Meet the Captive & Field Herpetology Team
John Benjamin (Ben) Owens
Founder, Director and Expedition Lead
Ben founded Captive & Field Herpetology in 2017, initially as a journal whilst traveling through Asia collecting field data. Shortly after meeting Vishal Santra (see below), the idea of running expeditions was added to the business and they both ran the first C&FH expedition to Himachal Pradesh in 2018.
Ben is currently studying his PhD at Bangor University, Wales, focusing on the genomic aspects of habitat fragmentation and population isolation. He focuses a lot of time on conservation driven herpetoculture and has carried out field work in over 30 countries. Ben has direct involvement in all Captive & Field Herpetology activities and you’ll no doubt meet him by joining a C&FH expedition.
Vishal Santra
Co-founder (expeditions), Consultant & Expedition Lead
Vishal Santra is the founder of the Society for Nature Conservation Research and Community Engagement (CONCERN) in West Bengal, he has spent over a decade spreading awareness and researching snakebite. Vishal has a wealth of experience when it comes to researching Indian snakebite, having both worked extensively with local communities and academics. During the very early days of Captive & Field Herpetology, Vishal co-founded our expeditions and plays a vital part in our India expeditions to this day.
Sourish Kuttalam
Consultant & Expedition Lead
Sourish has been involved with Captive & Field Herpetology expeditions since 2018 when he was initially describing a new species of Himalayan pit viper in Himachal Pradesh. He subsequently joined the expedition team in 2019 and has been involved with our India and Morocco expeditions since. Sourish is currently completing his PhD at Bangor University, focusing on Indian snakebite and genomics. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our expeditions, particularly bridging the gap between field herpetology and academia.
Maya Master
Consultant, Expedition Lead & Graphic Designer
Maya brings with her a range of extensive field experience ranging from working in high altitude field stations in Central America to radio-tracking king cobras in Southeast Asia. Maya joined the team in 2019 and has since played a key role in the organising and running of our India and Easter expeditions. She spends her time in the UK working for a large conservation organisation, playing a key role in conserving UK species. You’ll no doubt meet her by joining one of our Easter Expeditions and you’ll see her incredible graphic work on all of our merchandise.
Luke O’Sullivan
Consultant and Expedition Lead
Luke joined our expedition team in 2024 after joining us in the field consistently since 2019. He has spent extensive time in the field across Europe, Asia and Australia and plays a key role in the planning, running and expansion of our expeditions. Whether it’s finding rare species or handling venomous snakes, he brings a wealth of experience to our Easter, India and Morocco expeditions and you’ll often find him putting his mechanic skills to the test between herping (especially if Ben is around damaging the expedition vehicles…).