Kathy Gill, strategy director of Biosphere Expeditions,; Photo: Bill Smith

For more than a decade Norfolk-based enteprise Biosphere Expeditions has sent environmental volunteers around the globe to help scientists with important work.

From tracking snow leopards in the Altai to studying coral reef in Malaysia hundreds of volunteers have been on conservation expeditions.

But now Norfolk-based director Kathy Gill is turning her attention to her home county and is looking for projects to bring customers from around the globe to this part of the world.

“We are really interested in what Norfolk has to offer and we really want to do something on the Broads,” she said.

Whether a farmer with a conservation project, a wildlife trust or even the Broads Authority, Ms Gill wants people with possible projects to get in touch.

She said: “Quite often we find there is a keen scientist and if you team up with them first then you target the right people. We would really like to do something in our back yard in this amazing landscape.

“We definitely want a scientific project, we would like to have some people who have conservation work which needs doing. We could set mammal traps, we could do some conservation work. We could even take people and show them around the culture that we have here as well. The thing we usually need is a mammal species to study. An endangered species that needs protection.”

She said she wanted to do something for her local community and hopes a Norfolk expedition would not only attract their strong international customer base but also a UK market.

“We know people recognise the Norfolk Broads as a destination and they recognise places like Sandringham. I grew up sailing on the Broads. I have always loved the area. It is very much a personal thing for me, but it is also important in doing the local thing as well as the global which is very much part of our organisational ethos.”

She said: “All you need to do is be by the side of a river. As soon as you get into a motor boat and you are not moving fast you feel like you are in a special area. We do have some quite remote locations within our county.”

She said: “I would like to do a project which is short haul where people are not travelling as much. I can immerse myself in my local environment but also show it off as well,” she said.

She said Biosphere Expeditions’ projects are led by scientists.

“We never go into an area and say we are going to do this bit of research. We need someone to approach us. We would never parachute ourselves in. We want it to come from the grass roots. We have about 100 scientists a year approach us. I think people see us as international and assume we only do trips abroad.”

Biosphere Expeditions was founded in 1999 as a not-for-profit enterprise it is based in the Henderson Centre in Ivy Lane, Norwich.

If you have a conservation or research project you think might interest Biosphere Expeditions contact Kathy Gill on k.gill@biosphere-expeditions.org