel and more.Mike Libecki is a National Geographic Explorer, an honor received from The Expeditions Council of the National Geographic Society. He was also named a 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his commitment to exploring and climbing in the world’s most remote places. He has completed more than 100 major expeditions that have taken him to over 125 countries—from Afghanistan to Antarctica, Greenland to Guyana, Siberia to Socotra Island and everywhere in between. His adventures support science, conservation and humanitarian projects, as well as shed light on powerful, emotional stories that inspire us all to take care of our world. Libecki is a producer, director, videographer, photographer, conservationist, humanitarian with his own nonprofit and a leader of cutting-edge science teams. He is also a math and tech nerd at heart, using the latest technologies—virtual reality, 3D imagery and artificial intelligence among others—on his expeditions to share stories of the planet’s magic, power and beauty. Mike has also received numerous grants and awards. He has appeared on PBS, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel and more.

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