Lectures, Films & Workshops

Hidden Earth Lectures, Films and Workshops

The weekend is packed with lectures, with two or three parallel sessions running both days. Topics include new and old exploration from the UK and overseas as well as workshops covering cave science, research, technology and photography.

We wouldn't have an event if we didn't have lots of exciting lectures so we encourage all cavers to submit a talk, film or workshop. You can submit your abstract online any time throughout the year - even if you haven't been on that expedition yet!

Lecture secretary: Gary Douthwaite - lectures@hidden.earth

Giving a lecture? Please read our information for lecturers.

Submit sessions online

Submissions are now open for Hidden Earth 2025. It really helps if you can get your submission in sooner rather than later. You will probably also get a better time slot!

Get started...

Confirmed Sessions for 2025

Hear's a selecton of confirmed sessions for Hidden Earth 2025. We'll add more as the conference gets closer so keep checking back.

Lecture

Caving in lowland Slovenia – Classic Karst

Iain Crossley

Slovenia is an exciting caving destination for serious explorers of high mountain karst as demonstrated over the last 30 years by Imperial College Caving Club at ‘Sistem Migovec’. For the more faint-hearted, happily, there is another, softer, side to Slovenia, mysterious vanishing rivers, karst polje and majestic caves that contain a unique beauty and scale that rivals many of the...

Film

Return to Aquamole

Keith Edwards

This is the story of legendary caver diver, Geoff Yeadon’s return to cave diving after being retired from it for 26 years. A 10 minute edit of Return to Aquamole won the video salon at Hidden Earth in 2024 and the complete film was premiered in the Underground Session at the Kendal Mountain Festival on Friday 22nd November 2024. In 1974, Geoff...

Film

Gower's newest cave, Ogof New Park. A 2024 film of its discovery and a science report.

Andy Freem

Until 2024, there had been very limited success in following the underground drainage of North Gower. Only a small number of caves had been found, with very little length and indications that further accessible passages exist. The digging and subsequent exploration of 1/2 km. of Ogof New Park's characterful and challenging passages all took place last year. The 40...

Lecture

Spectacular finds as Draughting Hole and Missed Pot enter English top ten

Fleur Loveridge

It’s two years since I came to Hidden Earth with tales of a new 5km long system in the northern Dales. Since then, the Draughting Hole – Missed Pot System has exceeded 10km in length, putting it in the top ten longest caves in England. This landmark followed a spectacular period of exploration over the winter of 2024/25 where...

Lecture

Writing a grant application to fund your caving expedition

Fleur Loveridge

This talk will offer hints and tips for applying for grant funding to support your caving expedition, or any other project for that matter. While framed primarily in the context of the Ghar Parau Foundation (GPF), the advice will also be relevant to other potential funders, and some ideas for these will also be supplied. Fleur will share...

Lecture

Matienzo Caves 2025 - the 65th Year

Juan Corrin

There may be some reminiscing in our 65th year of exploration - but the talk will concentrate on finds made since the previous Hidden Earth, including 'El Gordo' a large chamber in Cueva Hoyuca. That space helped to take the length of the Four Valleys System to over 78km.

Lecture

Jungles, Tin Mines, and Marble Caves: Exploring Peninsular Malaysia’s Forgotten Underground

Joerg Dreybrodt

In February 2025, a Malaysian-Swiss caving expedition ventured into the rarely explored karst regions of northern Peninsular Malaysia. The team uncovered a remarkable diversity of caves—from marble caves nestled on tropical islands to colonial-era tin mines reminiscent of Indiana Jones adventures, and massive daylight chambers towering over 100 meters high in isolated karst hills. More than 11 km of cave passages...

Lecture

ICCC - Nova Meja, Slovenia 2025

Thurston Blount

Imperial College Caving Club departed for their yearly expedition into Migovec, Slovenia during June, returning in August. With lots of leads left open the previous year over 400m deeper than the current camp, a long discussion lead to the creation of a new camp (The Stable). Here, a new setup involving hammocks was created to maximise comfort within a large boulder...

Lecture

Expedition Medicine

Rostam Namaghi

Prepare to be taken on a journey of questionable medical practice. In my usual freewheeling style I will cover surgeries in the jungle, hypothermia in the mountains and abscesses in the desert. I will promise that it will end on a more useful note; how to identify what your limits are, what to take, where to get support from, and how...

Lecture

A Year in the Void: Mulu, Meghalaya, Mexico and Crete

Rostam Namaghi

Since the last Hidden Earth I've been on 4 expeditions, completed my first year as the BCA chair, finished GP training and moved to North Wales. All while feeling paralysed by apathy for several months. Rather than give several talks I decided to overwhelm the audience with one. So please join me for a journey around the world, from caverns measureless...

Workshop

Caver's Just a Minute

Peter Glanvill

Can you talk on a topic for a minute without hesitation, deviation, or repetition? If so join the team of four people I need for this annual event of fun and mayhem. This year I think I am adding a scorer as I am getting a bit doddery. After last year's successful try out I shall be asking...

Lecture

Irish Caving Roundup

Paul Mccarron

A roundup of caving across Ireland over the last few years, from Fermanagh in the North, to Clare, Cork and beyond in the South. This talk will also include the recent digging and pushing trips by Shannon Group.

Lecture

Resurveying and discoveries in the Coolagh River Cave: Recent UBSS Ireland expeditions

Ash Gregg

The UBSS have been conducting caving expeditions to Ireland for many years, gathering lots of data, culminating in the publishing of a series of guide books, the latest being Caves of Mid West Ireland 2019. From 2012 to 2016 the focus of expeditions was the Cong isthmus in Co Mayo and the neighbouring part of Co Galway. In the even more recent years...

Lecture

Buda Believers: new caves in Sarawak, Malaysia

Louise Korsgaard

In July 2025 a small team returns to Gunung Buda National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia. We will focus on finding new caves in the Northern - and less visited - part of the park also known as Assam Hills. The last American expedition in 2003 left a large going lead in Assam Hills Cave. At least so it says in...

Lecture

Tasmania: Exploration Efforts in Australia's Deepest Cave System

Ben Honan

The temperate rainforests of Australia's smallest state host caves of staggeringly different personalities. The north of the state has some of the most decorated caves in the world, filled with speleothems the size of aeroplanes, and pristine expanses of glittering gour pools. The majority of the exploration potential, however, lies in the southwest, beneath the 500-hectare Junee-Florentine (JF) karst system....

Lecture

The Pig Palace and Temple Caves of Southern Thailand

Andy Goddard

Join Shepton Mallett Caving Club on a 3,000km reconnaissance journey down the southern peninsular of Thailand, surveying over six kilometres of often highly adorned Buddhist temple caves. The journey will culminate in the first recorded exploration by western cavers of 'Pig Palace Cave', an ancient phreatic cave with a large active river. The presentation will also a provide an update...

Lecture

How to Make a Competition Winning Video

Paul Taylor

In this day and age filming and making videos is actually quite a simple and easy job. However, making a video that will win a competition needs that extra mile to be added. The Video Salon / Competition Team will be running a session to pass on some of the tips and ideas regarding how to make a wining video...

Workshop

Video Salon Workshop

Paul Taylor

Presentation of the videos that have been entered into this year's Video Salon / Competition. For many of the people who enter a film into a video competition it is unlikely that they will see their film on possibly anything bigger than a large TV. This is the opportunity to see it on the Big Screen and have the opportunity to...

Lecture

Forest of Dean Round Up

Paul Taylor

The Forest of Dean Caving Area is not the largest in the UK but it certainly punches well above its weight. The discoveries at Redhouse Lane cave continue to dominate and without a doubt are spectacular. However, that's only part of what is going on in the area. There is always plenty of other things to report on.

Lecture

Dachstein Caving Expedition 2025

Andrew Mcleod

The Dachstein caving expedition has been exploring the high Alpine plateau of the Dachstein in Austria for over 50 years. It is an international expedition mostly led by cavers from the UK, Germany and Ireland but with cavers from other countries such as Poland, the Netherlands, Czechia etc. We focus on training for new cavers, offering discounts for young cavers...

Lecture

Redhouse Lane Swallet Extensions

Tim Nichols

At Hidden Earth 2024 we reported a breakthrough into a major system extending the original cave from 1.6km to 4km. Since that time the system has been extended to the south, north and north-west. The extremities of these passages extend from the northern limit of Slaughter Stream Cave to almost the River Wye, passing under known cave in the Mailscot...

Lecture

Demonstration, a painting from a sketch done underground

Robin Gray

Robin will start by showing sketches done underground and decide which one to base a painting on. He will then working on an A2 sheet of black paper, develop a painting of a stream passage in oil pastels with figure of cavers included. He will describe the technique while relating interesting stories concerned with making pictures of cave and caving. Robin...

Lecture

Cave Archaeology in Britain - new discoveries

Rick Peterson

Last year we ran a very successful workshop exploring collaboration and communication between everyone involved and interested in cave archaeology. One of the planned outcomes from that discussion was that we should run a regular session at Hidden Earth to showcase new archaeological discoveries from caves. This will be the first of what we hope will be regular yearly updates....