Resilience Tracks

Eleanor is a Masters of Research student for endangered species recovery and conservation with experience in animal husbandry, animal behaviour research, social science research, and science communication. During her TNC & NatGeo externship, she focused on beaver reintroduction in the UK which turned into a 30-minute documentary on the topic. Outside of filming, she studied human-leopard coexi...

Ahmad Adnan is a final-year social work student and Founder of MarSow (Marine Social Work), a founder-led grassroots initiative established in 2025 to connect professional social work with marine conservation in Sri Lanka. In this episode of Resilience Tracks, he discusses his inspiration for studying social work and his final-year research project, Ocean Renewal, focused on reutilizing fish waste...

Naomi Sanga studied business, with no idea that climate and conservation would be in her future. When she came across the NGS/TNC Externship program, she took her chances and since then has committed to using her background in business for environmental progress. She works with kids at government schools on tree planting, encouraging kids to develop responsibility and ownership over their natural...

Francesco Saretto, by day, is a PhD student studying climate risk management with a focus on coastal Bangladesh, but will the help of seed funding after the NGS/TNC externship, he created the documentary Raízes Sem Terra, focused on colonial-based land distribution inequalities in Brazil. Throughout our conversation, we discuss the process of making the film, his learnings from the Sem Terra commu...

Siena Inaba is the Program Operations Specialist for National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas, whose work ranges from outfitting a deep-sea submersible to coordinating logistics like getting boxed jellyfish anti-venom to an expedition ship. Sienna shares how early inspiration from iconic wildlife storytellers led her to conservation, how she pivoted from a pre-vet track to earth system sciences...

Noveera is a master’s student in environmental science in Pakistan who has worked on human-carnivore conflict, glacial modelling, geological identifications, and more. Having worked in both NGOs and governmental agencies, she shares with us the benefits and struggles of each strategy in approaching conservation in her country. We also discuss the hardships of conservation in Pakistan, such as trop...

Giulia Hettwer is a master’s student in marine biology. In today’s episode, Giulia shares her experience with underwater field research. Along the way, she debunks the popular belief that sharks are dangerous, explaining how shark incidents happen, while also comparing the scale of shark conflicts. She explains that while sharks injure a few people every year, we humans kill thousands.  Connect wi...

Rabita Rahman is an environmental science student from Bangladesh working with mangroves to combat encroaching salinity and typhoons in the South Coast region of Bangladesh. Working across multiple environmental organizations, Rabita wants to bring more attention to climate mitigation plans rather than adaptation reactions. While quieter, mitigation plans are necessary to prevent environmental pro...

Trinity Wildenstein grew up on Utila island, scuba and freediving amongst the corals. Like many islands, water is an inseparable part of Utila’s identity, but Trinity was surprised to find that the island actually had a huge freshwater issue. The island’s aquifer storage is not enough, leaving people to wait for washing dishes or cleaning clothes. After receiving seed funding following her NGS+TNC...

Nardi de la Torre Proaño is a biologist from Ecuador with a focus on coastal ecosystems and conservation. Nadi discusses her work with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Darwin 200, emphasizing the importance of community involvement in conservation efforts. She shares her experiences studying coral resilience to climate change, educating people on frog conservation, and how she holds...

Viktor is a PhD student researching AI applications in ecology, environmental monitoring, and nature conservation. His work has ranged from AI-based analysis of coral reef structures, facial analysis of seals, and reducing the biases in camera trap sorting. In this episode, we talk about how AI can and can't support conservation efforts, acknowledging the ethical concerns of the technology, an...

Ona Santisteban Uribarri is an EU Young Ocean Advocate and Ocean Protection Ambassador. After completing the NGS+TNC Externship, Ona has been busy fighting for youth representation in marine policy and protection plans. In today's episode, Ona shares her journey from the externship to international conferences, and the challenges advocating for youth in political spaces. Connect with Ona Linke...

In this episode, acclaimed documentary photographer Pubarun Basu, Sony Youth Photographer of the Year and Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree, joins us to explore the ethics of photojournalism and street photography. We discuss how the power dynamics of framing and publishing images , how photographers can document vulnerable communities responsibly, and what he’s learned from capturing life along the...

For the official launch of Resilience Tracks , host Innocent Graph Phiri sits down with wildlife documentarian and podcast creator, Stephanie Froebel , to trace the roots of this new conservation-focused series. Stephanie shares the spark that inspired Resilience Tracks , and takes listeners into the Bolivian Amazon for a behind-the-scenes look at filming spider monkeys in her feature-length docum...