Welcome to Journeys!

Join me on my academic expedition

Current Projects

No Longer Earthlings

Oxford Centennial Expeditions

Recent Scribbles

Extraterrestrial Journeys

Originally published in SES Exploration Revealed Issue 3 June 15, 2023 Photo: The moon and Venus over a Korean rice field. Michael Murphy...

Standing in the Shadow of the Milky Way

An interview with Dr. Meganne Christian by Mike Murphy -Extreme Expeditioning- Published in SES Exploration Revealed (forthcoming issue...

Why Do Ethnography, When There's So Much Space Psychology?

This question is quite common and also very valid. Essentially, it asks about the distinction between psychology and anthropology. While...

Airports

I love airports, I think I’ve probably mentioned. They’re not really anywhere. They’re not really the place that you’re leaving, and...

What Am I Doing to Prepare?

*Author’s note: I wrote this three days ago before I had to throw it all out the window and race a typhoon to get out of Korea early....

Science Communication

Archived GoFundMe Update from IEEPI study. Greetings! I’d like to start with some project updates. I have started interviewing NASA...

Instagram

Another successful training with the Meili-II analogue astronaut crew. Although we look for harsh weather on these training weekends, we were lucky enough to have a gorgeous day on Kinder Scout. What looked like dense wet mist from below cleared until we were walking on clouds.

The team practiced extreme environment training, learning to push themselves through discomfort to be able to think clearly and operate as a cohesive unit under stress. This not only helps keep everyone safe, but allows us to carry out research objectives in the harshest of weather conditions.

@space.health.research @spacegovuk @ukseds
#analogastronaut #analogue #astronaut #expedition #peakdistrict #science #exploration

Xmas adventure to the ruins of a tower and on to the coast.

It snowed in Oxford today, and as expected, this too is a fairy tale.
None of these photos are mine.

Been a while. Photo dump? Photo dump.

After spending the last 8 months in Scotland and Cumbria, I moved back down to Oxford where I’ve started my PhD. I’m studying Human Migration at the School of Anthropology, where my particular specialization is understanding how extreme journeys transform personal identity and subjectivity, both in displacement and in astronauts. This is research that I’ve already been working on for two years, and I’m specifically looking to push migration theory from exclusively terrestrial contexts into extra terrestrial migration for the first time (potentially feeding space research back into humanitarian contexts). In addition to Oxford, I’m also working with UCL’s Department of Anthropology, the UK Space Agency, ESA, NASA, and various expedition organizations.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also taken over as Chairman of the Oxford University Exploration Club, which trains students to go on expeditions around the world, and founded the UK Student Exploration Network, which combines the resources and expertise of early career adventure and exploration clubs from across the UK (over 200of them!).

October has been a very intense month as I get all of this going, but there’s no denying that these are important endeavors, that progress is being made, and that, ultimately, I am having fun. I’m surrounded by incredible, curious, passionate people, and I have several teams and communities that work with me to realize these goals.

It’s been a month of movement, orientation, nesting, meetings, socials, run clubs, northern lights, reading, writing, and generally losing my mind, but I’ve got my bearings and I’m moving forward.

Home.
Home base.
Home coming.
Home sick.
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the idea of home. Growing up, I was never welcome, so I don’t have the predisposition to needing a home … if anything, it can be a scary experience. But in the last year or so, I’ve started looking for … something. Someone suggested ‘nests’, temporary places to tuck into for a while before the next leg of the journey.
I didn’t expect much from Lancaster of all places. It was close to the mountains and the community that I’ve built in the North, and that was good enough to start. If you caught my stories a few months back, I documented the early stages of transitioning from living out of rucksack with winter mountain gear to getting bedding and bath towels.
I’ve really enjoyed this house in particular. If you go down the street a block, there’s the train station. If you turn the other way, a little bakery where I got a cinnamon roll after my run each Tuesday—the first batch of the week. A little further is a climbing gym that defied expectations. In the opposite direction is not one, but two rivers to run along.
I always wanted to live in an attic, too, to have a slanted skylight that I had to climb on crates to open, but let me see the sunset. Building this place with patchwork blankets and odd bunting, planning adventures with maps on the wall and kit spread all over the floor, having cozy night with a dozen candles and lanterns.
It’s funny how two months of really making a place your own can defy expectations.
Today, I packed up everything. The blankets and the bunting and the maps and the kit will go with me to Manchester, where I’ll make another little nest. But the skylight and the rafters, the bakery and the river, they’ll stay. Huh… I didn’t expect this much from Lancaster.
#BladesStreet
#CryingIntoMyCinnamonRoll
#MovingNests

I do mountain stuff too sometimes…⛰️

#FluHiking
#Vibes
#Bramble

After three years and a truly incomprehensible amount of work, I’m finally going back to Oxford. Yesterday, I accepted their PhD offer and committed to a DPhil in Migration Studies at Keble College. My PhD research will ethnographically study the impacts of extreme journeys on personal and group identity in extra-terrestrial exploration, and create a bridge back to terrestrial migration research. This is truly novel research which will 1) be the first to ethnographically study identity transformation in space, 2) connect it to terrestrial displacement, and 3) bring the field of human migration beyond Earth’s reach.

This wasn’t an easy decision by a long shot. I applied to, and was rejected from, PhD programs for three years before this. If this round didn’t work out, I was ready to step away and focus on research. It’s a massive investment, not just in money, but also time, emotions, and being semi-attached to one place for several years. For the last year, Oxford hasn’t even been my top choice. After I was accepted to two separate PhD programs, I struggled for months deciding which to accept. In the end though, this is the right decision for me.

I have so much to say, and so much to give updates on but for now, I’m excited and motivated. It feels like all of the barriers that I had to navigate as an independent researcher are falling away, and the work that was kept in stasis in favor of applications can finally get underway.

I can’t begin to thank everyone who has supported me up to this point. @oxford.exploration and @rgs_ibg gave me the inspiration and opportunity. UCL’s Ethno-ISS opened the door and supported my research. @space.health.research has been an incredible research partner. To all of the personal friends who have supported me throughout this adventure, I owe you everything.

P.s. I don’t have a picture of myself in Keble because I’m on the other end of the country in the mountains… so here’s me in a NASA shirt?

#GoingToUniInAGingerbreadHouse @kebleoxford @oxford_uni @sesexplore

Surrounded by a city of ruins that are historical marvels.
Brain: “reckon I can climb that. Might even flash it.”

May Day in Oxford is always a big day for me. I can’t exactly say why. Maybe it’s the pagan roots, the costumes, and the tradition. It could be the carnival nature and delirium that takes over as the sun rises. And who doesn’t love a ceilidh?

This week, I finally got to go through Mountain Leader training. Many thanks to Adventure Expertise instructors Jake and Mat for keeping us safe and in good spirits through some pretty fucking gnarly conditions. Thanks to the trainee team as well for their incredible work.
☑️ Emergency Belays
☑️ Hazardous ground
☑️ Micro-navigation
☑️ Macro- navigation
☑️ Night navigation
☑️ Campcraft
☑️ River crossing
☑️ Expedition first aid
☑️ Weather interpretation
☑️ Nature lore
☑️ Leadership skills
☑️ Expedition planning
Photos by myself and the team.

I've had a lot of people start following me on various platforms, for a wide range of reasons. A lot of others haven't actually talked to me in years and this probably seems quite different. Regardless, hello!

If all of this seems like a lot, hopefully I can help clear up some confusion.

Who am I?

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@oxford.exploration @rgs_ibg @sesexplore @space.health.research

Whiteouts are common here. It’s not uncommon to lose visibility six or seven paces ahead of you. In these photos, there was a steep drop about three paces to my left, and a cliff three paces to my right. On a particularly bad day, you might not see another person at all. “I am alone”
These are risks that I’ve been learning to manage and mitigate by taking good nav readings, being observant, paying attention to the wind and slope, and using good sense.
Once you accept the conditions as they are, it opens a new world of possibilities. When weather and landscape are no longer barriers, but factors (even flavors) to be accounted for, opportunities to experience nature in new and interesting ways present themselves. Soon, you are able to do what, only a short while ago, would have seemed impossible.
(Ps, spot the peak trad)

Lake District for a bit.
(Not me or my dog)

Check out my new blog post on the Space Health Research website. I’ve reviewed my work on MEILI-I, and I’m currently working on my study for MEILI-II!

If you’re interested in joining, either as an analogue astronaut or as a researcher, follow the link to the MEILI-II page.

[Link in Bio]

Down in The Lake District now. In the last week, I’ve…
1. Worked to understand the causal relationship between climate change and human trafficking.
2. Applied to rewrite the entire global cash and voucher assistance program for a major charity.
3. Injured my back.
4. Continued physical training skill building for MEILI-II with @space.health.research.

Space Health Research: MEILI-II Applications Open.
[Link in Bio]

Do you remember the analogue space mission that I did research on last year? Well, they’ve just opened recruiting for this year’s mission!

Meili-I was a massive innovation in space research for the UK. Focusing on the process of space exploration, the mission had 6 analogue astronauts spend two weeks on a completely isolated island, where they took geological samples of their new planet, analyzed the composition of the region, performed various health tests, tested medical equipment for use in space, and took part in a groundbreaking social science experiment (if I do say so myself).

Meili-II promises to be just as compelling. Due to the number of organizations interested in research, the details are currently under wraps. However, if you’ve ever thought that being an astronaut would be interesting (or if you'd like to study astronauts), if you love science and exploration, consider applying!

In the coming weeks, I’ll finally be revealing more about my study on Meili-I, plans for future studies, and career developments that have come from my own involvement in Meili-I.

@rgs_ibg @space.health.research @spacegeneration @oxford.exploration @europeanspaceagency

#space #exploration #spacehealthresearch #analogueastronaut

Week 2 has brought white outs on mountain tops, blind navigation, serious risk of avalanche, rock fall, and 1000ft drops. It’s a reminder that nature is beautiful, powerful, and indifferent, and that we are small.

“No matter where we go, the intensity of nature demands abandonment. As the days roll by, the landscape becomes a question, and having given ourselves to it totally, we answer with action—cementing our place in the wild with a line, a route, a passage.”

This is where I am me. Not where I find myself or become, not where I aspire to be. I feel the undeniable draw to explore because this is who I have always been.

How the fuck did we come up with credit scores when we could have this?

@rgs_ibg @oxford.exploration @space.health.research @explorationrevealed

One week into my Scotland Adventure.

Why’d I come here? A couple of reasons. The first is that the team from @space.health.research is training for certification in Mountain Leadership. The more of us who have this qualification, the better. For me, being a certified Mountain Leader would allow me to freelance as an adventurer, taking cadets, scouts, Duke of Edinburgh teams, @oxford.exploration and @rgs_ibg teams into extreme environments. This is also a massive help for fieldwork, as it formalized the skills that I’ve built over time and proves to committees that I can reliably and safely conduct fieldwork.

But there’s another reason, and one I haven’t quite worked out yet. I can say that I want to be exposed to new places and new people, to have campfire dinners with mountaineers and wanderers. I can say that I want to challenge myself, to test my skills, physical endurance, and mental fortitude, and prove to myself that I am capable every day. I can say that I am chasing the high of a summit, an indigo ice river, and a snow covered flower. I might even just say to learn and grow.

But why? What drives some of us to these extremes? Why is it here, knee deep in snow, clinging to rock, battling 60mph winds and well below freezing temps that I feel most true to myself? Maybe I’ll find out. Maybe I’ll just feel it.

P.s. These photos don’t even begin to do the mountains justice.

My next adventure is a big one. I’m going to be spending two months hiking and climbing around Scotland, from February all the way into April. I’ll be in the Cairngorms and Ben Nevis, with overland trips on foot all around the country. My goal is to spend five nights out of each week camping outdoors and the remaining two days recovering, restocking, and writing. I leave in the 5th, and I’ll be doing periodic check ins throughout.

This is going to be one of the most challenging things I have done. I haven’t written about Iceland a few years ago, but it has left me hesitant to go back into freezing, remote places.

At the same time, I am absolutely jittery with excitement. Being in wide open spaces, in the mountains and forests, camping for long periods of time, and focusing on physically and mentally overcoming challenges is where I am at my best. This will be a chance for me to check in with how much I’ve learned and to develop my skills further.

Feel the fear, and do it anyway.

Walk For Endo 10k done (run). Thank you to everyone who showed interest, donated, asked questions, or even googled “endometriosis”. It’s been a real pleasure to participate with @endometriosis.uk .
#winterwalkforendo2024 #endometriosisuk #viewsfromarun @nikerunning

In four days, I’m going to walk (run) 10k to support Endometriosis UK. If you want to help me support endo research, you can donate at the link in my bio. I don’t really have more to say, so here are some random quotes from people I care about over the last few months.

“When’s the last time you’ve felt 100% alive?”

“I’m glad I can kick you in the balls sometimes. You need it.” 
“Who needs family when you have plastic rocks?”

“Was it made of orange?” “It was made of disappointment. And maybe apple.”

Why do I run?

I don’t really talk about fitness on here, and certainly not running. But then I get asked questions like, “why would you do that?” and “don’t you think you’re going overboard a bit?”, and because I rarely talk about it, I never really know what to say.

The answer is, because I feel free. If I’m angry at the world or stressed about work, I can run through it. If I’m a bundle of nerves, I can run it off. If I want to explore a new place and I just can’t contain my excitement at seeing what’s around the next corner, I can run the whole way.

Running has given me the ability to explore my environment in different ways, and it’s also given me a way to know myself in different ways. Some people have shower thoughts, I have running thoughts.

With my 10k for Endometriosis coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about the absolute gift that running is, and how my life would be different if I couldn’t run. (This may have also been a result of me being horribly ill for the last two weeks). I’ve been putting a lot more effort into appreciating the run and appreciating what running allows me to do.

Anyway—here are some pretty great things I’ve seen on runs lately. I’ll be running a 10k for @endometriosis.uk on the 22nd. If you’d like to contribute to research that can help the 1/10 women who live with endometriosis, there’s a link in my bio.

P.s. my therapist says it’s fine.

#endouk #endometriosisuk #walkforendo #winterwalkforendo2024

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