Baylor in Galápagos
Student-Focused Collaborative Research on Global and One Health
Welcome to our modest adventure, where students experience hands-on, applied, international research on:​
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Global Health: how globalization affects fragile ecosystems as well as the people and wildlife that live there.
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One Health: how people, wildlife, domestic animals, and the environment are all codependent in this amazing space and time.
Paradise Living,
and Lost
The Galápagos islands remain one of the most amazing ecosystems in the world. A place where tens of thousands of people live inside a national park where hundreds of thousands of tourists visit annually. It is a magnificent place of biological, environmental, and social change.
There are challenges of a collapsing ecosystem with invasive species, pollution, food and water insecurity, and more. We aim to give voice to the people who live and work there and to protect the wildlife we all want to visit.
The Experience
Our project is centered on relationships. Those between Baylor University and Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and among faculty, students, and Galápagos residents (and wildlife, of course). What began as a meager, undisguised study abroad trip decades ago has evolved into a realized educational mechanism for ethical international experiences that support both student engagement and local empowerment.
Ready To Dive In?
Experiences develop character, and many things cannot be learned in a classroom. This program provides international, health-related research experience, which is important for developing future healthcare providers and researchers. We also serve our destination communities in various ways, and in doing so foster and prioritize personal development.
