Paleontological fieldwork at WORMIL, located in the central Afar region of Ethiopia, started in 2004. Most of the vertebrate fossils collected from WORMIL are dated to 4–3 Mya and this is one of the most critical time periods in human origins research. The project conducts fieldwork annually.

The Woranso-Mille Paleontological Research Project is led by Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Institute of Human Origins (IHO) and senior scientific personnel of the project are Mulugeta Araya, Faysal Bibi, Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Alan Deino, Stephen Frost, Denis Gerrads, Luis Gibert, Ferhat Kaya, Ignacio Lazagabaster, Naomi Levin, Margaret Lewis, Stephanie Melillo, Denné Reed, William Sanders, Oscar Sanisidro, Beverly Saylor, and Lars Werdelin. The data in the Woranso-Mille Paleontological Research Project are currently restricted to project members.