Kate Harris, 2010 Women of Discovery Field Research Award

"As Thoreau advised, "Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still. " — Kate Harris

Exploring, conserving, and writing about the wildest places in the world

Born: 1982-01-01

Hometown: Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Education: M.Phil. History of Science, M.Sc. Earth and Planetary Sciences

Achievements

Discoveries: Science can be a peacekeeping tool in contested wildernesses, from Kashmir to Antarctica to outer space

Expeditions: Traveled to all seven continents for the sake of science, adventure, research and writing. Biked the Silk Road through Xinjiang and Tibet.

Biography

Kate Harris is a young scientist, wilderness conservationist, adventurer, and writer. From living in a yurt in outer Mongolia to cycling the Silk Road to conducting field research in Antarctica, Kate is a nomad most in her element when, by all measures, she should feel most out of it. By the age of 25, she had already called all seven continents home. Today, at 27, she translates her passion for all things unfamiliar and extreme into a life devoted to wilderness exploration, conservation, and writing.

Kate spends most of her time and energy on scientific peacekeeping, which engages collaborative science and environmental conservation to foster better relations across boundaries and borders. She first became intrigued by the concept during a long-distance cycling adventure -- a Wings WorldQuest Flag Expedition she conceived and led in 2006 -- that retraced Marco Polo's travels along China's Silk Road. On this trip, she and two friends traversed the Aksai Chin in western Tibet, a contested territory between India and China, and in the process biked near the Siachen glacier on the Indian-Pakistan Line of Control. The notion that these sublime wildernesses were venues for military occupation and violence, because of arbitrary human borders, was shocking. This experience sparked her interest in the geopolitics of transboundary wilderness conservation.

After this expedition, Kate went to the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Though her previous academic training was in biology, as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina, Kate
opted to broaden her horizons by studying the history of science at Oxford. She wrote her Master's dissertation on the potential for transboundary science and environmental conservation to resolve conflict and cultivate peace between neighboring nations. Her work explored the prospects for establishing a peace park on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir, and drew on historical precedents for science-for-peace initiatives in Antarctica, Outer Space, and transboundary protected areas in Africa, South America, and Asia.

Next Kate went to MIT, where she is earning a Master's degree in geobiology, but throughout she remains deeply committed to transboundary environmental conservation and advocacy. She was invited to Kashmir to speak at a workshop on culture and conservation in the Himalaya where she presented her Siachen peace park research to an audience that included current and former commanders of Indian troops on the glacier. She also wrote a paper on the applicability of Antarctic Treaty System principles to the Siachen conflict, which won a science policy essay prize enabling her to participate in the 50th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty signing in Washington, D.C.

In her research and activities, Kate continues to explore the relationship between environmental conservation, scientific collaboration, and conflict resolution in the world's wildest places. Her latest project is an expedition called Cycling Silk, a year-long, all-woman bike journey that will cover more then 10,000 kilometers of the Silk Road between Tibet and Turkey, and study six case studies for cross-border conservation along the way. Her goal is to channel this environmental field expedition into practical conservation results by generating the awareness and support needed for peace parks to become a reality, both on the Silk Road and in wildernesses beyond. In returning to the Silk Road in 2010 and exploring conservation across its many borders, she hopes to inspire other young people -- especially women -- to not only get outside and explore the natural world, but to do all they can to save its wild wonders.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: A stack of good books, my notebook, my camera, and my red bandana

Heroes: Fridtjof Nansen, Alexandra David-Neel, Henry David Thoreau, and Greg Mortensen