Mark Evans MBE visits IHRR ahead of his maritime expedition in Oman

Mark Evans MBE is collaborating with Durham University on his upcoming expedition, Oman 3165. Departing on 13th November from the UAE-Oman border, Oman-3165 is a 70-day journey by kayak along the 3,165 km coastline of Oman. One key aim of the journey is to celebrate Oman’s maritime environment in the lead-up to the world’s first ocean-focused COP in 2026. Alongside this, the kayak will act as a ‘floating laboratory’, collecting marine data for various research institutes across the UK, Oman and US, and as a ‘floating classroom’, working with a wide network of international educational and scientific partners to engage young people through daily podcasts, social media storytelling, lesson plans, and school outreach.

The IHRR is working with Mark and an Instax360 camera attached to the kayak, to capture daily 360° imagery of Oman’s coastal and marine environments. These immersive visuals will both illustrate the journey, and provide virtual reality assets to accompany syllabus-aligned teaching resources, developed by the Royal Geographical Society specifically for the expedition.

Once the expedition is underway, the IHRR plans to use the footage, together with its 13 virtual reality headsets, to host interactive VR-led seminars, including linked classroom sessions between schools in Durham and Muscat. This initiative aims to bring the expedition’s insights directly into students’ learning and highlight a new “virtual frontier” in expedition research, outreach, and education.

You can see additional updates here.

Photo credit: Malamud, B October 2025

Photo caption: Practicing viewing imagery in VR from Professor Bruce Malamud’s office in the IHRR, with Mark Evans, Professor Catherine Montgomery, Elizabeth Follows.