National Geographic explorers, photographers and directors shared their experiences in a conference entitled 'The Adventure of Exploration' during their visit to Asturias to collect the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.

The conference was held on Wednesday 18th October at the Casa de la Cultura in Avilés. It will be repeated again on Thursday 19th October at the Centro Cultural Cajastur in Oviedo at 7.30 pm. Chris Johns, the magazine's editor-in-chief, naturalist Mike Fay, archaeologist and mountaineer Constanza Ceruti, marine-bed specialist Enric Sala and photojournalists Michael Nichols and Reza Deghati all took part. They collaborate or have collaborated in the past in some of the projects and expeditions fostered by the National Geographic Society. Santiago Rodríguez Vega, Mayor of Avilés also took part in the event.

Michael Nichols has been working for National Geographic since 1996. His first contact with photography was in 1970 when he joined the Photograph Unit of the American Army. He studied at the University of North Alabama, and was a member of the prestigious Magnum Photos agency from 1982 to 1995. He has won first prize in the World Press Photo Competition four times, has been Wildlife Photographer of the Year and has collected the Pictures of the Year Award.

Reza Deghati is one of the world's best-known photographers and his camera has depicted the society and architecture of his country. He worked for France Press and Sipa Press during the Iranian Revolution, but began his career as correspondent for Newsweek and Time. He has photographed theatres of war in places like Iraq, Lebanon, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He is presently a National Geographic photographer and correspondent for the BBC's broadcasts in Persian and for Radio France Internationale.

Constanza Ceruti is the only female archaeologist to have crowned over 100 peaks over 6,000 metres high. She is a specialist in excavations of the Inca ceremonial sites high in the peaks of the sacred mountains of the Andes. She jointly led an expedition to the rim of Argentina's Llullaillaco volcano in 1999 that found a sanctuary at 6,739 metres above sea level and the mummified remains of three Inca children. Los niños Llullaillaco are the world's best preserved mummies of their type, and the discovery led to international recognition.

Enric Sala has dedicated his professional life to understanding and curbing man's impact on the ocean caused by over-fishing, pollution and coastal development. He graduated from the University of Barcelona and earned his doctorate in Ecology at the University of Aix-Marseille II. He now works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, where he jointly leads an innovative multidisciplinary programme to train future leaders in marine conservation. Enric Sala is totally committed to research, teaching and passing on scientific knowledge about marine conservation, and is now targeting his work on solutions to improve the wellbeing of the oceans.

American naturalist and conservationist Michael Fay is a major expert on Africa. He has made a number of studies in Sudan (in fact, he earned his doctorate with a thesis on the gorillas in low-lying areas of the country) and he has also led an environmental project in the Congo Basin. In 1996, Fay discovered an enormous virgin forest covering Gabon and the Congo and reaching the Atlantic. With National Geographic's help, he launched a study of the area that persuaded the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, to create thirteen National Parks in the country. In 2004, he launched a study the MegaFlyover project with National Geographic to make an aerial study from South Africa to Morocco by flying low over the region and taking a photograph every twenty seconds.