A legacy to protect

Almost 30 years ago, Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate José Márcio Ayres established the world’s largest continuous stretch of protected rainforest. Though he passed away in 2003, his legacy lives on in the heart of the Amazon.

Through the lens

After two years of the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, the seven teams are drawing their studies to a close, hoping that their findings, combined with powerful photojournalism, can reframe how we look at the Amazon.

The Cassai River

As part of his Great Spine of Africa Expeditions to protect the continent’s water security, Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative partner and conservationist Steve Boyes has traced a major source of the Congo River back to the Angolan Highlands.

A profound collaboration

With its expedition in Guadeloupe’s mesophotic zone, Under The Pole successfully completed the first chapter of its DEEPLIFE series, supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, through which the team of expert divers studied marine animal forests in Arctic, temperate and tropical waters.

Anne Lacaton & Arine Aprahamian - Rolex mentoring programme

Young Lebanese-Armenian architect Arine Aprahamian is inspired to create buildings that are innovative, affordable and sustainable. Her philosophy sits well with French Pritzker-Prize winning architect Anne Lacaton, who espouses building renewal over demolition.

Jia Zhang-Ke & Rafael Manuel - Rolex mentoring programme

Young Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel collaborated for two years with acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke through the Rolex mentoring programme.

Bernardine Evaristo & Ayesha Harruna Attah - Rolex mentoring programme

After finishing her studies in the US, author Ayesha Harruna Attah returned to Africa with a mission to write African stories for African readers. Five books later, she is ambitious for a wider readership.

Dianne Reeves & Song Yi Jeon - Rolex mentoring programme

For Grammy-winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves, the best way to mentor South Korean jazz composer and singer Song Yi Jeon was to invite her to perform with her band.

El Anatsui & Bronwyn Katz - Rolex mentoring programme

El Anatsui and South African artist Bronwyn Katz share an interest in reinventing discarded materials to provide a reflection on humanity, history and the planet.

Democratizing deep-sea research

The Azores Deep-Sea Research group is scientifically documenting the deep ocean floor like never before, thanks to its drifting video platform, the Azor drift-cam.

Harmony between land and ocean

Mission Blue Hope Spot Champion Rili Djohani has dedicated decades to protecting the vibrant marine world around her Balinese home. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, she is helping local people to restore the coral reefs they depend on.

The superhero of the oceans

Conservationists are working with local communities to repair degraded marine habitats in Cambodia. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, they are restoring seagrass meadows to bring the ocean’s largest vegetarian back to Cambodia’s waters.

Tracking wild camels with satellites

Remote sensing specialist Liu Shaochuang is trying to save critically endangered wild camels using space technology.

Extracting water from the air

Kenyan entrepreneur Beth Koigi is deploying a piece of technology that is addressing one of the world’s most pressing and complex problems: water scarcity.

Uncharted waters

Australia’s Ningaloo Coast teems with marine life, but its survival depends on the biodiverse Exmouth Gulf nearby.

Fernando Trujillo: For the love of river dolphins

Colombian marine biologist Fernando Trujillo is the 2024 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year for his work protecting the Amazon’s pink dolphins and the river system that is their home.

Community-led reforestation in the Andes

As the descendent of Quechuan farmers, Peruvian biologist Constantino Aucca Chutas felt a responsibility to act when he saw how the forests of his ancestral Andean home were disappearing because of human activity.

Protecting Africa’s forests

Inza Koné, Côte d’Ivoire’s first primatologist, has spent almost 20 years working in Tanoé-Ehy, one of West Africa’s last primary rainforests.

Regenerating land, lives and tradition in Indonesia

Social entrepreneur Denica Riadini-Flesch has succeeded in creating one of the world’s first regenerative farm-to-closet clothing chains – SukkhaCitta, meaning happiness. Determined to empower rural artisans in Indonesia, she has created hundreds of jobs with fair pay for those who craft high-end clothing using traditional and sustainable techniques.

Within the soil

Three National Geographic Explorers are assessing the health of areas in the Amazon River basin that have been transformed by human activity. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, they are finding innovative solutions to regenerate these degraded landscapes.

In the Cloud Forest

As part of the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, Quechua biologist and National Geographic Explorer Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya is searching for Andean bears that regenerate cloud forests which feed water into the Amazon River basin.

Through the Tributaries

Fernando Trujillo and María Jimena Valderrama are captivated by the charismatic dolphins swimming throughout the Amazon River basin. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and the National Geographic Society, their latest international study, an assessment of the dolphin’s health and its habitat, has yielded encouraging results.

Securing Nigeria's food supply

In 2010, Nigerian social entrepreneur Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu won a Rolex Award for Enterprise for creating a radio station to advise smallholder farmers. Now, his latest project, a network of solar-powered, walk-in cold rooms, is revolutionizing Nigeria’s food supply chain.

Telling our Planet’s Stories

Canadian photographer and filmmaker Paul Nicklen has dedicated his life to protecting the polar regions and marine life around the world. Now, with the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, he will continue to use his stunning photography to raise awareness of the threats faced by life within those ecosystems while inspiring action to protect them.

Atop the Andes Mountains

With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and National Geographic Society, Explorers Baker Perry and Tom Matthews scaled one of the highest peaks in the Andes to collect a missing piece of critical data on the impact of climate change on the Amazon.

Inspiring Action to Save the Ocean

Cristina Mittermeier is a pioneer of conservation photography. Now, with the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, she is continuing to take photographs that spark conversations around the ocean and inspire action to protect it.

At the River Mouth

With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and National Geographic Society, Angelo Bernardino and Margaret Owuor have been uncovering the mysteries of Brazil’s mangroves at the mouth of the Amazon River, one of the least-understood ecosystems on the planet.

In the flooded forest

The resilience of the Amazon wetlands is dependent on the rhythms of its seasonal flooding.

The future of paralysis treatment

Neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine is developing groundbreaking bioengineering technologies to treat spinal cord injury.

Along the Juruá river

For years, João Campos-Silva and Andressa Scabin have worked with local communities to safeguard the Juruá River’s wildlife.

The mysteries of the Colombian Amazon

With the support of the Perpetual Planet Initiative, an expedition led by Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Francesco Sauro to unexplored caves deep in the Colombian Amazon has yielded remarkable discoveries and helped forge profound cross-cultural bonds.

Towering forests of black coral

Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports Under The Pole’s DEEPLIFE expeditions, studying marine animal forests from the poles to the tropics.

An island of hope

Sandra Bessudo has dedicated her life to the wild waters of Malpelo Island. Today, with the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and Mission Blue, Bessudo is working tirelessly to help improve and expand the marine protection around Malpelo to preserve its breathtaking biodiversity.

From the Andes to the Atlantic

Renowned National Geographic Explorer and photographer Thomas Peschak has spent a lifetime documenting our vast oceans and the beauty of the marine environment.

Living legacy of iconic Mountaineers

Seventy years ago, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited the world’s highest peak.

On the shoulders of Everest

In 2012, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa scaled the highest summit on Earth at 21 years of age. Today, with the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, she runs an annual high-altitude climbing course to provide Nepali women the skills to conquer life’s mountains.

Restoring the gardens of the oceans

Led by local ocean advocate Titouan Bernicot, the team at Coral Gardeners is supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative to inspire a global community of reef defenders and safeguard coral ecosystems around the world.

Revealing hidden treasures

Not far from the populated coastline of northern Italy, the seas teem with cetaceans such as sperm whales and fin whales. With the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, members of marine research group Menkab are monitoring populations and working to raise awareness of the creatures’ habitat.

Working towards a wilder world

Following successful careers, entrepreneurs Kristine and the late Douglas Tompkins began restoring lost ecosystems, helping them flourish far into the future. Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports their progressive legacy of rewilding the Southern Cone of South America.

Caprera Canyon’s extraordinary marine life

Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports One Ocean Foundation which surveys whales and other animals that thrive in the waters of the Mediterranean’s Caprera Canyon in order to better protect them.

Arctic Seas yield their secrets

With the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, underwater exploration programme Under The Pole has explored the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean to study and raise awareness of rich but little-known ecosystems called marine animal forests.

Canada expedition finds record ice core

For almost a century, Rolex has championed pioneering explorers who are advancing the boundaries of what is possible. Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports those with a new mission: to understand how we can preserve our natural world.

The mighty Zambezi River and its secrets

Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex supports the Great Spine of Africa expeditions that traverse thousands of kilometres of rivers never scientifically documented before. The research will help protect the communities and wildlife that depend on Africa’s great rivers.

Looking under the surface

Francesco Sauro received a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2014 for his daring expeditions to unexplored caves beneath South America’s tepuis (table-top mountains). Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex continues to support his exploration of caverns across the globe.

Think like an ocean

Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex is supporting ocean conservation non-profit Mission Blue in its goal to create a global network of Hope Spots, areas that deserve protection as they are home to vital marine ecosystems.

A quest to save India’s rainforests

Romulus Whitaker’s childhood fascination with snakes has led him to devote his life to protecting the environment, in particular rainforests.

Use indigenous peoples’ knowledge to map resources and prevent conflict around climate in Chad

The reality of climate change is known to few better than the people of Chad. The country’s largest lake, which bears the nation’s name and supports 30 million people, has almost vanished in barely two generations.

Eradicate malnutrition in Tanzania, one fortified bag at a time

Poor nutrition contributes to 15,000 preventable child deaths daily worldwide. American social entrepreneur Felix Brooks-church has an answer: an ingenious system to ensure that each meal consumed by every mother and infant living in an underprivileged society contains essential, life-saving nutrients.

Explore and study the world’s northern-most caves for new insights into climate change in the Arctic

British climate researcher Gina Moseley will cross one of the world’s last frontiers in exploration when she abseils into the planet’s most northerly unexplored Arctic caves seeking clues to the planet’s climatic past.

Outside the comfort zone - Rolex mentoring programme

Relating to the experience of Native Americans in his country, Spike Lee chose to mentor Kyle Bell, a young filmmaker from the Thlopthlocco Creek Tribal Town of Oklahoma, who needed to break out of his shell.

A symbiotic journey - Rolex mentoring programme

Drawn together by a mutual love of Shakespeare, Phyllida Lloyd and her protégée Whitney White found that their relationship quickly grew, developing deeper synergies as they explored the influences shaping today’s stage.

Textures of artistic activism - Rolex mentoring programme

A shared interest in the politics of racial identity created a deep connection between Carrie Mae Weems and her protégée Camila Rodríguez Triana.

Creative electricity - Rolex mentoring programme

Lin-Manuel Miranda and his protégée Agustina San Martín met while he was making his film directorial debut.

Promote local initiatives for biodiversity conservation in Nepal’s Trans-Himalaya

Local people from one of the world’s wildest and most isolated places, the mountainous Himalaya region of Humla in Nepal, are being enlisted as frontline conservators to rescue dwindling wild animal populations – from snow leopards to wild yaks.

Explore and protect the Indian Ocean’s deep coral reefs

A hundred metres or more beneath the ocean surface in the Maldives lies a twilight zone whose wondrous corals and strange life remain unexplored.

Saving the sacred condor

Two centuries ago, the Andean condor soared across the skies of the Andes, but today its population has been massively reduced mainly by human interventions. For over three decades, Argentine biologist Luis Jácome has been working to save one of the world’s largest flying birds from extinction.

A floating rainforest

Perpetual Planet initiative partner Mission Blue is throwing the spotlight on protection of the fabled Sargasso Sea with the arrival of the Sargasso Sea Commission as its formal Champion.

The Biologist Championing Bats

Mexican biologist Rodrigo Medellín has devoted his life to demonstrating how bats, one of the most universally feared and hated mammals, are, in fact, a boon to humanity and agriculture.

A Health report on the Amazon - Perpetual Planet

Rolex is supporting its Perpetual Planet initiative partner, the National Geographic Society, as it embarks on a critical, two-year study of the Amazon River Basin.

Reviving India’s blighted lakes

In the face of rampant urbanization and the severe consequences of climate change, Indian environmentalist Arun Krishnamurthy has mobilized the public, including scores of young volunteers, to help clean, restore and rehabilitate his country’s lakes.

Saving lives on India’s roads

Following a distress call informing him that his cousin had died in a road accident where no bystanders came forward to support the victim, Piyush Tewari was propelled into finding solutions to this problem in India and has since dedicated himself to saving thousands of lives across the country and beyond.

How a bird saved a forest

Anita Studer, a Swiss ornithologist who went to Brazil to study its rich array of bird life, has, through sheer determination and dedication, inspired Brazilians to save their forests and changed thousands of lives for the better in what is now her second home.

A giant aquifer under siege

Pollution from cities and tourism is contaminating the aquifer that is Yucatán’s sole source of fresh water. Six of the world’s best cave divers spent two weeks on a Perpetual Planet-supported expedition mapping cave systems and taking water samples from sinkholes that were explored for the first time in the modern era.

Cathedral in the sea

Emerald rainforests, turquoise waters lapping on to secluded beaches, blissful snorkelling and scuba diving. It is easy to sell the allure of Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula to tourists in search of an adventure holiday: National Geographic once described the area as “the most biologically intense place on Earth”.

Rolex Awards - Women changing the world

Strong, resilient women are leading the way to a better future with support from the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.

Venturer in the underworld

The hidden realm of caves has opened up a new world to scientists and explorers thanks to speleologists such as Francesco Sauro whose many expeditions have provided an archive of time for future generations.

Africa’s ‘Father of Turtles’

Intrigued by turtles and tortoises as a young man, Tomas Diagne has devoted his life to studying and conserving these endangered species in his native Senegal and across Africa.

The call of the cloud forest

Sri Lankan conservationist Rohan Pethiyagoda has devoted more than two decades to a campaign to engage his fellow citizens in the regeneration of his island nation’s unique highland ecosystem, once defined by rich tropical forests shrouded by mist.

Rwanda’s uplifting regal bird

Using education and persuasion, Olivier Nsengimana has liberated the much sought-after grey crowned crane from the gardens of Rwanda’s wealthy citizens and is now using a strategic wildlife management plan to ensure these magnificent birds flourish in their original habitats.

Eye test brings equality

A billion people across the globe suffer from readily treatable eyesight problems. At least a third of them live in places where modern optical treatment never reaches, but that is rapidly changing, thanks to the inspired vision of British ophthalmologist Andrew Bastawrous.

Paula Kahumbu: Defending rights for elephants

National Geographic Explorer Dr. Paula Kahumbu has devoted her career to protecting elephants from environmental changes and poachers.

A whale cafe in the Azores

Through its Perpetual Planet initiative, Rolex is supporting ocean conservation non-profit Mission Blue in its goal to create a global network of Hope Spots, areas that deserve protection as they are home to vital marine ecosystems.

Bernardine Evaristo and Ayesha Harruna Attah - Video

Author of five novels, Ghanaian writer Ayesha Harruna Attah wants to write African stories for Africans and for her books to reach a wider audience. Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo offered advice on how to build an international career.

Dianne Reeves and Song Yi Jeon - Video

South Korean jazz singer and composer Song Yi Jeon, who is known for her hypnotic voice, marked the end of her two-year collaboration with five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves through the Rolex mentoring programme by performing at the 2024 EFG London Jazz Festival.

David Adjaye & Mariam Issoufou - Video

Convinced that the goal of architecture is to transform, British-Ghanaian architecture mentor Sir David Adjaye and his protégée Mariam Issoufou from Niger set about producing a concrete result for social good, with Issoufou designing a major cultural complex for her country’s capital, Niamey.

Building Africa in its own image - Rolex mentoring programme

A visit to Mariam Issoufou's native Niger was the turning point in the relationship between her and world-famous Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye.

A legacy to protect - Video

Bioacoustics scientist Michel André met the late Brazilian conservationist José Márcio Ayres more than 20 years ago through the Rolex Awards.

Through the lens - Video

For two years, the seven teams on the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition have been conducting studies across the Amazon River Basin to better understand the complex water systems that support the world’s largest rainforest.

Great Spine of Africa Expeditions: Cassai River – Episode 1

Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative partner and National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes has undertaken a journey like no other, as part of his Great Spine of Africa Expeditions.

Recovering the past - Rolex mentoring programme

Thao Nguyen Phan exhumes the poetry of Vietnam’s forgotten history with paintings and video works. She is inspired by her mentor, New York artist Joan Jonas, to see past the challenges of being an artist in her country.

A feeling for atmosphere - Rolex mentoring programme

Switzerland, Paraguay and South Korea were the principal settings for Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral’s busy, collaborative partnership which grew rapidly from the start.

Colonies of the mind - Rolex mentoring programme

A shared sense of inherited exile is one affinity between Mia Couto and his protégé Julián Fuks, who wants help to venture from family history into invented worlds.

Great Spine of Africa Expeditions: Cassai River – Episode 2

On an extraordinary journey from the Angolan Highlands to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as part of his Great Spine of Africa Expeditions, Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative partner and National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes and his team faced hippos, crocodiles and fast rapids as they documented the ecosystems along unexplored waterways.

Poles, Mountains and Forests Moment - Video

Since the 1930s, we have supported the world’s most intrepid explorers, including equipping the first expedition that successfully scaled Mount Everest some 70 years ago.

A profound collaboration - Video

With its expedition in Guadeloupe’s mesophotic zone, Under The Pole successfully completed the first chapter of its DEEPLIFE series, through which it studied marine animal forests in Arctic, temperate and tropical waters.

Democratizing deep-sea research - Video

The Azores Deep-Sea Research (ADSR) group is on a mission to make deep-sea exploration more widely accessible.

Passing on artistic heritage across generations - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

In 2002, Rolex established the Rolex Mentoring Programme to encourage the transmission of artistic knowledge.

Beginning again - Rolex mentoring programme

Masanori Handa, a young visual artist from Japan, explores human experience via his own sensations, imagination and memory – a process that he calls “surfing the world” – creating a series of original works that defy categorization and dazzle, rather than scandalize, the viewer. In the Rolex mentoring programme, he found an ideal mentor in revered German artist Rebecca Horn, a pioneer in the art of turning experience inside out.

New horizons - Rolex mentoring programme

Embarking on the second cycle of the Rolex mentoring programme, Sir Peter Hall had a logical, coherent plan. His agenda for the year included several of his specialties: among them Shakespeare (<i>As You Like It</i>, for the first time in his career), Harold Pinter (a revival of <i>Betrayal</i>, of which he directed the premiere in 1978), and opera (<i>La Cenerentola</i>, the Rossini version of <i>Cinderella</i>).

Percussion’s power unites across borders - Rolex mentoring programme

“I see him as a bit of a sage. He’s like a kind of Yoda, he really is,” says Marcus Gilmore talking of his Rolex mentoring programme mentor the legendary drummer Zakir Hussain.

Shaping future generations of film-makers

Rolex strongly believes that it is essential for excellence to be passed on, from one generation to the next.

Rolex.org - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

The Rolex mentoring programme&nbsp;contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world&rsquo;s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

Projects to protect our Planet

A trusted instrument of discovery, the Rolex chronometer has, for nearly a century, accompanied explorers and adventurers into the planet’s wildest, most challenging realms – from its deepest oceans to its highest peaks, its remotest caverns to its lonely poles – unfailingly keeping track of time and helping to advance our knowledge about the world we share.

Jia Zhang-Ke and Rafael Manuel - Video

Emerging Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel collaborated for two years with acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke through the Rolex mentoring programme.

Mission Blue: Nusa Penida Hope Spot - Episode 1

Mission Blue Hope Spot Champions Rili Djohani and Wira Sanjaya are working closely with communities in Bali to protect some of the world’s most biodiverse coral reefs.

Mission Blue: Nusa Penida Hope Spot - Episode 2

The Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area has helped conserve more than 20,000 hectares of coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows off the south coast of Bali, Indonesia.

A pas de deux of ideas - Rolex mentoring programme

Classical ballet is not frozen in the past but is a living, evolving art – this conviction provided a shared faith for mentor Alexei Ratmansky and protégé Myles Thatcher.

Maps for a writers journey - Rolex mentoring programme

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

Dance and the art of subversion - Rolex mentoring programme

For more than three decades, Trisha Brown has dominated the dance firmament like a blazing sun. Not only has she created a series of the most memorable contemporary choreographies, she has also turned dance on its head, breaking rules and crossing boundaries. Those who have had the privilege of working with her have seen their lives transformed. Now Lee Serle, a young dancer from Australia, is thrust – to his delight – into the complex, demanding dance arena that is the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

Merging differences - Rolex mentoring programme

When it came to choosing who was to be her protégé for a year, Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker took a risk.

Pilgrimage for body and soul - Rolex mentoring programme

Eduardo Fukushima moved to Taiwan for the mentoring year in order to observe how Lin Hwai-min’s company, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, works at home and on tour.

A clear plan - Rolex mentoring programme

It began with Junaid watching Saburo Teshigawara managing lights and arranging the stage. It ended with him dancing a major role in the Tokyo premiere of <i>Kazahana</i>

Zen and the art of mentoring - Rolex mentoring programme

During the mentoring year, young Chinese architect Yang Zhao designed a Home-for-All, a communal gathering place that was part of a project created by his mentor Kazuyo Sejima and other leading Japanese architects in response to the devastation caused by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Meetings - Rolex mentoring programme

Alone among the senior partners of the Rolex mentoring programme, Forsythe proposed a steady collaboration throughout the mentoring year.

Shared lenses - Rolex mentoring programme

On a mellow summer afternoon, Celina Murga sits under a vast, old tree on the grounds of a derelict 19th-century insane asylum outside Medfield, Massachusetts.

A year of mentoring - Rolex mentoring programme

After holding key roles at a world-famous dance company for over three decades, celebrated Czech-born choreographer and Rolex dance mentor Jiří Kylián was seeking a new direction in his work, focusing on cross-disciplinary projects and the great potential of contemporary technology.

Meetings - Rolex mentoring programme

One of the world&rsquo;s greatest architects, Alvaro Siza from Portugal, and a young Jordanian architect, Sahel Alhiyari, found common ground in their views on the theory and practice of architecture, which enhanced their many intense discussions and outings, especially to visit Siza&rsquo;s groundbreaking works.

Literary relationship - Rolex mentoring programme

Antonio García Ángel thought Mario Vargas Llosa was going to help him write a new novel. In fact, Llosa showed him a whole new way of working.

The art and heart of making films - Rolex mentoring programme

The spectacular, exquisitely coloured scenes and riveting storylines created by Zhang Yimou in some of contemporary cinema’s most iconic works, including Raise the Red Lantern, To Live and Hero, have won the Chinese director an unparalleled global audience, going far beyond the normal fan base for “foreign films”.

A meeting of minds - Rolex mentoring programme

What could a polymath patrician of German intellectual life have in common with a young, African-American poet? A lot more than you would think, but the singular truth is that it is their differences that seem to make the mentorship flourish.

Breaking ground - Rolex mentoring programme

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

On location - Rolex mentoring programme

Signing on for the Rolex mentoring programme, Mira Nair let it be known just what sort of young partner she wanted: “Find me a girl from Karballah!” Yet Nair chose a boy, or rather, a young man, from Thailand: Aditya Assarat, 33.

Like a Hollywood script - Rolex mentoring programme

In a highly eventful mentoring year, protégé Tom Shoval was invited to watch post-production work on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s masterpiece, <i>Birdman</i>, and was present when his mentor received three Academy Awards for his film at the 2015 Oscars.

Alchemy in the editing room - Rolex mentoring programme

The mentoring year allowed Sara Fgaier, who teaches film editing, to observe and work with Walter Murch as he made the final edits of a new documentary, Particle Fever.

Travellers - Rolex mentoring programme

A young mother, beginning her career as a novelist in Australia, and a renowned Nigerian author, often in demand internationally for his opinions and insights, are worlds apart in terms of geography, culture and experience.

Encounters on the digital frontier - Rolex mentoring programme

A shared interest in history, technology and religion created an immediate rapport between mentor Margaret Atwood and her protégée Naomi Alderman.

A year of mentoring - Rolex mentoring programme

During the year of mentoring, Méndez shot his feature film <I>Dioses</I> with the guidance of Stephen Frears. While they initially met in Lima, the real discussions between mentor and protégé began on a trip to the long-lost, mountain-top, Inca city of Machu Picchu – an hour by plane plus four hours by bus from the capital.

A stranger at home - Rolex mentoring programme

The discovery of a world of music totally new to him intrigued the well-known Senegalese musician, Youssou N’Dour, when he chose his protégé Aurelio Martínez, a Garifuna from Honduras.

A harmony of musical souls - Rolex mentoring programme

In encounters in cities from Los Angeles to Helsinki, the mentorship of Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça unfolded smoothly, establishing a joyful professional friendship that was both dynamic and highly productive.

Meetings - Rolex mentoring programme

Beyond his desire to succeed, it was Caball&eacute; Domenech&rsquo;s passion for music that caught Sir Colin&rsquo;s eye. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s pretty wild. One should be wild when one is young.&rdquo;

The nurturer and the hunter - Rolex mentoring programme

Brian Eno, who became famous in the 1970s as part of the glam-rock band, Roxy Music, has never stopped finding new ways to be creative, using all the media that today’s fast-developing technology can provide.

Meetings - Rolex mentoring programme

“At one stage, I thought of putting my manuscript on hold and beginning something entirely different. Toni shook her head: ‘No, no.’” Protégée Julia Leigh, speaking about the encouragement she received from Toni Morrison.

Partnership - Rolex mentoring programme

For both Jessye Norman and her Rolex protégée Susan Platts, singing is an exploration of the words: what they meant to the composer setting them to music, what the fusion of literature and music has manifested and whether the opera stage is the ideal place to sing them.

Landscapes of light - Rolex mentoring programme

Throughout the mentoring year young Mexican lighting designer Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez sat alongside Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art of lighting, as she lit up rehearsals and performances in London, Barcelona, Paris, New York, Houston and Madrid. Rodríguez also invited his mentor to Mexico City, his home town. They had a concrete plan of action at the beginning of the mentoring year, the results of which, Rodríguez later said, were that his life “has changed forever.”

The master and the iconoclast - Rolex mentoring programme

The late Patrice Chéreau was interested in watching Michał Borczuch forge his own path, letting their numerous encounters of the mentoring year develop naturally into a conversation that thrived on their differences.

Carousel of dreams - Rolex mentoring programme

Driven by the same passion for music in all its forms and a history of creating songs with political overtones, Gilberto Gil and Dina Elwedidi forged a close relationship as the Brazilian icon helped the young Egyptian move on to the world stage.

One of a kind - Rolex mentoring programme

<i>The Wooster Group</i>, based in New York, has made its name with radical interpretations of drama classics, from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller. Through intense and rigorous re-imagining and recreations of texts via close collaboration between its members, The Group is reinventing theatre.

Theatre to change the world - Rolex mentoring programme

Peter Sellars’ courageous determination to make theatre and opera relevant to today has earned him the reputation of enfant terrible of the contemporary stage. His uncanny ability to awaken Western audiences from their complacency, combined with his humility and generosity of spirit, made him the ideal mentor for a young dramatist from a country whose citizens are all too aware of the vicissitudes of fortune.

Artists in wonderland - Rolex mentoring programme

Year after year, Anish Kapoor, one of the world’s most famous living artists, astonishes the international arts community with his gigantic, enigmatic creations that fill the biggest exhibition spaces in the world’s best-known galleries. Nicholas Hlobo, a young artist from Johannesburg whose output is closely watched by collectors longing to buy, weaves together rubber, leather and fabric to produce intimate objets and performances that evoke an enticing but provocative beauty.

Shared uncertainty - Rolex mentoring programme

One of the world’s most accomplished directors across an extraordinary range of theatre, encompassing serious drama, musicals, opera and Shakespeare on film, Julie Taymor had no inhibitions about sharing with young British director Selina Cartmell the mechanics and the headaches behind creating a new opera, Grendel. Cartmell’s own rich theatrical vision, crossing disciplines and taking inspiration from today’s most daring directors, Taymor included, meant that these two theatre-makers had a wealth of ideas and experience to share with each other.

Meetings - Rolex mentoring programme

“I thought that Federico was in some ways the least likely of them (possible protégés). First I said to myself: ‘No.’ Then I thought that with him I’d be taking the biggest risk. It’s exciting when you really don’t know yet what will develop.”

The art of creating new realities - Rolex mentoring programme

Sammy Baloji’s mentoring year consisted of a series of short but intense encounters with Olafur Eliasson, mainly in Berlin, where Eliasson has his studio.

The selection - Rolex mentoring programme

One of today’s most respected violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, has a special love for the viola. In choosing as his protégé the highly gifted string player David Carpenter, Zukerman has found someone who can benefit, as he has, from the rich interchange between the two instruments.

One wish - Rolex mentoring programme

Looking forward to a year of privileged access to Hockney through the offices of the Rolex mentoring programme, Matthias Weischer – a 32-year-old painter from Germany who specializes in deceptively realistic interiors – had no clear-cut expectations.

Outside the comfort zone - Rolex mentoring programme

During the mentoring year William Kentridge wanted to show Mateo López how his work could expand and flower. In encounters in the United States and the Netherlands, and, most of all, for several weeks in Kentridge’s Johannesburg studio, the mentor encouraged his protégé to find radically new ways to create art.

The ideal situation - Rolex mentoring programme

In the challenging world of conceptual art, where execution of the work is regarded as secondary to the idea or concept behind it, traditions are meaningless and the very nature of art – including the term “conceptual art” itself – is constantly called into question.

Spike Lee & Kyle Bell - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

Spike Lee, one of today’s most socially conscious filmmakers, chose to mentor Kyle Bell, a young filmmaker from the Thlopthlocco Creek Tribal Town of Oklahoma, to help expand the boundaries of his evocative filmmaking.

Recent Mentorships - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

Emerging young artists had the unique opportunity to collaborate with world-renowned mentors in their disciplines during the 2020–2022 cycle of the Rolex mentoring programme.

Carrie Mae Weems & Camila Rogríguez Triana - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

Carrie Mae Weems was drawn to choose Camila Rodríguez Triana as a protégée in the 2020−2022 cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, as, although the young Colombian visual artist came from a different country and different world, there was a deep connection.

Phyllida Lloyd & Whitney White - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

Drawn together by a mutual love of Shakespeare and of music, as well as an interest in telling women’s stories, Phyllida Lloyd, London-based director of such worldwide hits as the musical and film ‘Mamma Mia’, and American director, actor and musician Whitney White, found that their relationship in the 2020−2022 cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative quickly grew.

Lin-Manuel Miranda & Agustina San Martín - Rolex mentoring programme - Video

As part of the 2020−2022 cycle of the Rolex mentoring programme, Lin-Manuel Miranda and his protégée Argentinian filmmaker Agustina San Martín met while he was making his film directorial debut after a string of Tony award-winning musicals including ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In the Heights’.

The illusionists - Rolex mentoring programme

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film is shrouded in mystery, yet he is happy to share its secrets with protégé Chaitanya Tamhane.

Men of many parts - Rolex mentoring programme

Artistic soulmates who refuse to be typecast, Robert Lepage and his protégé Matías Umpierrez borrow from various disciplines to furnish their eclectic, maverick productions.

The freedom of movement - Rolex mentoring programme

Since being thrust into the unconventional world of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin for a year, South African dancer Londiwe Khoza’s ability to interpret her own body has been transformed.

The right acoustics - Rolex mentoring programme

Japanese-Peruvian composer Pauchi Sasaki finds a kindred soul in Philip Glass who opens up a lifetime of experience as an avant-garde composer whose music wells from a deep humanity.

The shared pursuit of Irish literary laurels - Rolex mentoring programme

“We’ve been able to talk in a way that you just can’t even with your loved ones,” says the writer Colm Tóibín.

An architecture of thought - Rolex mentoring programme

Instead of collaborating on a building during the mentoring year, Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz decided to investigate how planning shapes a city and gives voice to the aspirations of its citizens.

A step-by-step transformation - Rolex mentoring programme

“If I had to find one word to sum up the last two years, it would be ‘transformation’,” says Khoudia Touré, with the broadest of smiles.

About the Rolex mentoring programme

The Rolex mentoring programme contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

Mission Blue: Kep Archipelago Hope Spot - Episode 1

<p>Founded in 2008, Marine Conservation Cambodia has been installing artificial reefs to restore the depleted seabed around the Kep Archipelago since 2016.</p>

Mission Blue: Kep Archipelago Hope Spot - Episode 2

Since 2016, with the help of local communities, Marine Conservation Cambodia has installed more than 300 artificial reefs in Mission Blue’s Kep Archipelago Hope Spot.

Manifesto - Perpetual Planet

From its earliest days, Rolex has pursued perpetual excellence and, as part of this, a commitment to a Perpetual Planet.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Liu Shaochuang - Episode 1

Liu Shaochuang, a 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate, is using a modern solution to help an ancient creature. For thousands of years, wild camels have roamed the vast plains of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China but they are now critically endangered.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Liu Shaochuang - Episode 2

Through the use of tracking collars and remote sensing technology, 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Liu Shaochuang has been monitoring the movements of wild camels across the Gobi Desert.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Liu Shaochuang - Episode 3

Winning a 2023 Rolex Award helps Liu Shaochuang to scale up his research by tracking and monitoring more wild camels.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Constantino Aucca Chutas - Episode 3

As part of his massive reforestation drive, 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Constantino Aucca Chutas has mobilized thousands of people from villages throughout the Andes.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Beth Koigi - Episode 1

Growing up in Limuru, Kenya, entrepreneur Beth Koigi was surrounded by the lush greenery of wetland swamps and rain-blessed hills.&nbsp;

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Beth Koigi - Episode 2

Earth&rsquo;s atmosphere contains six times as much water as all the planet&rsquo;s rivers combined.&nbsp;

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Beth Koigi - Episode 3

As a 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate, Beth Koigi is scaling up her project delivering solar-powered air-to-water technology to off-grid communities.&nbsp;

Uncharted waters - Video

Beneath the turquoise waters of Australia’s World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Coast is one of the planet’s largest fringing coral reefs.

2024 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year - Fernando Trujillo - Video

Colombian marine biologist Fernando Trujillo is renowned for his work protecting the Amazon’s pink dolphins and the river system that is their home.

Oceans Moment - Video

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Constantino Aucca Chutas - Episode 1

A descendant of Quechuan farmers, biologist Constantino Aucca Chutas felt compelled to act 30 years ago when he saw the damage being done to the forests of Peru as a result of uncontrolled logging, wildfires and land trafficking.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Constantino Aucca Chutas - Episode 2

High Andean Polylepis forests are major contributors to water security from the Andes to the Amazon. Growing as high as 5,000 metres above sea level, they not only help mitigate soil erosion and provide a habitat for wildlife, but also act as a natural “water tower” on a giant scale.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Inza Koné - Episode 3

A 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate, Inza Koné is on a mission to help people and nature successfully coexist and protect one of Côte d’Ivoire’s last remaining ancient rainforests, Tanoé-Ehy.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Inza Koné - Episode 2

In Côte d’Ivoire, 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Inza Koné draws on the expertise of reformed local poachers to change the fortunes of some of West Africa’s most imperilled primates.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Inza Koné - Episode 1

As a 2023 Rolex Awards Laureate, Inza Koné is protecting one of Côte d’Ivoire’s last remaining primary rainforests, Tanoé-Ehy. The forest teems with life, including species found nowhere else on Earth.

Return flight - Video

Hunters and fishermen almost eradicated Atlantic puffins from Maine’s offshore islands in the 19th century. The innovative techniques that 1987 Rolex Laureate Stephen W. Kress used to bring them back have inspired major changes in seabird conservation.

Conservation begins in the classroom - Video

Conservationist Suryo Prawiroatmodjo has long believed that in order to protect our natural environment, people’s attitudes towards it must be radically changed. He has brought about profound changes to attitudes in and beyond his native Indonesia.

Race to rescue the Siberian tiger - Video

For the past 17 years, Sergei Bereznuk, a staunch Russian conservationist and ecologist, has been working valiantly to save the Amur tiger. Based on his experience since 1995 with a tiger anti-poaching brigade in the Russian Far East province Primorsky Krai, Bereznuk is convinced that saving the Amur tiger depends on both the efficiency of anti-poaching measures and the education of the local people.

Ice towers in the desert - Video

Sonam Wangchuk lives and works in the Ladakh region of India, high in the Himalayas. This harsh mountain area is experiencing acute water shortages due to climate change. Sonam, who is an engineer and educator, found a simple but ingenious way to store water using artificial glaciers that will irrigate trees and crops.

Saving the world’s threatened penguins - Video

Saving the world’s threatened penguins

Great mother of the hornbills - Video

After rediscovering a species of hornbill thought to be extinct in Thailand’s ravaged rainforests, microbiologist Pilai Poonswad set about turning former poachers and illegal loggers into protectors of these glorious birds and their precarious habitat.

Holding back the Sahara - Video

Lower rainfall and severe droughts are threatening to turn three-quarters of Tunisia’s agricultural lands into desert. Sarah Toumi is holding back the Sahara by planting Acacia trees, which revitalize the land, preventing further erosion and salinization. She is also working to reduce rural poverty by introducing sustainable farming practices, encouraging farmers to plant crops more suited to the changing climate than olives and almonds.

Upcycling reshapes lives - Video

In 2007, Reese Fernandez cofounded Rags2Riches, a social enterprise company that revolutionized the women’s business practices by arranging for them to sell their products direct to retailers.

Saving Rwanda’s bird of fortune - Video

Rwanda’s iconic grey crowned-crane is disappearing because of poaching and loss of habitat. Olivier Nsengimana is liberating cranes from gardens, while inspiring a new generation of conservationists to value his country’s extraordinary wildlife.Discover more about Rolex Awards Young Laureate Olivier Nsengimana

Repairing the past - Video

The last griffon vulture disappeared from the Cévennes in the south of France 60 years ago. Its cousin, the European black vulture, had deserted France a century earlier. Keen to undo the past, 1984 Rolex Award Laureate Michel Terrasse has been working for 35 years to return these magnificent birds of prey to their natural habitat.

Helping children to build a new world - Video

Through her environmental education park, young visionary Maritza Morales Casanova hopes to inspire a generation of young people to care for the Yucatán’s fragile environment.

A force of nature - Video

Determined to protect the remnants of indigenous forests, while at the same time improving living standards for rural people, Maria Eliza Manteca Oñate has established a nature reserve near her home village in the north of Ecuador. She has also launched a successful education programme, whereby adults and children learn sustainable farming techniques at a model farm.

Reduce wildlife-human conflict in India - Video

Reduce wildlife-human conflict in India

Gentle giant of the ocean - Video

Kerstin Forsberg is a biologist from Peru, who is working to save one of the most majestic creatures in the sea – the giant manta ray. These unique fish, which are caught for their gills and meat, are at high risk of extinction. She is working to give local fisherman new livelihoods and to raise awareness of all vulnerable marine species.

Barometers for Africa’s health - Video

Lindy Rodwell has devoted the past 11 years to preserving the cranes of Africa, whose magical presence is woven into her childhood memories and the cultural fabric of her native South Africa.

Preserving Paraguay’s forgotten corner - Video

Scottish biologist Karina Atkinson is fostering research and responsible tourism to save a Paraguayan reserve.

The call of the wild - Video

Englishman Les Stocker won a Rolex Award in 1990 to establish Europe’s first wildlife teaching hospital. The hospital was soon set up and continues to expand, but along the way Stocker has achieved much more, becoming a highly respected expert on first aid and rehabilitation for sick and injured wild animals.

An Amazonian legacy - Video

Brazilian environmentalist José Márcio Ayres, who died in March 2003, devoted his life to the challenge of combining protection of the Amazon forest with improving the living conditions of its native people.

Citizen scientist - Video

Forrest Mims III calls himself a "citizen scientist" – he has a degree in government, but no formal scientific qualifications. Yet he possesses a rare breadth of scientific and technical expertise in an age of narrow professionalism. One of his greatest achievements has been to set up a network to monitor ultraviolet radiation and ozone levels, using a hand-held device he invented himself..

Protect a giant fish for the Amazon - Video

The largest scaled freshwater fish in the world – the giant arapaima – is bound for extinction. But in a close partnership with local associations and fishing leaders, fisheries ecologist João Campos-Silva has a plan to save not only the arapaima but with it, the livelihoods, food supply and culture of the indigenous communities who depend on the Amazon’s rivers for survival.

The life-saving mangroves of Manzanar - Video

Driven by a long-standing desire for justice, American biologist Gordon Sato is spending his retirement helping some of the world’s poorest people, in Eritrea, to help themselves. His innovative Manzanar project harnesses two of the Eritrean coast’s most abundant resources — intense sunlight and seawater — to grow mangrove plants that can be used not only to feed animals, but also to provide a habitat for fish and shellfish.

Reef rescue with the toughest corals - Video

Reef rescue with the toughest corals

Wild horses and nomads - Video

Claudia Feh, who has spent more than 30 years observing free-living horses, has established herself as world expert on their behaviour. For the past decade Claudia, originally from Switzerland, has been raising the world’s only natural herd of Przewalski horses, in France.

Guardian of South America’s Gran Chaco - Video

rika Cuéllar is training local people in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina as parabiologists with the aim of protecting the extraordinary biodiversity of one of South America’s last truly wild environments, the Gran Chaco.

Agents of change - Video

American Christine Keung is using her college education as a force for good by tackling rural pollution in northwest China, where her father was sent during the Cultural Revolution. Her ambition is to help authorities find long-term solutions to hazardous waste, and women – who bear the disproportionate cost of environmental degradation as men migrate to cities for work – are the key to her project.

Stars of the sea - Video

Impelled by a love of the sea and its largest fish, the elusive whale shark, marine conservationist Brad Norman has created a photo-identification system to assist its conservation.

Saving a forest to protect a bird - Video

On 1 June 2002, 3,000 people paraded through the Brazilian village of Quebrangulo and then set about planting tree saplings. For Anita Studer, from Switzerland, the event was the culmination of 13 years of work, for one of the trees planted on 1 June was the millionth sapling in her plan to reforest the region.

Clean vision for India - Video

Arun Krishnamurthy is determined to restore India’s neglected urban lakes, rallying communities to help him remove rubbish and recreate wildlife habitats.

Nature and nurture - Video

South African conservationist Andrew Muir is harnessing the healing powers of nature to help young people orphaned by HIV/AIDS become independent citizens. Andrew’s Umzi Wethu programme provides vulnerable but motivated youths with vocational training and jobs in the burgeoning ecotourism industry, while immersing them in their country’s rich natural heritage.

Race to save the seahorse - Video

Canadian Amanda Vincent is the world’s principal authority on one of the ocean’s most enchanting inhabitants — the seahorse. From her initial fascination with this exotic animal and its highly unusual breeding cycle, Amanda has become a key figure in global action to save the wider marine environment.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Denica Riadini-Flesch - Episode 1

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Denica Riadini-Flesch is reimagining the clothing supply chain through her work empowering rural craftswomen in Indonesia. By way of her farm-to-closet clothing brand SukkhaCitta, the social entrepreneur is reviving indigenous practices and restoring soils, while creating social and economic change in rural communities. Her work embodies the spirit of the Awards, which are part of the Perpetual Planet Initiative. The programme supports individuals with innovative projects to improve life on Earth and preserve cultural and natural heritage for future generations.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Denica Riadini-Flesch - Episode 3

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Denica Riadini-Flesch lifts up rural communities in Indonesia by building craft schools in villages. She created SukkhaCitta, an innovative farm-to-closet social enterprise providing education in indigenous farming and textile-manufacturing techniques, as well as employment and fair pay to women across Indonesia. Artisans are able to work for the company from their villages and have seen an average 60 per cent rise in income, with grants and microcredits awarded to other entrepreneurial women.

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate: Denica Riadini-Flesch - Episode 2

2023 Rolex Awards Laureate Denica Riadini-Flesch is demonstrating what can happen when women and nature are placed at the heart of entrepreneurship and innovation. Her clothing brand SukkhaCitta is helping rural women to reclaim and relearn traditional, sustainable farming and textile-manufacturing techniques. Already, the project has changed the lives of more than 1,400 people, from farmers to master weavers and seamstresses. Barren soils are being regenerated while toxic run-off from dyes is being prevented and the connection to the Earth rethreaded.

Perpetual Planet: Living Laboratory - Video

Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf used the world as a testing ground for his watches, supporting explorers who ventured into the unknown. Rolex continues his legacy but with a new mission

Within the soil - Video

Three National Geographic Explorers are assessing the health of areas in the Amazon River basin that have been transformed by human activity. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, they are finding innovative solutions to regenerate these degraded landscapes.

In the Cloud Forest - Video

As part of the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, Quechua biologist and National Geographic Explorer Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya is searching for Andean bears that regenerate cloud forests which feed water into the Amazon River basin.

Through the tributaries - Video

Fernando Trujillo and María Jimena Valderrama are captivated by the charismatic dolphins swimming throughout the Amazon River basin. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and the National Geographic Society, their latest international study, an assessment of the dolphin’s health and its habitat, has yielded encouraging results.

Securing Nigeria’s food supply - Video

In 2010, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, a Nigerian social entrepreneur, won a Rolex Award for Enterprise for creating a radio station to advise smallholder farmers.

Farming by radio - Rolex Awards

Nigeria has Africa’s biggest population and economy, but poverty afflicts the countryside where smallholders eke out a living. Thanks to Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu and his network of radio stations, they are now learning how to improve farm incomes.

Telling our Planet’s Stories

Canadian photographer and filmmaker Paul Nicklen has dedicated his life to protecting the polar regions and marine life around the world. Now, with the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, he will continue to use his stunning photography to raise awareness of the threats faced by life within those ecosystems while inspiring action to protect them.

Atop the Andes Mountains - Video

With support from Rolex and the National Geographic Society, climate scientists and Explorers Baker Perry and Tom Matthews endured snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures to install a state-of-the-art weather station on the summit of one of Peru’s highest mountains.

Inspiring Action to Save the Ocean - Video

Cristina Mittermeier is a pioneer of conservation photography. Now, with the support of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, she is continuing to take photographs that spark conversations around the ocean and inspire action to protect it.

Medical alerts from a sticker on your hand

From creating a pain-free vaccine patch, Australian scientist Mark Kendall is now developing microwearable devices that send early warnings when patients are experiencing events like heart attacks.

Rolex.org - Science

The science of precision has inspired the creation of Rolex chronometers for five generations – precision that is founded in a scientific understanding of time and materials, their origins and interaction with one another.

Help paralysed people walk again

For scientist Grégoire Courtine, a broken back need no longer be a barrier to motion. Discover how his neuroprosthetic "bridge" is helping the paralysed walk again.

At the River Mouth - Video

National Geographic Explorers Angelo Bernardino and Margaret Owuor have braved storms, mosquitoes and tidal bores to unlock the secrets of one of the world’s least-studied ecosystems: the mangrove forests at the Amazon River mouth.

In the flooded forest - Video

What does the future look like for the forests of the Amazon? Julia Tavares, a plant ecologist joins digital ecologist and fellow National Geographic Explorer Thiago Silva on an epic expedition to the heart of the world&rsquo;s largest rainforest.

The future of paralysis treatment - Video

Around 20 million people worldwide have a spinal cord injury, which has a major impact on their quality of life.

Along the Juruá River - Video

Rolex supports its Perpetual Planet Initiative partner, the National Geographic Society, in a series of trailblazing expeditions and scientific studies of the Amazon River basin.

The mysteries of the Colombian Amazon - Video

When Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Francesco Sauro and a team of researchers and Indigenous people entered the forgotten caves of Colombia’s Monochoa region, they unearthed a remarkable trove of scientific treasures.

Under The Pole: DEEPLIFE - Canaries Expedition

Just off the coast of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, thick “forests” of black coral thrive in the deep waters of the ocean’s twilight zone. Between 30 and 200 metres below the surface, these marine animal forests are extremely difficult to study.

Mission Blue: Malpelo Island Hope Spot - Episode 1

The waters around Malpelo Island, situated hundreds of kilometres from the coast of Colombia, are home to breathtaking biodiversity.

Mission Blue: Malpelo Island Hope Spot - Episode 2

Naturalist and professional diver Sandra Bessudo has worked for decades to conserve marine life around Malpelo Island, off the coast of Colombia.

From the Andes to the Atlantic - Video

Renowned National Geographic Explorer and photographer Thomas Peschak has spent a lifetime documenting our vast oceans and the beauty of the marine environment.

Mount Everest Cultural Centres

The first ascent of Mount Everest occurred 70 years ago, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of the world’s highest peak.

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa: Learning the ropes - Episode 2

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa faced an uphill battle to ascend from her rural Nepali village and become the elite professional mountaineer she is today. Having climbed some of the world’s most formidable peaks, she realized she needed to help the next generation of Nepali girls to do the same. Students of her all-female, high-altitude rock and ice-climbing course – supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative – learn that, through a combination of technique, dedication and persistence, they can conquer any challenge that comes their way.

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa: Learning the ropes - Episode 1

In 2012, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa scaled Mount Everest at 21 years of age. Since then, she has conquered K2, known as “the Savage Mountain”, and become an elite mountaineer. Now she’s changing the face of the sport. With the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative, she runs an all-female course, teaching high-altitude climbing and proving that women have the strength and ambition to conquer the planet’s highest peaks.

Rolex and National Geographic - Perpetual Planet

Rolex and National Geographic, partners in discovering and protecting our world

Coral Gardeners: Restoring the reef - Episode 3

The Coral Gardeners team keeps an eye on the future. As well as planting more and more corals every year, it is developing ReefOS, an artificial intelligence platform that includes automated sensors and cameras. This makes it possible to monitor coral nurseries and reefs, and track the restoration process. The organization’s target is to become “the biggest and most advanced coral restoration programme on the planet”.

Coral Gardeners: Restoring the reef - Episode 2

Since 2017, the Coral Gardeners collective has restored and monitored more than 30,000 corals. Founder Titouan Bernicot has no formal training in marine biology but the reef is his life. The organization has recruited experts and enthusiastic people willing to help. As a result, the team refines its methods and plants more corals every year. All the while, it is telling the “story of the reef” and has already reached more than 200 million people worldwide.

Coral Gardeners: Restoring the reef - Episode 1

At 16 years of age, while surfing the crystal waters of his home island in French Polynesia, Titouan Bernicot had an eye-opening experience that led him to dedicate his life to protecting the coral reefs he loves. He founded Coral Gardeners, kick-starting coral restoration on the island alongside his childhood friends. Today these “ocean kids” are inspiring a global community of reef defenders.

Revealing hidden treasures - Video

A short distance from the built-up coast of northern Italy, the waters teem with whales and dolphins. Every day that the weather allows, the team at Menkab goes out to sea to conduct vital research into these creatures and raise awareness of this overlooked habitat

Mission Blue

Rolex has joined forces with Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue initiative to watch over and safeguard the Earth’s oceans. Since 2009, Mission Blue has been creating a network of Hope Spots around the planet, flourishing icons of marine life in the immensity of the Earth’s Blue Heart.

Tompkins Conservation: Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina - Episode 3

At the “little school of the macaw” in Corrientes, Argentina, birds rescued from captivity are being taught how to survive in the wild again. When its “students” are ready, the team at Rewilding Argentina will release them back into their natural habitats to recover their roles in seed dispersal. Macaws are just one of the key species being reintroduced into the area to encourage the return of other wildlife and rebuild the ecosystem.

Tompkins Conservation: Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina - Episode 1

Thirty years ago, Kristine Tompkins and Douglas Tompkins left the corporate world to start a trailblazing conservation journey, rebuilding ecosystems in Argentina and Chile. Today, the work initiated by Tompkins Conservation is being continued by offspring organizations Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina. Their mission is to restore and rebuild the natural world.

Tompkins Conservation: Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina - Episode 2

Since land across the Patagonian Steppe was converted into a national park, Rewilding Chile has been working to reinstate the native flora and fauna to the area. The team started by removing hundreds of kilometres of fencing, which broke up the land into sections and prevented animals from moving freely. Now, several species are beginning to thrive, like the endangered Patagonian huemul deer, which are helping to build a healthy forest ecosystem for the future.

Living together sustainably

Rolex is supporting the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the fourth time since 2014. The event, part of Rolex’s commitment to the arts and culture, is a crucible for ideas that reflect an era of intense change.

Álvaro Siza & Sahel Alhiyari - Video

For &Aacute;lvaro Siza, Portugal&rsquo;s master architect, his profession is not about copying designs of the past. His prot&eacute;g&eacute;, Sahel Alhiyari, says &ldquo;with Siza &hellip; it&rsquo;s much deeper than that.&rdquo; Alhiyari&nbsp;explains that &ldquo;architecture is synonymous with human existence. It&rsquo;s one&rsquo;s second skin.&rdquo;

Sir Colin Davis and Josep Caballé Domenech - Video

One of the world&rsquo;s greatest conductors, (the late) Sir Colin Davis believed that &ldquo;you don&rsquo;t control an orchestra, you are allowing things to happen.&rdquo; Preparation and a deep cultural sense are what a conductor needs &ndash; lessons that Sir Colin instilled into his brilliant prot&eacute;g&eacute;, Josep Caball&eacute; Domenech, from Spain.

Caprera Canyon’s extraordinary marine life - Video

The waters of the Canyon of Caprera in the Mediterranean are home to a host of endangered species including whales, dolphins and monk seals. Researchers at One Ocean Foundation are using hydrophones and environmental DNA to understand the ecosystem. That knowledge is essential for the protection of the region.

Under The Pole: DEEPLIFE - Svalbard Expedition - Episode 3

By exploring the Arctic seas, the team at Under The Pole aims to document the region’s hidden ecosystems and preserve them. Only by understanding the marine animal communities that exist in these icy waters – and how they are changing – is it possible to take action. Divers Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout want to ensure a living world for the next generation. Their science-driven exploration is supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative.

Under The Pole: DEEPLIFE - Svalbard Expedition - Episode 2

When the explorers at Under The Pole dive into the Arctic Ocean, they face formidable challenges. The water is so cold it hurts, and the chill also wears out their equipment. Arctic dives require careful preparation and the right frame of mind but the reward is discovery. The team has found the first-ever marine animal forest in the Arctic off the coast of Svalbard, as part of its ongoing DEEPLIFE programme supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative.

Under The Pole: DEEPLIFE - Svalbard Expedition - Episode 1

The ecosystems of the Arctic seas remain mysterious even as the sea ice retreats due to climate change. To learn more, Under The Pole’s Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout led an expedition to Svalbard, supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. The explorers dived into the frigid waters in search of marine animal forests. These ecosystems are just as essential to life on Earth as forests on land, yet little is known about them.

A bridge to the future

Rolex has had a long, mutually rewarding relationship with the EPFL, the world-leading Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

Rolex and National Geographic: Perpetual Planet Mount Logan Expedition - Episode 2

<p data-pm-slice="1 1 ['bulletList',null,'listItem',null]">After climbing to the top of the highest peak in Canada, Mount Logan, during the expedition, National Geographic Explorer Alison Criscitiello and her team spent two weeks drilling down into the ice. Going metre by metre, the team extracted an ice core they think could reach back up to 30,000 years into the Earth&rsquo;s history. Now back in the laboratory, Criscitiello and her colleagues are carefully cutting, imaging and processing the ice to unlock new clues about climates of the past, and future.</p>

Rolex and National Geographic: Perpetual Planet Mount Logan Expedition - Episode 1

Deep within the ice on the summit of Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak, are clues about the Earth’s climate and atmosphere spanning thousands of years. Scientist and high-altitude mountaineer Alison Criscitiello led the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Mount Logan Expedition to retrieve these layers of past climates. What they find will help us understand past changing climates, and what they mean for our future.

Mission Blue: Galápagos Expedition – Episode 1

&ldquo;Think like an ocean&rdquo;. Working to protect the iconic Gal&aacute;pagos Islands Marine Reserve, Sylvia Earle and her Mission Blue team led a groundbreaking expedition to assess the health of the ocean after nearly 25 years of protection. What they found could be used as a blueprint of success for the rest of the planet.

Mission Blue: Galápagos Expedition – Episode 2

Mission Blue has been helping to track animals in the Galápagos Marine Reserve to analyse their well-being around the archipelago. Through this work, legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle and a team of scientists are making incredible insights into the connectivity of the Galápagos with the rest of the planet – including discovering DNA sequences that could be completely new to science.

Mission Blue: Galápagos Expedition – Episode 3

In the Galápagos Islands, Manuel Yépez used to catch and sell sharks. Today, he is one of two Mission Blue “Champions” in the archipelago; logging, sampling and distributing information about the diverse marine life he comes across. Through combined efforts with local fishermen like him, Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue are fighting to protect the incredible diversity of the Galápagos Islands, passing the torch to the next generation in the process.

The Okavango Wilderness Project Team - Perpetual Planet - Video

From National Geographic Documentary Films, Into the Okavango chronicles the extraordinary expedition across three countries to the Okavango Delta.

The Great Spine of Africa Expeditions: Lungwevungu River - Episode 3

Travelling the equivalent of a round-the-world trip, explorer Steve Boyes and his team are undertaking a series of pioneering expeditions to find new species and establish ecological baselines of Africa’s greatest rivers. Their first journey took them 900 kilometres from the remote Angolan highlands to the border with Zambia following a tributary to the mighty Zambezi River. What they discover will help build ecological resilience and protect waters that millions of people and countless unique ecosystems depend on.

The Great Spine of Africa Expeditions: Lungwevungu River - Episode 2

The Zambezi River, home to one of the natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls, is a life source for millions of people, across six countries. National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes and his team have travelled over 900 kilometres from the remote Angolan highlands to the Zambian border to better understand the health of this incredible waterway. This is the first of the Great Spine of Africa expeditions that will establish ecological baselines to reveal how Africa’s great rivers are changing.

The Great Spine of Africa Expeditions: Lungwevungu River - Episode 1

Venturing into the remote Angolan wilderness, conservationist and National Geographic Fellow Steve Boyes led an expedition to increase scientific knowledge of the mighty Zambezi River, on which millions of people depend. The discoveries they have made will help find ways to protect these vital waterways as the climate changes.

Looking under the surface - Video

At the peak of the melt season, Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Francesco Sauro led a team of scientists on a pioneering and perilous expedition into caves beneath Switzerland’s Gorner Glacier. The goal was to discover how melt water contributes to the glacier’s disappearance from the inside. The team used a pioneering collision-tolerant drone to create 3-D models of the caves. They explored deep inside the Gorner’s mysterious caves and what they found will help predict the fate of the glacier.

Watching over the Earth’s Blue Heart

Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative supports those using science to understand the world’s environmental challenges and who are finding ways to restore balance to our ecosystems, particularly the oceans, which are under siege from a host of pressures.

Rolex Awards - A self-made environmentalist in India - Video

Romulus Whitaker turned a lifelong interest in reptiles, especially the king cobra, into a six decades’ long career of protecting the environment in his adoptive country of India.

India’s unconventional conservationist - Rolex Awards

Passionate about the natural world, Romulus Whitaker has gone from conserving reptiles to saving India’s rainforests through a network of research stations.

Deepsea Under The Pole by Rolex (Extended) - Video

Deepsea Under The Pole by Rolex is a pioneering expedition and innovative human adventure that combines ski trekking and scuba diving in one of the toughest climates on the planet. Throughout the journey, the eight expedition members collected audio recordings, photographs and video material of the hidden side of the polar ice cap, in addition to successfully conducting two scientific experiments related to snow measurements and human body reactions.

Mt Everest sensors give new insights into climate change

In May 2019, as part of its Perpetual Planet partnership with Rolex, National Geographic succeeded in leading an expedition to install the world’s highest weather station on Mt Everest.

The 2019 Rolex National Geographic Explorers of the Year - The Okavango Wilderness Project Team

The Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year award recognizes explorers whose commitment to a perpetual planet is shining a critical light on important issues, discoveries, and challenges facing our planet.

Perpetual Planet

Preserving the natural world

Use indigenous peoples’ knowledge to map resources and prevent conflict around climate in Chad - Video

The reality of climate change is known to few better than the people of Chad. The country’s largest lake, which bears the nation’s name and supports 30 million people, has almost vanished in barely two generations. For climate change and indigenous rights advocate Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, the tragedy also offers an opportunity to bring her people together to solve their crisis, using the unlikely medium of mapping.

Gilberto Gil and Dina Elwedidi - Video

For Egyptian singer Dina Elwedidi and her mentor, Brazilian music icon Gilberto Gil, differences in culture are not an obstacle to a productive mentorship. Quite the opposite. &ldquo;She wanted to experience that friction between Egypt and Brazil,&rdquo; Gil says.

Eradicate malnutrition in Tanzania, one fortified bag at a time - Video

Poor nutrition contributes to 15,000 preventable child deaths daily worldwide. American social entrepreneur Felix Brooks-church has an answer: an ingenious system to ensure that each meal consumed by every mother and infant living in an underprivileged society contains essential, life-saving nutrients. His project is bringing new life and hope to children in Tanzania, as a model for the world.

About the Rolex award for enterprise - Rolex Awards

For four decades, through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Rolex has supported exceptional individuals who have the courage and conviction to take on major challenges; men and women who have a spirit of enterprise, initiating extraordinary projects that make the world a better place.

Explore and study the world’s northern-most caves for new insights into climate change in the Arctic - Video

British climate researcher Gina Moseley will cross one of the world’s last frontiers in exploration when she abseils into the planet’s most northerly unexplored Arctic caves seeking clues to the planet’s climatic past. Her world-first expedition seeks to expose the risk to humanity from polar regions now heating twice as fast as elsewhere – and threatening to drown coastal cities worldwide.

Grain of hope - Rolex Awards

Fonio is a delicious, healthy cereal eaten in West Africa. But for centuries it had a drawback – hours of pounding and winnowing were needed to remove the husks from the grain. Sanoussi Diakité invented a machine that removes them in a fraction of the time.

A gift from the sky - Rolex Awards

In many cities worldwide, rain is regarded as a nuisance to be quickly drained away. But not in Tokyo, where, thanks to a retired civil servant, people see rainwater as a precious commodity to be captured and used for daily life.

Safe lamps save lives - Rolex Awards

Sri Lankan surgeon Wijaya Godakumbura battled apathy and ignorance to prevent people being disfigured by burns caused by unstable, home-made lamps. His invention, the Safe Bottle Lamp, has saved many lives.

Women doctors for telemedicine in Pakistan

Dr Sara Saeed is pairing female doctors with digital technology for remote access to healthcare. Discover how her telemedicine model saves lives and empowers women.

Ship of hope - Rolex Awards

French engineer-turned-sailor Jacques Luc Autran made a series of journeys to bring medical relief, technical assistance and food to communities cut off by the sea.

From taxis to beetles - Rolex Awards

Pierre Morvan, who gave up driving taxis to become a world-renowned entomologist, has demonstrated how the study of ground beetles can improve our understanding of evolutionary change and how species are formed.

A vaccine revolution - Rolex Awards

Biomedical engineer Mark Kendall is revolutionizing the way life-saving vaccines are delivered, lowering the cost of immunization in the developing world and dispensing with the needle and syringe.

Vital role for ancient medicine - Rolex Awards

In remote Ladakh, a Tibetan herbal medicine has been prevented from dying out, thanks in part to the intervention of French ethno-pharmacologist Laurent Pordié.

Roadside rescue - Rolex Awards

India has the highest number of road fatalities in the world, but thanks to Piyush Tewari, accident victims now have a much greater chance of receiving care at the scene – and surviving.

Rapid malaria testing with no blood sample

Ugandan IT specialist Brian Gitta has developed a portable device that detects malaria without a blood sample. Discover more about this powerful new medical technology.

The hand puppet that saves lives

Appalled by the deaths of thousands of children from preventable diseases in her country, an Ethiopian schoolteacher invented an entertaining way to inform youngsters about hygiene.

Promoting propagation - Rolex Awards

Captive breeding is the last hope for some endangered birds. American Billy Lee Lasley was working as a research endocrinologist at the San Diego Zoo when he developed a non-invasive method for determining the sex of birds.

Getting to the core - Rolex Awards

French glaciologist Bernard Francou extracted an ice core from deep inside an Andean glacier to provide an archive of climatic change over thousands of years.

Waging war on superbugs

Multi-drug resistant bacteria are threatening the gains of modern medicine. Hosam Zowawi is fighting back with rapid superbug tests and a communications plan for the Gulf states.

A mobile lifeline for mothers

Saving the lives of mothers and babies who lack emergency obstetric care is the life’s calling of Aggrey Otieno, who is empowering impoverished Nairobi slum-dwellers through a telemedicine centre.

Doctor to the world - Rolex Awards

For almost four decades, physician Aldo Lo Curto has divided the year between his medical practice in northern Italy and making trips to heal, teach and live among the world’s indigenous people.

Patagonia’s wild depths

Chilean Patagonia is a windswept maze of fjords, channels and islands. German and Chilean biologist and marine explorer Vreni Häussermann has dedicated her life to exploring and protecting this biodiversity hotspot.

Explore remote volcanoes affecting Earth’s climate

Yves Moussallam is studying the unknown effect of volcanic gases on climate change. Discover how he is mixing tradition and technology to explore remote volcanoes.

The frozen rainforest

Glacial microbiologist Joseph Cook says the top few metres of the Arctic’s ice are like a “frozen rainforest”. His research is a journey of discovery that reveals how ice micro-organisms on the Greenland ice sheet shape our world.

Climbing for the environment - Rolex Awards

One of Japan’s most daring alpinists, Dr Jun’ichi Shinozaki researched the effects of global warming and pollution while climbing some of the world’s most famous peaks.

After the Ice Maiden - Rolex Awards

Johan Reinhard’s discovery of the 500 year-old Inca Ice Maiden could have been his life’s high point, but he was not satisfied with this achievement. He was convinced that better preserved mummies were yet to be found, and he was determined to rescue the cultural patrimony of the Andean people.

Ancient art of communication - Rolex Awards

French explorer Luc-Henri Fage discovered prehistoric cave paintings in Kalimantan nearly 30 years ago and campaigned to save these artistic treasures.

A passion for the Arctic

Explorer Lonnie Dupre has raised awareness of the fragility of the world’s frozen places and drawn attention to the effects of global warming.

The isle is full of wonder - Rolex Awards

Jean-Francois Pernette has spent most of his life exploring caves. In 2000, he led a mission to the remote limestone islands of Última Esperanza, Patagonia, where he made breathtaking discoveries.

Studying caves to predict earthquakes - Rolex Awards

By studying caves for traces of ancient seismic activity, French geologist Eric Gilli developed a new method to predict earthquakes.

A giant task - Rolex Awards

Palaeontologist Elizabeth Nicholls overcame numerous obstacles to extract the fossilized remains of a 220 million year-old, giant marine reptile in a remote region of Canada.

Riding high in the rainforest - Rolex Awards

Biologist turned entrepreneur Donald Perry has made it possible for tourists, students and scientists alike to explore the biological wonderland that thrives at the top of the rainforest, a realm he calls the “Arboreal Continent”.

Inside the labyrinth

Exploring subterranean caves in South America’s table-top mountains where no human has ever set foot, Italian geologist Francesco Sauro is not only finding clues to evolution on Earth – he is helping to prepare for expeditions to other planets.

Epic journeys

One of South America’s greatest explorers, Cristian Donoso has led expeditions to the wilds of Patagonia and other inhospitable places, not purely for adventure but to gather invaluable knowledge about climate and history.

Race to save the seahorse

Preserving the world’s natural heritage for future generations is part of what drives Amanda Vincent in her quest for the conservation of marine fish – and seahorses in particular.

Mosaic of underground beauty - Rolex Awards

A man for whom adventure is part of life, Italian caver Antonio De Vivo has for years been exploring Mexico’s isolated Rio La Venta Canyon, making startling discoveries about pre-Columbian civilization.

In search of the first Americans - Rolex Awards

Arturo González’s expeditions through the flooded labyrinths far beneath the jungle covering Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula are shedding light on the origins of the Americas and challenging traditional theories about its earliest inhabitants.

Sounds cool - Rolex Awards

American scientist Steven Garrett has developed sound-powered refrigeration equipment with the potential to eliminate chemicals that damage the ozone layer.

Electronic ‘ears’ listen to world’s rainforests - Rolex Awards

Topher White is offering scientists a way to study the health of rainforest wildlife populations. Discover how old technology is leading to innovative conservation.

Technology for all - Rolex Awards

Millions of blind people in India have been left out of the smartphone revolution but designer Sumit Dagar is aiming to open the door to technology for them.

Fruit trees come in from the cold - Rolex Awards

In a few hours, overnight frost can destroy a crop of fruit. But a machine invented in Uruguay is providing a solution in orchards on several continents.

Unlocking secret behaviours - Rolex Awards

Rory Wilson has developed a revolutionary device that employs mobile technology to track how animals, including humans, use energy.

Software that cuts food waste - Rolex Awards

Going hungry is a daily reality for an estimated 13 million Nigerians – but an enterprising software engineer is aiming to alleviate their suffering through a software service that redistributes food to people in need and reduces waste at the same time.

Camel milk, anyone? - Rolex Awards

Nancy Jones Abeiderrahmane opened Africa’s first camel milk dairy in Mauritania, bringing a paradigm shift for livestock husbandry and improving the quality of life for people living in her adoptive country.

Cool food in the desert - Rolex Awards

In a semi-arid land with no refrigeration, food perishes quickly, causing major problems for local people. But Mohammed Bah Abba, who came from a family of potters, had a spectacularly simple solution.

Ocean noise rings alarm bells - Rolex Awards

The rising tumult in the oceans caused by human activity is causing devastating damage to sea life, according to evidence gathered by bioacoustician scientist Michel Andr&eacute;.

Recycling unrecyclable plastic waste - Rolex Awards

Miranda Wang is developing unique technologies to turn plastic waste into valuable chemicals. Discover how her company is pioneering answers to the plastics crisis.

Taking a new track - Rolex Awards

Louis Liebenberg designed the CyberTracker to enable Kalahari Bushmen to record their observations of animals, but the technology has proved a highly versatile scientific tool.

Connecting the world with signs - Rolex Awards

Seventy million people worldwide use sign languages. They are divided by 126 different languages, each with its own vocabulary. However, there are very few dictionaries to bridge the gaps between these languages. A Japanese entrepreneur is creating an online sign-language dictionary to help deaf communities across the world converse.

March of the micro-volunteers - Rolex Awards

By combining old-fashioned altruism and 21st-century technology, a young trailblazer from California has given the world a new model for philanthropy.

An answer to toxic leather waste - Rolex Awards

For 40 years, from his university laboratory in the Czech Republic, Karel Kolomaznik has been finding ways to recycle huge quantities of waste from leather production.

Bicycle ride to a new life - Rolex Awards

By recycling discarded bicycles, David Schweidenback is giving people in the developing world the means to pursue employment, commerce and education.

Light for the world - Rolex Awards

In 1997 when Dave Irvine-Halliday saw children in Nepal trying to read in near-dark classrooms he resolved to light up remote villages using low-cost renewable energy.

Stars in their eyes - Rolex Awards

Recognizing the magic and the science that exploring the heavens brings to school children, Gilbert Clark’s virtual observatory links hundreds of schools to the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Water drum eases burden - Rolex Awards

The Q Drum invented by South African architect Hans Hendrikse has improved the lives of many thousands in developing countries, providing a simple, easy means to transport up to 50 litres of water at a time.

Halting the locust plague - Rolex Awards

Locust swarms are capable of devouring vast fields of crops within hours. Geographer Frithjof Voss used satellite image mapping to detect locusts before they could wreak their havoc.

Walking with robots - Rolex Awards

By marrying textile science with robotics, Conor Walsh, an Irish biomedical engineer, and a team of experts at the Harvard Biodesign Lab are revolutionizing how patients worldwide recover from traumas such as stroke and learn to walk again.

A new kind of heart tablet - Rolex Awards

IT specialist Arthur Zang has used his technological know-how to invent and manufacture Africa’s first computer tablet to diagnose people with heart disease.

Vision for Africa - Rolex Awards

Most of the world’s 285 million visually impaired people live in low-income countries, often in areas where there is little access to diagnosis or treatment. British ophthalmologist Andrew Bastawrous is radically changing eye care in sub-Saharan Africa with a portable examination system based on smartphones.

Eyes in the ocean

Stanford professor Barbara Block is tagging top marine predators, revealing the mysteries of their lives and their prospects for survival.

Forecasting volcanic eruptions - Rolex Awards

Millions of people live in the shadow of active volcanoes but Scottish physicist Andrew McGonigle is using drones to develop ways to predict eruptions.

Recycling rice husks into fuel - Rolex Awards

Huge piles of discarded rice husks clutter many farms in Asia. Inventor Alexis Belonio has found a way to put them to practical use, at the same time as reducing pollution and saving farmers’ money in the process.

Regreening the globe - Rolex Awards

The unflagging efforts of Mario Robles del Moral to reforest his native Spain have gone global, with a path of forest worldwide being the ultimate ambition.

Bewitched by bonobos - Rolex Awards

Fascinated by bonobos since her childhood, American Jo Thompson has dedicated decades to conserving these “bewitching” creatures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and to conducting field research and community-based conservation.

Mexico’s bat man - Rolex Awards

Rodrigo Medellín, a Mexican conservationist is battling many kinds of threats to bats, but the greatest threat he is determined to overcome is ignorance.

Wild horses and nomads - Rolex Awards

Przewalski horses had disappeared from the Mongolian steppes by the 1970s but Claudia Feh led one of several initiatives reintroducing them to the habitat they had ranged for centuries – and improved the lives of local nomads in the process.

Reduce wildlife-human conflict in India - Rolex Awards

Conservationist Krithi Karanth is working to reduce wildlife-human conflict in India. Discover how she is increasing trust between conservationists and communities.

When the buying stops - Rolex Awards

Many animal conservation initiatives focus on stopping poachers and preserving habitats but British ecologist Peter Knights concentrates on persuading people not to buy products produced from endangered animals.

Helping children to build a new world - Rolex Awards

Through her environmental theme park, the visionary Mexican environmentalist Maritza Morales Casanova hopes to teach a generation of young people to care for the Yucatán’s fragile environment.

Embracing the lessons of the past - Rolex Awards

Rejecting the modern farming techniques he had studied at university, Zenón Porfidio Gomel Apaza turned to ancient agricultural traditions to transform the Andean communities of his homeland.

Stars of the sea - Rolex Awards

To help protect the charismatic whale shark, the world’s biggest fish, Brad Norman created an identification system based on its celestial markings.

A symphony of sustainability - Rolex Awards

For Martha Ruiz Corzo, conservation and economic development for the poor go hand in hand, an ethos she made real in the mountains of central Mexico.

Holding back the Sahara - Rolex Awards

Sarah Toumi has returned to Tunisia, her father’s homeland, and is determined to restore the land, which is suffering from desertification, and reduce poverty by introducing sustainable farming practices.

Living with leopards - Rolex Awards

Shafqat Hussain has offered farmers in the remote reaches of northern Pakistan an alternative to killing the snow leopards preying on their herds, proving humans and big cats can coexist.

Nature and nurture - Rolex Awards

Andrew Muir, a South African conservationist is using the natural world to support young people orphaned by AIDS improve their lives, helping them to find jobs and develop life skills.

Our lady of the camels - Rolex Awards

German veterinary surgeon Ilse Köhler-Rollefson works with camel herders in India’s remote Thar Desert and champions traditional pastoralist communities worldwide.

Defending the snow leopard - Rolex Awards

In remote west Nepal, wildlife biologist Rodney Jackson mounted a complex programme to track the highly elusive snow leopard and united various groups worldwide in efforts to protect the endangered cat.

Upcycling reshapes lives - Rolex Awards

Artisans living in Manila’s largest and poorest urban communities used to earn a pittance making rugs from scraps of material. Reese Fernandez-Ruiz set them to work using upcycled and overstock fabric to create high-end fashion accessories – and earn a decent living in the process.

Icon of the Andes - Rolex Awards

Argentine biologist Norberto Luis Jácome has brought back from near-extinction the Andean condor, a majestic symbol of South America’s birdlife.

Saving a forest to protect a bird - Rolex Awards

Swiss biologist Anita Studer’s ambitious project to restore part of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has resulted in more than 6 million trees being planted – many by local people – thus creating a multiplier effect across the country.

Saving Rwanda’s bird of fortune - Rolex Awards

Rwanda’s turbulent history has meant wildlife conservation has not always been able to be a priority, but the situation has improved over recent years. Olivier Nsengimana has been part of this change with an emblematic bird as his flagship species.

The call of the wild - Rolex Awards

After rescuing his first injured hedgehog in the 1970s, English accountant Les Stocker, transformed his veterinary hobby into a world famous wildlife teaching hospital.

Agents of change - Rolex Awards

Christine Keung, who immigrated to the United States when she was four, is intent on using her education as a force for good – by tackling rural pollution in Northwest China.

Preserving Paraguay’s forgotten corner - Rolex Awards

Biologist Karina Atkinson has spent more than six years helping to transform a little-known reserve in Paraguay into a model of scientific conservation and sustainable tourism that benefits the local community.

Great mother of the hornbills - Rolex Awards

Hornbills are perhaps the most regal birds found in Asia and Africa’s tropical forests, where they play a vital role by spreading seeds. A Thai microbiologist is popularly known as the “Great Mother of Hornbills” for her ingenious strategies to save them and their habitats.

Two million trees - Rolex Awards

The vision of award-winning botanist Sebastian Chuwa rallied the people of northern Tanzania to create a sustainable future through a massive reforestation project.

Citizen scientist - Rolex Awards

The inventions of self-taught scientist Forrest Mims have allowed amateurs and specialists across the world to measure the ozone layer that protects life on our planet.

Conservation begins in the classroom - Rolex Awards

Suryo Prawiroatmodjo’s tireless efforts to make environmental education the cornerstone of conservation efforts took root at home and quickly spread throughout Indonesia and beyond.

Race to rescue the Siberian tiger - Rolex Awards

The Siberian tiger, the world’s biggest cat, once roamed Asia’s forests in the thousands. Sergei Bereznuk is battling poachers and habitat destruction to save this endangered animal from extinction.

Protect a giant fish for the Amazon - Rolex Awards

Brazilian ecologist João Campos-Silva is working to protect the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world. Discover how doing so is lifting up local communities.

Saving the world’s threatened penguins - Rolex Awards

Pablo García Borboroglu is researching the world's penguins to guide their conservation. Discover his plans to engage local communities to save these ocean birds.

Recreating the emerald green forest - Rolex Awards

The long, slow retreat of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has been reversed thanks to Laury Cullen Jr. who is protecting its unique wildlife and engaging local farmers in conservation.

Clean vision for India - Rolex Awards

Quitting a promising career at Google to follow a dream of rejuvenating the environment around him, Indian conservationist Arun Krishnamurthy has inspired communities to restore their polluted urban lakes.

A force of nature - Rolex Awards

For nearly 30 years, Maria Eliza Manteca Oñate has worked tirelessly to reverse environmental damage in the Ecuadorian Andes, persuading farmers it is possible to live off the land without damaging the soil.

Gentle giant of the ocean

Kerstin Forsberg is protecting threatened giant manta rays by working with local communities to promote awareness and appreciation of these gentle giants and to assist fishermen find alternative income through ecotourism.

Return flight - Rolex Awards

Hunters and fishermen almost eradicated Atlantic puffins from Maine's offshore islands in the 19th century but Stephen Kress's innovative techniques have brought them back.

Thailand’s shy sea cows - Rolex Awards

To prevent dugongs disappearing from Thailand’s coastal waters, biologist Pisit Charnsnoh has engaged local people to protect the shy sea mammal and revive the coastal ecosystem so crucial to their own economic survival.

Ice towers in the desert - Rolex Awards

Sonam Wangchuk is helping farmers in the arid Himalayan highlands of Ladakh to overcome water shortages by tapping meltwaters to build artificial glaciers.

Reef rescue with the toughest corals

Marine biologist Emma Camp is out to find the world’s toughest corals. Discover how she plans to rescue reefs in the face of climate change and human activity.

Africa’s turtle saviour - Rolex Awards

A visionary naturalist, Tomas Diagne observed that the African spurred tortoise, which can live for more than 150 years, was becoming rare and decided to save it.

Repairing the past - Rolex Awards

In the mid-20th century, vultures faced extinction in Europe’s mountainous regions, their natural habitat for two million years. Michel Terrasse has spent much of his life working to reverse the birds’ destiny.

Marching for Russia’s parks - Rolex Awards

Mass marches are saving the national parks of Russia, and changing perceptions of nature conservation, thanks to the determined efforts of Irina Chebakova.

Shooting wildlife with a camera - Rolex Awards

With India’s wilderness suffering in the face of explosive economic growth, Shekar Dattatri continues to focus his attention on the urgent need to conserve his country’s remaining natural heritage. His subjects range from the tiger to disappearing coastlines.

An Amazonian legacy - Rolex Awards

The late José Márcio Ayres devoted his life to the challenge of combining protection of the Amazon forests with improving the living conditions of its indigenous people.

Barometers for Africa’s health - Rolex Awards

Distressed to see the regal wattled crane disappearing in South Africa, zoologist Lindy Rodwell van Hasselt expanded her conservation network to save the bird’s wetland habitats.

Farming the natural way - Rolex Awards

Gorur Gopinath developed eco-friendly methods of silkworm rearing in India, working with the environment rather than destroying it, and improving local living standards in the process.

The life-saving mangroves of Manzanar - Rolex Awards

Gordon Sato’s radical method of using seawater for irrigation has helped the poor villages of coastal Eritrea develop a self-sufficient economy.

Guardian of South America’s Gran Chaco - Rolex Awards

The Gran Chaco is one of South America’s last truly wild environments but its ecosystem is deteriorating. Conservation biologist Erika Cuéllar has been training local people to protect its extraordinary biodiversity.

Joan Jonas and Thao Nguyen Phan - Video

“Art is a spiritual practice,” says Joan Jonas, pioneer of performance and video art. For her Vietnamese protégée Thao Nguyen Phan, the experience of working with Jonas and observing her constant experimentation has taught her to be more open to what she can use to tell the stories that underlie her work.

Kazuyo Sejima and Yang Zhao - Video

Japanese mentor Kazuyo Sejima and protégé Yang Zhao believe architecture is about more than constructing buildings – it’s about changing lives. They put their conviction into practice with a humanitarian project as Zhao designs a community gathering place in a tsunami-devastated area.

Promote local initiatives for biodiversity conservation in Nepal’s Trans-Himalaya - Video

Local people from one of the world’s wildest and most isolated places, the mountainous Himalaya region of Humla in Nepal, are being enlisted as frontline conservators to rescue dwindling wild animal populations – from snow leopards to wild yaks. Driving the scheme is an energetic young ecologist, Rinzin Phunjok Lama, who is convinced that only local commitment and know-how can make the real difference.

Explore and protect the Indian Ocean’s deep coral reefs - Video

A hundred metres or more beneath the ocean surface in the Maldives lies a twilight zone whose wondrous corals and strange life remain unexplored. In a pioneering diving expeditions, a leading expert in the study of fish, Luiz Rocha, plans to survey these deep reefs to find and describe new species and make the case for their protection.

Saving the sacred condor - Video

Fascinated from an early age with his country’s mountains and the condors that fly above them, Argentine biologist Luis Jácome, a 1996 Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureate, understood the ecological role of these majestic and sacred birds – and their vulnerability to extinction.

Exploring submarine forests in Patagonia’s fjords

Discovering new species, never described to science, is just one aspect of the case the intrepid marine biologist Vreni Häussermann puts for the protection of the wild waters of the Patagonian fjords.

Stars of the deep

Little was known about the endangered whale shark, the world’s biggest fish, until Australian marine scientist Brad Norman found a way to identify individual animals using an algorithm developed by NASA.

Listening to the Earth

Since designing an underwater system to prevent ships from colliding with whales, bioacoustics pioneer Michel André has expanded his project to create a network of microphones that monitor the planet's myriad sounds and warn of threats to nature.

The Biologist Championing Bats - Video

With a long-standing love of bats, 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Rodrigo Medellín has spent the past 40 years protecting these universally feared mammals that he recognizes for their crucial role in pest control, seed dispersal and plant pollination.

Rolex Deepsea Challenge - A decade on with James Cameron - Video

Ten years ago, on 26 March 2012, Rolex Testimonee James Cameron made history as the first person to dive solo to the deepest part of the Earth, the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, at 10,908 metres (35,787 feet).

Rolex.org - Arts

Perpetuating culture &mdash; At Rolex, we understand it takes time to achieve excellence. This is why we support exceptional individuals and institutions who push the boundaries of their artistry and help to usher in the next generation of talent.

Roadside rescue - Video

Piyush Tewari is determined to save thousands of lives by ensuring that most accident victims in Delhi receive rapid medical care. His foundation, in partnership with hospitals and a medical science institute, has already provided training sessions in basic life support to over 2,000 police officers, as well as 500 ordinary citizens.

Medical alerts from a sticker on your hand - Video

Biomedical engineer and 2012 Rolex Laureate Mark Kendall is on a mission to revolutionize modern medicine.

Exploring submarine forests in Patagonia’s fjords - Video

Discovering new species, never described to science, is just one aspect of the case the intrepid marine biologist Vreni Häussermann puts for the protection of the wild waters of the Patagonian fjords.

A vanishing forest reborn - Video

Working with dedicated farming families, Laury Cullen Jr. is restoring Brazil’s Atlantic Forest while contributing to the local economy and helping to fight climate change.

Patagonia’s wild depths - Video

Vreni Häusserman is a German biologist who is exploring the unique marine life of the Patagonian fjords in the south of Chile. These extraordinary and delicate underwater environments are suffering from the effects of intensive fish farming and global warming. Vreni is planning ever-deeper dives to study, understand and preserve this unique biodiversity before it is too late.

Inside the labyrinth - Video

South America’s table-top mountains conceal caves never visited by humans. Italian scientist and explorer Francesco Sauro is taking on the daunting challenge of exploring these caves in a quest for clues to the evolution of life and the planet.

Reviving India’s blighted lakes - Video

Determined from an early age to revive and protect the waterbodies near his home in Chennai, 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Arun Krishnamurthy gave up a promising career at Google to devote his life to rejuvenating the lakes in his native India and beyond.

Ocean noise rings alarm bells - Video

Scientist Michel Andr&eacute;&rsquo;s concern for marine life led to the development of an underwater network of microphones. Discover the video on rolex.org.

Forecasting volcanic eruptions - Video

Scottish physicist Andrew McGonigle is developing a reliable way to predict eruptions, using an unmanned, small-scale helicopter to measure gases that escape from volcanic vents. His combination of science and advanced technology has the potential to save thousands of lives.

Vision for Africa - Video

Andrew Bastawrous is an ophthalmologist from England whose dream is to treat the millions of visually impaired people living in low-income countries. He has begun a project in remote areas of Kenya, where there is little eye care but good mobile phone technology. His solution is to use smartphones as a portable eye examination kit, and eventually make this technology available around the world.

Saving lives on India’s roads - Video

Motivated by the unnecessary death of his cousin in a road accident where bystanders typically ignored the victim’s plight, successful Indian businessman and 2010 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Piyush Tewari gave up his career to concentrate on helping to save the lives of his compatriots on the country’s chaotic roads.

How a bird saved a forest - Video

Anita Studer, a Swiss ornithologist who went to Brazil to study its rich array of bird life, has, through sheer determination and dedication, inspired Brazilians to save their forests and changed thousands of lives for the better in what is now her second home.

Venturer in the underworld

The hidden realm of caves has opened up a new world to scientists and explorers thanks to speleologists such as Francesco Sauro whose many expeditions have provided an archive of time for future generations.

Rolex.org - Perpetual

Perpetual. For nearly a century, the word has been written on every Rolex Oyster watch. But Perpetual is more than a word on a dial. It is a philosophy - an unceasing quest for excellence, to explore and to share human knowledge to build a better world.

Safe lamps save lives - Video

For more than a decade, a resolute surgeon in Sri Lanka has battled apathy and ignorance to save people from disfigurement and death by fire caused by home-made lamps. Wijaya Godakumbura, who won a Rolex Award in 1998, has a simple solution to this devastating problem — the Safe Bottle Lamp.

A vaccine revolution - Video

Professor Mark Kendall is working on the development of the needle-free ‘Nanopatch’, to revolutionize delivery of vaccines in the developing world making them cheaper and potentially saving the lives of the millions of people who die from infectious diseases.

Women doctors for telemedicine in Pakistan - Video

Women doctors for telemedicine in Pakistan

From taxis to beetles - Video

Pierre Morvan, a self-taught expert on insects, has made his mark in science by exploring insect populations in a region often out of bounds to professional scientists – the isolated and inaccessible regions of the Himalayas..

Vital role for ancient medicine - Video

Tibetan medicine has been practised for more than 1,000 years in Ladakh, in India’s far north. The very survival of this complex system of healing, ritual and belief — known as Amchi medicine — was threatened by the 20th century’s huge social changes. But over the past six years French anthropologist and ethno-pharmacologist Laurent Pordié has led a campaign that will help ensure Ladakhis continue to benefit from Amchi medicine for generations to come.

Help paralysed people walk again - Video

Help paralysed people walk again

Ship of hope - Video

After years of preparation, engineer-turned-sailor Jacques Luc Autran set sail in 1987 on the Listaos, a rebuilt trawler, for the Indian Ocean and the isolated archipelagos that dot this area. Supported by the association Seamen without Borders, which he created, Jacques embarked on a series of journeys that would fulfil a long-held dream: to bring medical relief, technical assistance and food to communities cut off from civilization by the sea.

Waging war on superbugs - Video

Superbugs, resistant to antibiotics, are a threat to humanity. Saudi Arabian microbiologist Hosam Zowawi is combating the misuse of antibiotics by developing groundbreaking diagnostic tests and an awareness campaign in the Gulf states.

Rapid malaria testing with no blood sample - Video

Rapid malaria testing with no blood sample

The hand puppet that saves lives - Video

Bruktawit Tigabu will produce new episodes of Tsehai Loves Learning to teach preschool children and their parents basic health education. The programme uses songs, stories and simple graphics to make health concepts easy to grasp.

A mobile lifeline for mothers - Video

Aggrey Otieno will build a telemedicine centre with a 24-hour, on-call doctor and van in a Nairobi slum, thereby helping to save the lives of mothers and babies who lack access to emergency obstetric care.

Doctor to the world - Video

Physician Aldo Lo Curto has worked as a doctor in almost 40 countries in the past 20 years, putting himself at the service of humanity. This "volunteer travelling doctor" and 1993 Rolex Laureate spends half the year in his medical practice in Canzo, in northern Italy, and the rest of his time healing, teaching and living among indigenous people on several continents.

Darkening hues of Greenland - Video

For British glacial microbiologist Joseph Cook, the blooming of a rainforest of microscopic life in the rapidly warming Arctic holds not only mystery and beauty – but also menace. The colours reflect both the unanticipated changes wrought by human activity on the planet and the hazards of accelerating sea level rise, drowning the world’s coastal cities.

Stars of the deep - Video

Little was known about the endangered whale shark, the world’s biggest fish, until Australian marine scientist Brad Norman found a way to identify and monitor individual animals drawing on an algorithm developed by NASA scientists.

Explore remote volcanoes affecting earth’s climate - Video

Explore remote volcanoes affecting earth’s climate

After the Ice Maiden - Video

Johan Reinhard’s 1995 discovery of the 500-year-old Inca “Ice Maiden” could easily have been the apex of his life. One of the best-preserved bodies from pre-Columbian times thrilled millions worldwide, unleashing a wealth of knowledge. Yet the high-altitude cultural anthropologist and archaeologist was not satisfied with this achievement. He was convinced that better-preserved mummies were yet to be found on remote Andean mountain-tops.

A passion for the Arctic - Video

For Arctic explorer and 2004 Rolex Laureate, Lonnie Dupre, global warming is not just a theory – it is a visible and immediate threat to the region that he loves passionately. In May 2005, he set out with co-explorer and friend Eric Larsen on an ambitious expedition to heighten global awareness of this menace.

The frozen rainforest - Video

Glacial microbiologist Joseph Cook likens the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet to a “frozen rainforest”. The top few metres of ice are a biological realm whose dimensions, role and impacts are still a scientific mystery. Cook’s Ice Alive mission aims to reveal how this ecosystem helps drive changes in the Earth’s climate, nutrient and carbon cycles, which in turn affect humanity.

The isle is full of wonder - Video

In 2000, the world-renowned French speleologist Jean-François Pernette led a multidisciplinary expedition to Chile’s Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope) province — where he made some unexpected and breathtaking discoveries.

Mosaic of underground beauty - Video

Through a series of expeditions to study the speleological, hydrological and archaeological aspects of the Rio La Venta Canyon, Antonio De Vivo and a multidisciplinary team of cavers and researchers have begun to unravel the secrets buried in this isolated region and gather proof that the canyon was an important route of communication and commerce for a highly developed pre-Columbian civilization.

A giant task - Video

The Canadian-American palaeontologist, Elizabeth Nicholls, overcame numerous obstacles to extract the fossilised remains of a 220-million-year-old, giant marine reptile in a remote region of Canada.

Riding high in the rainforest - Video

Biologist-turned-entrepreneur Donald Perry has made it possible for tourists, students and scientists alike to explore the wonderland that flourishes on the equivalent of the "15th floor" of the tropical rainforest.

Sounds cool - Video

Steven Garrett, a 1993 Rolex Award Laureate, has been developing sound-powered refrigeration equipment for over a decade with the ultimate hope that this environmentally friendly technology will find its way from his laboratory to everyone’s homes.

Electronic ears to listen to the rainforests - Video

Technologist Topher White is giving scientists and conservationists a unique view of wildlife in the world’s rainforests – through an alert system he originally developed to detect illegal logging using old mobile phones.

Technology for all - Video

Sumit Dagar is developing a Braille smartphone that will help India’s millions of blind people access the digital world.

Unlocking secret behaviours - Video

English zoologist Rory Wilson is renowned for developing ingenious ways to track wild animals and record their behaviour without directly observing them. His latest invention, a lightweight electronic logger, can go where satellite-based tracking devices cannot, to observe free-living animals.

Software that cuts food waste - Video

Oscar Ekponimo, of Nigeria, is solving an old problem – malnutrition caused by poverty – with a 21st century invention. His cloud-based app, Chowberry, alerts retailers when products reach the end of shelf life. Discounted food can then be offered to relief agencies, cutting waste. Ekponimo, who suffered from hunger as a child, developed his app to help the millions of Nigerians who do not get enough to eat.

Grain of hope - Video

Fonio, a grain famous in West Africa, is often referred to as "Africa’s tastiest cereal". Rich in fibre, fonio is healthy as well as delicious. But for centuries, fonio has had a major drawback — up to two hours of manual pounding and winnowing is needed to remove the husks from two kilos of grain before it can be cooked and served.

Camel milk, anyone? - Video

When Nancy Abeiderrahmane opened Africa’s first camel milk dairy in Nouakchott in 1989, most Mauritanians wouldn’t think of buying — let alone drinking — processed milk from local livestock. Today, their attitudes are completely changed. Nancy, whose tenacity, drive and acumen are rarely matched, is behind this amazing transformation, and her work has made an important contribution to improving the quality of life in Mauritania.

Cool food in the desert - Video

Nigerian teacher Mohammed Bah Abba was motivated by his concern for the rural poor and by his interest in indigenous African technology to seek a practical, local solution to these problems. His extremely simple and inexpensive earthenware "pot-in-pot" cooling device, based on a principle of physics already known in ancient Egypt, has revolutionized lives in this semi-desert area.

Farming by radio - Video

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu wants to build on the achievements of his Smallholders Foundation which is already broadcasting 10 hours daily to 250,000 listeners on Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio. His goal is to establish a communications network reaching 3.5 million farmers in almost 5,000 villages in his own region, Imo State, in south-east Nigeria.

Recycling unrecyclable plastic waste - Video

If 25 year-old Canadian entrepreneur Miranda Wang fulfils her goal, a third of the world’s plastic waste – which now chokes landfills, rivers and oceans – could be converted into new wealth.

Connecting the world with signs - Video

The world’s 70 million hearing-impaired people use 126 different languages, each with its own grammar and vocabulary. However, there are very few dictionaries to bridge the gaps between these languages. A Japanese entrepreneur, Junto Ohki, has created SLinto, an online sign-language dictionary that crowdsources signs –which are input with a special keyboard – to help deaf communities across the world converse.

Taking a new track - Video

CyberTracker, the brainchild of 1998 Laureate Louis Liebenberg, is a handheld device originally developed to modernize the ancient skill of tracking. While it has proven highly successful for its original purpose, Louis has discovered that its software has revolutionary potential to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change; CyberTracker technology can monitor, predict and help prevent irreversible damage to our ecosystems.

March of the micro-volunteers - Video

Tapping into the latest trends in information and telecommunications technology, Jacob Colker has combined volunteering, the internet and mobile phones to pioneer a new form of activism in which almost anyone with a smartphone can devote spare minutes — waiting for the bus or to see the doctor — to a useful charitable or scientific task.

Bicycle ride to a new life? - Video

By giving new life to used bicycles, David Schweidenback, who won a Rolex Award in 2000, is improving the lives of people in many developing countries. Pedals for Progress, the organisation he founded in 1991, has collected and exported more than 159,000 bikes – and has extended its activities to sewing-machines and new spare parts.

Stars in their eyes - Video

Twelve years ago, retired sailor Gilbert Clark started giving children a healthy dose of virtual reality by letting them look at the Milky Way and beyond through mammoth, multimillion-dollar telescopes from their computers.

Eyes in the ocean - Video

Barbara Block’s aim is to build the technology that will engage the public on the plight of marine predators that roam along the west coast of North America – a crucial prelude to their conservation.

Walking with robots - Video

An Irish biomedical engineer based at Harvard, Conor Walsh is addressing the acute challenges faced by stroke victims as they learn to walk again. He is developing a soft robotic suit that can be worn under clothes and that trains muscles, limbs and joints to function again. This exciting new technology should revolutionize treatment for the millions of people who suffer from physical disabilities.

Light for the world - Video

Electrical engineer Dave Irvine-Halliday realised that a single 0.1 watt, white-light emitting diode supplies enough light for a child to read by. The simple but revolutionary technology supplied to homes by his Light Up The World Foundation can light an entire rural village with less energy than that used by a single, conventional, 100 watt light bulb.

A new kind of heart tablet - Video

Arthur Zang is revolutionizing cardiac care in Cameroon, where heart disease is rising. His invention – a tablet-computer heart monitor called a Cardio Pad – needs only mobile phone network coverage to diagnose heart disease anywhere, any time.

Rolex and Mission Blue - Perpetual Planet - Video

Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative supports those using science to understand the world’s environmental challenges and who are finding ways to restore balance to our ecosystems, particularly the oceans, which are under siege from a host of pressures.

Under the melting ice

A century after the conquest of the North Pole, team Deepsea Under The Pole took on a new dimension – depth. Deepsea Under The Pole by Rolex was a pioneering expedition undertaken in 2010 to learn more about the submerged side of the Arctic. During a combination of ski trekking and scuba diving in one of the toughest climates on the planet, the eight expedition members successfully conducted scientific experiments.

Journey to the bottom of the sea

On 26 March 2012, film-maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible vessel to reach the world’s deepest frontier.

Africa’s ‘Father of Turtles’ - Video

Conservationist Tomas Diagne received a 1998 Rolex Award for Enterprise for creating Senegal’s Village des Tortues (Tortoise Village), which is both a haven where turtles, tortoises and terrapins are bred for release into the wild, and a place of learning about the conservation of species on the brink of extinction.

Protecting marine life in the Bahamas - Video

Through a combination of policy, outreach and educational activities, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), in partnership with Rolex, works to inspire communities to protect the marine environment of the beautiful low-lying islands. Watch the video on rolex.org. <div id="gtx-trans" style="position: absolute; left: -58px; top: 18.6667px;"> <div class="gtx-trans-icon">&nbsp;</div> </div>

Unlocking an ocean of mystery - Environment

Comparatively little is known about the vast oceans that cloak the Earth, but through a partnership with Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society®, Rolex is encouraging young people to explore the seas. This forms part of our Perpetual Planet engagement with organizations working to protect the environment for future generations.

A partnership to advance exploration - Environment

Together Rolex and National Geographic are committed to inspiring and assisting new generations of explorers.

Joining forces for the future - Environment

For many years Rolex has supported individuals and organizations whose aims have been to explore the Earth, find innovative solutions for positive change and raise awareness of critical environmental issues.

Master photographer on a mission to help us see the sea - Environment

Without photography, the world beneath the ocean’s surface would remain an unseen mystery for most of us.

Meet two generations of leading ocean protectors - Environment

Sylvia Earle and Jessica Cramp share what inspires them and how everyone can help make a cleaner, bluer world.

Explore the ocean in 24 hours - Environment

Explore the ocean in 24 hours

Explorer of the Year - Environment

Renowned photojournalist Brian Skerry has spent more than 10,000 hours underwater over the course of his 30-year career. Growing up in Massachusetts, he was drawn to the ocean and all its mystery, never imagining that one day he would land his dream job and that it would be underwater. With discipline and hard work, he became a contributing photographer for National Geographic in 1998 and through his stories shed light on both the beauty and the fragility of the ocean and its inhabitants.

Inspired individuals changing the world - Rolex Awards

For more than 40 years, the Awards have selected individuals of exceptional courage, skill and determination to help in the perpetual quest to explore, understand, guard and cherish the Earth we inhabit and all it holds.

An education in precision

Faced with a shortage of skilled watchmakers in the United States, Rolex built a school in 2001 to train a new generation of young specialists to service high-quality mechanical wristwatches.

Chasing the secrets of the universe

A mutual pursuit of excellence forged links between Rolex and CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, that date back to the late 1950s.

A long-standing commitment

The history of Rolex and exploration is one linked to some of the greatest adventures of the past century. Oyster watches have been to the top of the world and the deepest part of the ocean. For generations, pioneering explorers have attested to their reliability in the toughest of conditions.

An ocean of hope

Marine biologist Sylvia Earle, a Rolex Testimonee since 1982, has been a pioneer of ocean exploration for more than four decades. Her mission has always been to explore, study and protect the planet's oceans. Now, with her initiative Mission Blue, she is igniting public support to safeguard marine Hope Spots.

Sir Francis Chichester - Time on the high seas

Few characterize the daring spirit that has marked the history of yachting better than Sir Francis Chichester, whose single-handed round-the-world voyage in 1966–1967 charted the course for subsequent generations of yachtsmen and yachtswomen.

The man behind the crown - Hans Wilsdorf

Everything about Rolex carries the stamp of one exceptional human being. Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, was not just a visionary entrepreneur whose stream of inventions, such as the first waterproof wristwatch, changed the world. He was an altruist, whose enduring philanthropy has left a mark that goes far beyond watchmaking.

Trieste: The deepest dive

In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh piloted the <em>Trieste</em> on its plunge to the deepest point on Earth &ndash; a 10,916 metres (35,800-foot) depression called the challenger deep.

Rolex Training Centre - A commitment to training

Highly qualified employees are essential to create and manufacture quality watches. That is why at Rolex, learning and passing on knowledge are a priority. In 2018, the company opened its Training Centre in Geneva – the culmination of more than 30 years’ commitment to training.

Behind every great artist is a great artist - Perpetual

Rolex understands the art of mentoring. The skills and accomplishments of our watchmakers have been passed on from one generation to the next, ensuring the transmission of knowledge built up for more than a century. Similarly, an interest in contributing to the wider world, which was instilled by our founder Hans Wilsdorf, has led to a lasting contribution to the arts, part of the “Perpetual Spirit” that is his legacy and drives the company in its business and its many and varied interests.

A stroke of genius in five letters - Perpetual

On 2 July 1908, Hans Wilsdorf officially filed and registered Rolex as a brand name in Switzerland – a master stroke that would shape the company’s future.

Making history with Rolex

The story of Rolex is intimately associated with human achievement. Hans Wilsdorf, the company’s founder, saw the mutual benefit of equipping people who were record breakers with an Oyster watch: the first of a long line of athletes and explorers was Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel.

Built to last

Perpetual. That is the word inscribed on every dial of an Oyster. Today it means so much more than a self-winding watch movement.

A passion for architecture - Arts

When Rolex constructs or expands its headquarters and production facilities, it brings the same attention to aesthetics and detail as it gives to designing one of its prized chronometers.

Learning from a Master - Arts

The fiercely tender art of Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Oscar-winning director of Birdman, first touched young cineaste Tom Shoval at a movie theatre in Tel Aviv. A decade and a half later, Shoval found himself under Iñárritu’s wing as a protégé in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He learned first-hand from his mentor how to be a complete film-maker, absorbing more life lessons along the way. Here, Shoval gives us memorable snapshots of his experience during his mentoring year in 2014–2015.

Japan’s Architectural Poet - Arts

Kazuyo Sejima’s elegant minimalism has redefined the public building. Her designs for the undulating Rolex Learning Center and other major buildings have ensured that she has a global following and a busy practice. But she still had time to nurture an emerging architect as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

I'm not a young conductor anymore - Arts

Rolex Testimonee Gustavo Dudamel has the world at his feet. The charismatic Venezuelan conductor has shaken the foundations of classical music with his open mind and bold, new interpretations of old classics.

A dynamic tower for Dallas - Arts

Rolex’s ethos of design and innovation of the highest quality extends to the buildings the company commissions all over the world. In Dallas, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed an office tower that twists out of the ground.

Saving the snow leopard

In Pakistan’s mountains, Shafqat Hussain is helping farmers maintain their livelihoods while learning to coexist with the big cats who prey on their herds.

Darkening hues of Greenland

A strange new life is blossoming within the icy carapace of Greenland, daubing thousands of square kilometres of pristine white landscape in an eerie patina of greens, reds, browns, purple and black.

A vanishing forest reborn

Working with dedicated farming families, Laury Cullen Jr. is restoring Brazil’s Atlantic Forest while contributing to the local economy and helping to fight climate change.

Taking a volcano’s pulse

Eight hundred million people live in the shadow of fiery death, within striking range of one of Earth’s 500 historically active volcanoes. For Scottish volcanologist Andrew McGonigle, providing timely warning of an impending eruption is a goal that is both humanitarian and scientific.

Inspiring adventures - Environment

The Rolex world of exploration

The call of the cloud forest - Video

Restoring the dwindling biodiversity of the unique montane cloud forests of Sri Lanka through the Agrapatana Montane Forest Restoration Initiative earned conservationist Rohan Pethiyagoda a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2000.

Rwanda’s uplifting regal bird - Video

Encouraged by his 2014 Rolex Award for Enterprise, Olivier Nsengimana has galvanized his fellow Rwandans to revive the fortunes of their much-loved grey crowned crane.

Eye test brings equality - Video

Ophthalmologist Andrew Bastawrous is pursuing a vision to bring clear eyesight to millions of people around the world. Discover the video on rolex.org.

Paula Kahumbu: Defending rights for elephants - Perpetual Planet - Video

National Geographic Explorer Dr. Paula Kahumbu has devoted her career to protecting elephants from environmental changes and poachers.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world - Video

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

Taking a volcano’s pulse - Video

Eight hundred million people live in the shadow of fiery death, within striking range of one of Earth’s 500 historically active volcanoes. For Scottish volcanologist Andrew McGonigle, providing timely warning of an impending eruption is a goal that is both humanitarian and scientific.

Saving the snow leopard - Video

In Pakistan’s mountains, Shafqat Hussain is helping farmers maintain their livelihoods while learning to coexist with the big cats who prey on their herds.

Listening to the Earth - Video

Scientist Michel Andr&eacute;&rsquo;s concern for marine life led to the development of an underwater network of microphones. Discover the video on rolex.org.

Heroes of the oceans - Video

As part of our Perpetual Planet initiative, we support those who are finding solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges.

Alexei Ratmansky & Myles Thatcher - Video

Russian-born choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and his protégé Myles Thatcher share a deep respect for the “language” that is classical dance. Both are intensely involved in reinvigorating their art form for the 21st century. A perfect partnership.

Alfonso Cuarón and Chaitanya Tamhane - Video

For Indian protégé Chaitanya Tamhane, his mentoring year with Academy-award winning film director Alfonso Cuarón was a stroke of fortune. He describes his mentor’s image-based film-making as “like watching magic”. Tamhane says his approach to cinema will never be the same again.

Kaija Saariaho and Vasco Mendonça - Video

Composing music is a solitary occupation. For Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and her protégé, Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça the mentorship delivered a rare opportunity to “enrich” each other discussing music in concert halls around Europe and in the United States.

Perpetual Planet: People Making a Difference - Video

Perpetual Planet: People Making a Difference

Julie Taymor and Selina Cartmell - Video

Julie Taymor, famous for creating spectacular theatre, film and opera, wanted to mentor “someone I can have a dialogue with”. She found her in British director Selina Cartmell, for whom the mentorship is an ideal opportunity for the rare privilege of watching another director at work as Taymor creates a new opera, Grendel.

John Baldessari and Alejandro Cesarco - Video

Renowned American conceptual artist John Baldessari believes that “art is more than just painting”. His mentorship of Alejandro Cesarco (from Uruguay) is an intense collaboration that combines visuals, text, irony and humour in the creation of a new work of art.

Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib - Video

With a live performance and both Chicago and Beirut as the backdrop, Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib give surprising – and very different – explanations of the nature of art, as well as describing each other, their mentorship and how to change the world.

Wole Soyinka and Tara June Winch - Video

Declaring their mentorship to be “a process of development”, Wole Soyinka, first African Laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, encourages his protégée, Tara June Winch, as she agonizes over her writing. When anyone writes, he says, himself included, “it’s all over the place.” It’s the rewriting that follows that marks out a true writer.

Zakir Hussain & Marcus Gilmore - Video

Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and young American drummer Marcus Gilmore believe that creating music must be based on keeping the past but also exploring new possibilities.

Michael Ondaatje and Miroslav Penkov - Video

Bulgarian protégé Miroslav Penkov could not believe that his mentor was Michael Ondaatje, “someone who stands so tall in a field of giants”. For Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, “our lives are utterly disordered”, so watching Penkov bring order into life by writing fiction was a source of pleasure.

Anish Kapoor and Nicholas Hlobo - Video

In a mentorship that is a process, rather than a collaboration on a joint work, Nicholas Hlobo’s art, which springs from many hours of precise handicraft, is contrasted with the monumental pieces created by his mentor Anish Kapoor, that seem “to be made by the gods”.

Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa - Video

Two enigmatic visual artists, Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa, from very different countries, Germany and Japan, quickly develop a strong friendship and a mutual admiration for each other’s category-defying work. Communication during their mentorship is not confined to language – drawing together enables them to boost their joint creativity.

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Anani Dodji Sanouvi - Video

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, one of the world’s most distinguished choreographers, says of her protégé, Togolese dancer Anani Dodji Sanouvi, “he is like the sun … he has an energy that is inspiring.” Sanouvi in turn declares that a year being mentored by De Keersmaeker is the chance of a lifetime.

Walter Murch and Sara Fgaier - Video

What does a film editor do? Walter Murch, editor of many iconic films, and his protégée, Italian film editor Sara Fgaier, provide succinct descriptions of the complex skill of constructing a feature film, the focus of their year-long mentorship.

Zhang Yimou and Annemarie Jacir - Video

For Zhang Yimou, China’s creator of dazzling films, success is not about inspiration but the fruit “of hardships and efforts” as he meticulously masters every single scene. For his protégée Annemarie Jacir, working alongside him on set and in the editing room as he makes The Flowers of War, his supreme “visual sense” is the key to his rich and moving stories.

Lin Hwai-min and Eduardo Fukushima - Video

Young Brazilian dancer Eduardo Fukushima moves from São Paulo to Taiwan, where his mentor, Asia’s premier choreographer Lin Hwai-min, elaborates his unique philosophy of movement and being. A year with this “very generous person” has “transformed my life”, Fukushima declares.

Stephen Frears and Josué Mendez - Video

“For a Peruvian to work with [Stephen] Frears, it’s just not possible”, says young Lima film-maker Josué Mendez of the respected British director. But that’s exactly what happens when Frears chooses Mendez as his protégé and they share the “very precise art” of film-making, with Mendez directing his second full-length feature.

Colm Tóibín & Colin Barrett - Video

Irish writer Colin Barrett recognizes that writing is a solitary pursuit, but also acknowledges the need to escape solitude and meet other people and fellow authors.

Rolex.org - Mario Vargas Llosa and Antonio García Ángel - Video

“One cannot teach how to write, but one can teach a young writer what not to do when writing a novel,” declares Peru’s Nobel literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa. This and many other lessons are the basis of a highly productive mentorship with his protégé, novelist Antonio García Ángel, from Colombia, who emails his writing to his mentor every week and then engages in a literary critique by telephone.

Mira Nair and Aditya Assara - Video

When Thai film-maker Aditya Assarat shadows his mentor, Mira Nair, on set as she directs The Namesake in Kolkata, India, he discovers some of the secrets of her lavish cinematography. “She’s like the host of a party. That goes a lot towards holding the film crew together.” Nair describes it differently: “It’s about orchestrating chaos,” she says.

Trisha Brown and Lee Serle - Video

For young Australian dancer Lee Serle, a year in New York being mentored by one of the world’s greatest choreographers, Trisha Brown, is an opportunity to “go back to the source”, as both mentor and protégé search for originality, humanity and beauty of movement.

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Rolex Training - A carefully curated heritage of skills - Video

Highly qualified employees are essential to create and manufacture quality watches. That is why at Rolex, learning and passing on knowledge are a priority. In 2018, the company opened its Training Centre in Geneva – the culmination of more than 30 years’ commitment to training.

Olafur Eliasson and Sammy Baloji - Video

For Sammy Baloji, who had mainly worked in photography, immersion in the life and work of mentor and multimedia artist Olafur Eliasson brought a transformation, enriching his work and bringing a greater complexity of language as he discovered new materials and modes of expression.

William Kentridge and Mateo López - Video

Visual arts protégé Mateo López is, thanks to his architecture background, “incredibly precise”, says mentor William Kentridge. In his Johannesburg studio, Kentridge pushes his protégé out of his “comfort zone”, helping him to develop a more spontaneous approach to creativity.

Sir Peter Hall and Lara Foot - Video

Under the subtle and experienced eye of British director Sir Peter Hall, his protégée, South Africa’s Lara Foot, directs a play – that she also wrote – exposing a taboo subject in her country. “South Africa is a country of contradictions,” she says, and these contradictions lend themselves to brilliant theatre, as Lara Foot demonstrates.

David Hockney and Matthias Weischer - Video

“I’ve never done any teaching,” says David Hockney, Britain’s most famous living artist. He agreed to be a mentor in the hope he would not only teach, but also learn. Traveling and painting with his protégé, Germany’s Matthias Weischer, Hockney says, “I’ve got a new friend, a young painter. A good teacher learns from pupils.”

Robert Wilson and Federico León - Video

Mentoring is not learning in the conventional sense. It’s really the idea of interacting. Two artists meet and interact,” says gifted Argentinean director Federico León of his year of collaborating with his mentor, the legendary director and artist Robert Wilson.

Robert Lepage and Matías Umpierrez - Video

Canada’s Robert Lepage is world famous for his mastery of multidimensional productions. With his global outlook and mastery of technology, his protégé, Matías Umpierrez of Argentina, is also pushing the boundaries of theatre. Their pairing produced a fascinating exchange that Lepage described as “the best relationship possible”.

Patrice Chéreau and Michał Borczuch - Video

The late French director Patrice Chéreau described himself as “a slave to the text”. His protégé Michał Borczuch takes the opposite approach, with an “anarchistic” style of direction. “I wasn’t interested in somebody who was doing something similar to me,” Chéreau said.

Kate Valk and Nahuel Perez Biscayart - Video

Argentinian actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart shifts to New York to spend a year with his mentor, Kate Valk, a founding member of the Wooster Group. There he finds that inspiration comes as a result of producing, trying, failing and finding the beauty in accidents.

Youssou N’Dour and Aurelio Martínez - Video

A year’s mentorship with Youssou N’Dour gives Aurelio Martínez, from Honduras, not only an opportunity to boost his musical skills and self-confidence in the company of “the icon of African music”, but also to learn more about the historic and musical background of his African ancestors as he visits N’Dour’s continent for the first time.

Jennifer Tipton and Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez - Video

Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest lighting designers, declares that “light is the substance of our existence”. Her protégé, Mexico’s Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez, agrees completely as he witnessed Tipton creating lighting for performances at theatres and opera houses all over the world.

Pinchas Zukerman and David Aaron Carpenter - Video

World-renowned violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman says “the fiddle is synonymous with my existence”. He finds the same commitment in his protégé, young American violist David Aaron Carpenter, from the United States.

Philip Glass and Pauchi Sasaki - Video

For composer Philip Glass, “music is a place”. He chose Pauchi Sasaki, from Peru, as his protégée because he was convinced she would gain most from the mentoring year. He helped her navigate not only the subtleties of composing but also the practicalities of living as a professional musician.

Jessye Norman and Susan Platts - Video

Rolex Mentor and Protégée in Music, 2004 - 2005

Brian Eno and Ben Frost - Video

As they create a track of electronic music during their mentoring year, multimedia artists Brian Eno and Ben Frost reveal the two sides of composition, finding inspiration and analyzing the music they create and how it will be heard.

Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman - Video

Canada’s grand mistress of fiction Margaret Atwood likens mentoring to door-opening. “We speak the same language,” Atwood says of her protégée, young British author Naomi Alderman. Their relationship even extends to writing a zombie novella together.

Toni Morrison and Julia Leigh - Video

Nobel literature laureate Toni Morrison is not only a novelist and teacher, she is also an experienced editor – the perfect mentor for young, Australian writer Julia Leigh as she starts on her second novel.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Tracy K. Smith - Video

In a mentorship that they describe as an intense and joyful conversation, poets Hans Magnus Enzensberger (from Germany) and Tracy K. Smith (American) explore the nature of poetry – “Everyone has poetry in their head,” Enzensberger proclaims. But their quest goes further, examining history and identity as Smith realizes a longstanding desire to write her family memoir.

Tahar Ben Jelloun and Edem Awumey - Video

Moroccan-born and now one of France’s most fêted writers, Tahar Ben Jelloun declares that “literature is not reassuring, it’s disturbing”. Edem, from Togo, writing a novel of “dark nights and ghosts”, was the ideal protégé to accompany in the challenging process of creating fiction.

Mia Couto and Julián Fuks - Video

Mia Couto’s mentoring relationship with Julián Fuks was a fusion of interests wrought by their mutual experiences as writers living in former colonies of Portugal. Liberated from his “autofiction” style of writing by his mentor, Fuks found he was able to explore his imagination in a different way.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Shoval - Video

Young Israeli director Tom Shoval’s year of mentoring evolved with the excitement worthy of a Hollywood film script. Shoval spent weeks on the set of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film 'The Revenant' with the Oscar winner revealing all the “infinite possibilities” of film-making.

Martin Scorsese and Celina Murga - Video

For American master of cinema Martin Scorsese, to be a good film director, you need to become part of the world you are filming. His protégée, Argentinean director Celina Murga, does so with passion, he declares, describing her as a natural film-maker. The admiration is mutual. “Marty’s the perfect mentor,” says Murga.

Ohad Naharin and Londiwe Khoza - Video

South African Londiwe Khoza started dancing at age five, but when she joined Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv for the mentoring year, she had to learn to dance in a way that required a new kind of body awareness. After three months, she “stopped thinking and started feeling it”.

William Forsythe and Sang Jijia - Video

William Forsythe, one of the greatest innovators of modern dance, believes that ballet “shouldn’t be left in the 19th century”. His radical approach finds the perfect protégé in Sang Jijia, a gifted Chinese dancer of Tibetan origin. “Sang-ba is like unpolluted water,” says Forsythe. “He runs clear.”

Crystal Pite & Khoudia Touré - Video

Dance is a wordless art form with few guidebooks, so for two choreographers − hip-hop dancer Khoudia Touré, from Senegal, and Canadian superstar choreographer Crystal Pite — to work face-to-face was a priceless experience.

Saburo Teshigawara and Junaid Jemal Sendi - Video

“Rolex has introduced me to the world,” says Ethiopia’s Junaid Jemal Sendi, whose life has been transformed by dance. His mentorship, under leading Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara, takes Sendi to Europe and Japan. “Now he has just opened his own future door,” says Teshigawara in admiration. “And he wants to go further.”

Jiří Kylián and Jason Akira Somma - Video

Jason Akira Somma describes himself as “a dance visual artist”, transcending artistic boundaries. In Jiří Kylián he finds not only a mentor, but also a generous “life coach” happy to share a lifetime’s experience. The mentorship, says Somma, “has absolutely changed my life”.

Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral - Video

Gloria Cabral, from Asunción in Paraguay, spent weeks at the Swiss studio of her mentor Peter Zumthor, who involved her in the whole process of building a tea chapel in South Korea, opening up her mind “in a radical way”.

Sir David Chipperfield and Simon Kretz - Video

For Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz, the mentoring year provided the perfect opportunity for a detailed examination of the impact of architecture on society – how buildings can create strong communities if they relate to people and the environment.

Promoting propagation - Video

Billy Lee Lasley’s invention of a non-invasive method for determining the sex of birds — designed to help protect endangered species such as eagles — has slowly been adopted by researchers around the world. Perhaps more importantly, his work has proved to have other uses, including monitoring the reproductive health of women exposed to chemicals in the environment.

Defending the snow leopard - Video

Wildlife biologist Rodney Jackson has mounted a complex programme of radio-tracking one of the rarest, most elusive and endangered creatures in the world — the Himalayan snow leopard. Jackson, now acknowledged as a world authority on snow leopards, has succeeded in bringing together various groups to work on their international protection.

The man behind the crown - Hans Wilsdorf - Video

Everything about Rolex carries the stamp of one exceptional human being. Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, was not just a visionary entrepreneur whose stream of inventions, such as the first waterproof wristwatch, changed the world. He was an altruist, whose enduring philanthropy has left a mark that goes far beyond watchmaking.

Rolex presents: The Trieste's Deepest Dive (Extended) - Video

In 1960, Lieutenant Don Walsh of the US Navy and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard navigated the Trieste bathyscaphe into the Mariana Trench. They accomplished a feat so incredible that it forever raised the bar for deep-ocean exploration.

Making of Rolex Deepsea Challenge with James Cameron - Video

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #17394d;">During his visit to Rolex Headquarters in Geneva, James Cameron discovers the making of the experimental Deepsea Challenge watch that accompanied him to the depths of the Mariana Trench. He shares with us his impressions of the watch and the skill of those who created it.</span>

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An interview with Martin Scorsese - Rolex and Cinema

To future filmmakers Martin Scorsese says: “Don’t be afraid to try anything, no matter how crazy it might seem to others.” These are encouraging words from this director, producer and screenwriter who is responsible for many of the biggest classics in film history. He is always pushing boundaries and helping to promote the creative spark in others.

An interview with James Cameron - Rolex and Cinema

James Cameron is acknowledged for using trail-blazing technology in his films, but when it comes to advice for emerging filmmakers he says to “stay in touch with the human heart”. The director of <i>Titanic</i> and <i>Avatar</i> believes nothing is more important than “speaking with an authentic voice and portraying the human condition at its most elemental level”.

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