Research Fellow

Addy Adelaine

Dr. Addy Adelaine’s understanding of the complexity of social change, is founded in her substantial practical experience and personal journey. An experienced academic and practitioner Dr. Adelaine has worked for many years as an aid worker and youth worker, in Bristol, the UK and internationally. Addy’s specialist areas of work include – action research, adaptive leadership, research in challenging environments and in ethical social research practices.

Beginning her professional career as an engineer and disaster manager, Dr. Adelaine has worked in countries such as Uganda, Sierra Leone and Malawi. Now predominantly focusing on barriers that confront, women, children and other marginalised communities; she teaches business people and academics how action research can be used as a tool for ‘real-world’ systemic change.

 In 2010, Dr. Adelaine won an Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) scholarship to complete a doctorate in International social work. Her PhD is one of few methodological studies on the subject of action research; following a year of field work with young women in the slums of Kampala, it demonstrates how youth-led action research can be used to create positive social change.

 Dr. Adelaine continues to support and engage diverse Change-Makers in the fields of academia, politics, creative arts, humanitarian aid work and youth work. As a classically trained researcher with competencies in both qualitative and quantitative research, she is currently in engaged in projects to explore women’s role in humanitarian leadership and how diverse leaders in complex environments can manage processes of change. Dr Adelaine continues to work in Europe, Africa and Asia in the capacity of researcher, consultant and practitioner.

Research Fellow

Alasdair Grant

Alasdair has 14 years experience of environmental policy making from his various roles with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which included secondments to Exmoor and South Downs National Park Authorities as a planning officer. During that time, he has dealt with a wide range policy issues and has an emerging interest in applying his experiences to business contexts – to see how businesses can undertake their activities in a sustainable manner as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. The promotion of heritage conservation issues of the built and natural environment to achieve economic growth among the Deaf and Disabled Community is of particular interest.

Noteable achievements in Alasdair’s career so far, include the creation of two new National Parks for the New Forest and South Downs with National Park Authorities; the first Deaf Careers Fair in the UK with Deaf Unity (www.deafunity.org), a deaf-led learning and development charity; a second Deaf and Disability Careers Fair in partnership with the Bristol North West MP Charlotte Leslie; trusteeship of Deaf and Disability Charities; and membership of various Deaf and Disability forums.

Research Fellow

Alastair Roderick

Alastair Roderick is our Global Development and Economics Research Fellow, working on our Convergence Alliance project which is developing a coalition of organisations dedicated to the principle of convergence: basic bargains between rich and poor countries whereby the right to development is balanced with a responsibility to protect the natural systems and resources that development is premised upon.

He was previously the coordinator of the Social Capitalist project – a platform for young adults to use social enterprise to find and create new jobs. He has a background in international development, and has worked in fundraising and academic administration. He is a trustee of the Atiamah Trust, which supports education and health programmes in northern Ghana and has an MSc in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Research Fellow

Alice-Marie Archer

Alice-Marie managed the EU FP7 funded project CONVERGE exploring process and mechanisms towards equity within biological planetary limits. Her research focus is on systems sciences for sustainability including research into how the web’s collaborative potential can be harnessed strategically and practically towards sustainability.

Alice has a BSc in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Technical University in Sweden. She has been awarded a Peter Kirk Scholarship for her research into the management of regional parks and the Marras prize for languages. Prior to working at the Schumacher Institute she was owner of eco-patisserie & chocolaterie ‘Au pays des Merveilles’.

Research Fellow

Alison Hulme

Dr Alison Hulme is an Associate Professor of International Development and Director of the China and Emerging Economies Centre at the University of Northampton. She has published widely, including three books – On the Commodity Trail (Bloomsbury), A Brief History of Thrift (Manchester University Press) and Entangled Things (Bloomsbury). She is currently working on a fourth, provisionally entitled On Loneliness and Conviviality, which explores the way in which industrialized societies have developed and the potential positive impact of conviviality on socio-economic challenges. Her work sits at the interface of economic and social development and consumptive practices, with a particular interest in alternative development pathways and practices, including degrowth.

Her full research profile can be found at: Alison Hulme — University of Northampton’s Research Explorer

Prior to entering academia, Alison was a radio and TV presenter for many years.

Research Fellow

Andrew Russell

I have over 17 years of experience working in the Further Education sector, both teaching and managing curriculum and support teams. I have a degree in Outdoor Education and a PGCE. I have taught across a range of disciplines, including outdoor education, psychology and citizenship. More recently, I have been working to embed sustainable development themes such as Carbon Literacy into the student curriculum.

I am passionate about leading sustainable change within further education and working with like-minded sector leaders in this effort. I am a self-described multipotentialite with interests in a variety of fields, including psychology, sociology, economics, environmental science, and technology. I am currently the Lead of the College Sustainable Development Committee, where I am working to make progress on measuring and reducing environmental impacts and educating our community about sustainability.

Research Fellow

Aneta Robak

Aneta is an urban researcher and aspiring placemaker with an excellent research and academic track record. She holds an MSc in Infrastructure Planning and Sustainable Development from Oxford Brookes University and a BA (Hons) in Public Relations and Communication from Southampton Solent University.

She dedicated her MSc thesis to researching The Line, Saudi Arabia and integrating urban perception into contemporary placemaking practices. Aneta’s passion for urban psychology and neuroarchitecture drives her mission to improve our understanding of the non-physical aspects of placemaking, ensuring that spaces resonate with their residents’ psychological and emotional needs.

In her personal life, Aneta is an award-winning photographer, music teacher and a book co-author.

LinkedIn: Aneta Robak | LinkedIn

Research Fellow

Anna Haw

I’m a South African wildlife veterinarian, scientist, circular-economy enthusiast, and systems thinker, with a passion to find practical, sustainable solutions that marry poverty alleviation with the protection of biodiversity. I believe solutions to some of the greatest challenges lie in creating purposeful social enterprise models that incorporate a compassionate drive for an improved environment, animal, and human health. I’m passionate about building a well-being economy, and hope to influence how future business leaders think about growth and ‘good business’.

My diverse skill set, including a PhD in wildlife conservation physiology and an MBA from Stanford University, combined with my broad, global network, places me in an ideal position to create interdisciplinary collaborations to help solve complex problems with novel approaches. Currently, I’m the Programme Manager for Herding 4 Health (H4H), a Partnership Programme between Conservation International and Peace Parks Foundation. The H4H model empowers communities and stakeholders to address the suite of challenges faced at the wildlife-livestock / community-conservation interface in a practical, traditionally acceptable way that offers impact and sustainability in the face of climate change, wildlife-livestock conflict, skills & job shortages, poverty, and transboundary animal diseases.

Research Fellow

Anna Luíza Behrens

Combining her multi-disciplinary background across economics, international relations and sustainability, Anna Luiza works to find pathways in our economic system that enable all forms of life to thrive. From researching on institutional economics to exploring local initiatives to reduce waste, and having a particular interest in the role that narratives play in our society, Anna Luiza brings dynamism, curiosity, and analytical lenses to the projects she is involved in.

She holds an M.A. in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, a B.A. in Economic Sciences from Universidade Federal do Rio do Janeiro (UFRJ), and a B.A. in International Relations from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), and is currently the Programme Officer at the international donor collaborative, Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). A German-Brazilian, Anna Luiza previously worked for five years at the Brazilian think tank, Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV), before moving to Switzerland, where she is currently based.

Research Fellow

Annika Lundkvist

Annika Lundkvist is a PhD student at Warsaw-based Anthropos Doctoral School based at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization.  Her research focuses on walkability and issues of sustainable urbanism, as well as urban mobility broadly, focusing on mobility choices, decisions and behaviour.  She has an MS in Spatial Planning with a focus on the Built Environment from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), an MA in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) and a BA in Psychology from the University of Hawai’i (Hilo, Hawai’i).

In 2020, Annika founded pedestrianspace.org, a platform devoted to the many dimensions of walkability and their foundational role in sustainable, thriving communities. In 2022 she founded the Global Walkability Correspondents Network, a growing, diverse, international and multidisciplinary collective of individuals who are passionate urbanists and walkability advocates. She is a photographer and thrives in being able to synthesize her passion for creating visual, digital and print media content with communicating about issues of space and community.

Research Fellow

Ashley Ward

Ashley is a research psychologist currently working in community psychology in Bristol, across services including substance misuse, homelessness and adolescent mental health. His work involves the development of psychologically aware programs which are trauma-informed, and acknowledge the needs of the service user as a whole person including their family networks, the practitioners that work with them, and the organisation as a whole.

Prior to this, he worked in academia, completing his MSc in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex and then as research assistant at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, as part of a clinical neuroscience project investigating the neuro-electric signature of dissociative states and the relationship to peak experience.

His investigations into the nature of consciousness and peak experience have included observing, visiting and studying with teachers of meditative and ritual practice in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Nepal and India.

Ashley has also worked for leading software startups, as a graphic designer, and with people experiencing adverse drug reactions at festivals. His current work is about understanding the relationship between an adolescent’s social and emotional health, and their connection to nature.

Research Fellow

Cameron Hunter

Cameron Hunter is a PhD student at the University of Bristol. He is currently working on an ESRC-funded project on US perceptions of China’s “rise” in outer space, exploring the contests within the US government to determine America’s response. His research takes a critical theory approach to understanding strategic military systems, with research interests in outer space, nuclear weapons and air power.

Cameron has previously held a British Research Council fellowship at the Library of Congress in Washington DC where he conducted archival research for his thesis. Before undertaking his doctoral studies at the University of Bristol, he completed an MA in Security and Terrorism and a BA in Politics, both at the University of Nottingham.

Research Fellow

Carina Millstone

Carina Millstone is currently completing a book entitled Frugal Value: Designing Business for a Crowded Planet on the nature and workings of business in an ecological, steady economy. She is a Founder, former Chief Executive and current Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Urban Orchard Project. Carina has also worked as a sustainability consultant for Environmental Resources Management, served as Manager of Programmes for the New Economy Coalition in the United States, and has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University.

Fellow

Catherine Mulhall

Catherine is pharmacist and holds a MSc in Environment and Sustainability from Birkbeck, University of London. She has worked for five years in corporate sustainability, focusing on B Corp certification to contribute towards a regenerative economy. She led Opella, a global consumer healthcare company, to achieve B Corp certification in several markets. She is particularly interested in good governance practices, as a lever to effect change.

Before working in sustainability, she held several clinical and scientific roles in patient-facing, industrial and commercial settings.

Research Fellow

Chloe Haywood

Chloe is a Researcher in Conservation and Human Rights, with an MSc in International Development Research and a BSc in Geography and Global Development. She is currently focusing on climate change and climate justice topics, from a gendered, intersectional and decolonial lens. Research experience is predominately on Indigenous and Community Based Conservation in South-East Asia. She is currently publishing research on Women-led Climate Change Adaptation Efforts in Palawan, Philippines. Prior research looked specifically at Investigating the conflict between Survival and Sustainable Environmental Management in Indigenous Tribal Communities. Besides research with indigenous communities, Chloe has specific experience working across various gender concerns, covering Women’s Rights in the Mining Sector, Community Empowerment, Climate Justice, Gender Training, and Gender equality and education.

Chloe joined the Schumacher Institute as a placement student during the first Covid lockdown in 2020 during which she completed a project on the spatial and temporal limits of community empowerment. This led to Chloe’s involvement as an international contributor and Steering Group Member of the Community Climate Action Toolkit, which was published with COMMEET in 2023. As a result of this involvement, she was welcomed formally to the institute as a Research Fellow, which has been a great opportunity to meet other like-minded individuals and contribute to thinking about systems change.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-haywood

Research Fellow

Daniel Black

Daniel is a research director with 20 years of professional experience in a wide range of knowledge domains in urban planning, commercial development and corporate governance. He qualified originally in economics then urban design, specialising in sustainability and health impact assessment methods for large-scale urban development.

Since setting up his own practice in 2012, db+a, Daniel has co-led research bids with academic partners to win six research projects (c.£12m total) from a wide range of funders including the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, InnovateUK, Natural Environment Research Council, the Urban Land Institute, New Climate Economy, the Belmont Forum, JPI Europe, Economic and Social Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

​Daniel is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading (Henley Business School – Real Estate and Planning) and works closely with multiple other universities, academics and consultants, particularly at the Universities of Bath (economics) and Coventry (agro-ecology and water). ​​​

He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, Royal Town Planning Institute, was an External Advisor on Liveable Cities Consortium, is currently on the MARCH Mental Health Network for Social, Cultural and Community Assets for Mental Health, is a member of the Healthy-Polis Scientific Committee and a member of the Research and Measurement Advisory Board for the Centre for Thriving Places (formerly Happy City).

Research Fellow

David Lerpiniere

David works with local and central government, international agencies and the private sector to tackle waste and resource management challenges. He is a researcher with the University of Leeds, an Associate of the NGO Be Waste Wise and an independent consultant.

Over the past eighteen years, he has worked with a number of major international consultancies and has delivered projects in Europe, the Middle East, North America and Asia. He has a first degree in Earth Sciences, a Masters degree in Environmental Management and is currently studying part-time for a PhD focusing on the effectiveness of development co-operation in the solid waste management sector.

Fellow

David Matthews

David has 35 years’ experience as a submarine engineer, bringing systems together for the harsh undersea environment, and leading teams delivering some of the most complex projects in the UK.  In parallel, he has 40 years of mountain experience and for the last 12 years has supported young people to thrive in the UK outdoors through the DofE Award Scheme.  Gaining a BEng in Electronic Engineering and an MSc in Information Systems Design, he is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and he is passionate about people championed design, deployment, and support.

He has recently completed a master’s course on Environmental Decision Making with the Open University, and he is now focused on the social aspects of reconnecting with the outdoors and nature, and how this might influence our environmental behaviours.  Building on the maritime theme, he is also an Associate of NLA International, working on the sustainable blue economy.

Learning Team

David Mowat

David has been a human rights worker in the West Bank (where a bout of anger made him very ill!) and trains people in international development and conflict transformation. He is also a Quaker, and a jazz trumpet player who sees the reaching for the as yet unknown and unexpressed as a common endeavour in music and learning.

David was a community activist who trained in community development work in 1987, and has often veered back to activism since. He runs the Saint Stephens Reconciliation Laboratory to address Bristol’s deep seated social divisions and currently supports ‘Abolish Empty Office Blocks, House People’ which came out of a Reconciliation Laboratory during 2013.

David has an MSc in Human Ecology from the Centre for Human Ecology (CHE) in Scotland where Alastair McIntosh was one of his tutors. He taught Education For Sustainable Development at the University of the West of England in 2013.

Core Team, Research Fellow

Dharm Kapletia

Dharm is a director of The Schumacher Institute. He has over 10 years’ experience in research and consultancy, contributing to innovation and business transformation programmes and projects, operating at the nexus of government, industry and academia. He has worked for government departments, academia, technology and consultancy firms. His work has focused on (I) how government and large enterprises acquire complex products and systems, and (II) how innovators commercialise research & development and bring new technologies into application. In this context, Dharm has a particular interest in strategy, systems thinking, business model innovation and technology entrepreneurship.

Dharm has an MSc (2004) with Distinction from the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex. He also holds a PhD (2010) from the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge (Wolfson College).

Dharm is particularly interested in how the climate emergency and sustainability challenges can be addressed through new technology development and accelerated pathways to adoption. In this context, he is keen to explore how, for example, decentralised forms of ‘advanced manufacturing’ will contribute to the circular economy. Exemplars in medical manufacturing are outlined in a white paper that Dharm was responsible for delivering as Senior Research Fellow at UWE Bristol – titled Redistributed Manufacturing in Healthcare: Creating New Value through Disruptive Innovation.

Dharm has also co-produced various academic papers and professional reports and enjoys operating as a ‘bridge’, providing translation and support between policy, managerial and technical disciplines.

Senior Research Fellow

Douglas Owen

Doug graduated as a psychologist (BA, MA with credit) in 2000 from the University of Otago (NZ). He has over 15 years of professional experience as a human factors specialist in high-hazard industries, collaborating on international research projects, delivering consultancy, and lecturing. He is a member of Bristol City Council’s Resilience Sounding Board and is a published author. His ambition is to create a world-leading transdisciplinary research and consultancy capability providing innovation for an uncertain and complex world. Disruption from local and global events is an unpredictable challenge. Doug’s objective is to collaborate with researchers, organisations and societies around the world to safeguard what matters, minimise harm, maximise potential, and enhance societal well-being.

Doug’s aim with the Schumacher Institute is to blend advanced theory with practical application. He brings a holistic, human-centered, and evidence approach to his work. He combines expertise in resilience, human behaviour, psychology, ergonomics, design, and risk management with a deep understanding of organisations and societies as socio-technical systems.

Core Team, Research Fellow

Ed Langham

Ed is a director of The Schumacher Institute. He is a specialist in low carbon energy transitions, working with new and emerging energy market players to develop Decentralised Energy Resources to accelerate climate action. Australian by background, he is currently based in Bristol collaborating with the Schumacher Institute via his PhD in decentralised energy business model innovation for a post-growth economic transition. He is also a Research Principal at the Institute for Sustainable Futures,  University of Technology, Sydney working on energy strategy and planning, business model development, open data mapping tools and regulatory reform for the new energy landscape.

Research Fellow

Ella Wiles

Ella began working life in human rights. She has since developed her experience as a researcher and more recently in food technology to disrupt food waste.
She’s passionate about social enterprises, having helped two working with material reuse grow their impact and set another up working with food engagement in inner-city London.
She’s a fan of physical roles, pulling up her sleeves and digging in, she values this ‘learning by doing’ approach and seeks to bring this to her work. She works for Bio-Leadership as well as independently as a forest school teacher she is currently working to guide human development with nature.

Research Fellow

Elliot James

Elliot James is a futures practitioner working in horizon scanning, strategic foresight and emerging technology testing. While his interests and aspirations range between and across many industries and domains of knowledge, he currently works in a government Futures Lab focusing on the evolution of critical national infrastructure over medium to long-term futures. 

He has an academic background in History and Anthropology, and previous experience supporting technology startups and Africa-focused research and development with the Perivoli Africa Research Centre. Drawn to systems thinking through this work and other interests, Elliot has collaborated with the Schumacher Institute on various systems thinking communication projects, and is now dedicated to discovering ways in ‘maps’ of the future can be co-created and drawn up – the what’s, where’s, how’s, and why’s of possible future worlds – and used to animate public and private sector discourse and strategy toward the realisation of futures that are desirable, actionable, feasible and consensus-approved. 

Elliot currently works and lives in London. 

Fellow

Emma Collier

Emma is a voluntary sector advisor and fundraiser with a keen interest is getting projects off the ground and “fit for funding”.

Emma originally trained as a town planner-urban designer and the lessons learned then have never been wasted. After a brief stint in consultancy where she worked on a major transnational economic development project, she joined UWE in 1992 as part of the team that launched a new Urban Design MA programme. Her interest in the importance of community involvement in planning and design led her to the voluntary sector when she left academia after 5 years to take theory into practice. She joined a charity supporting communities in the numerous regeneration initiatives going on in Southwark at the time. It didn’t take long to realise that funding concerns – and ensuring projects and organisations are fundable – underpin so much of the voluntary sector. Since then, she has worked for many membership and infrastructure organisations, eventually becoming the second Chief Officer of CVS South Gloucestershire in 2006. She then turned from poacher to gamekeeper by joining Quartet Community Foundation to guide and evaluate the last three years of the Lottery-funded Fair Share Trust programme in North Somerset. Emma has now turned her full attention to fundraising and funding advice and has worked for numerous charities on their fundraising strategies and securing grants.

Emma now works as a freelance consultant – as Chora Consulting – offering skills and experience in developing projects, people and organisations. She has a perspective on the many aspects of the fundraising process from research and evidence of need, project development and funding application to grant assessment and project management to monitoring and evaluation. She specialises in supporting and developing small-medium voluntary organisations underpinned by a belief in sharing skills, capacity building, and developing an in-depth understanding of the organisation and cause. Bringing all her thoughts and ideas together is a concern for fairness, resilience and sustainability.

Emma has been a trustee of Children’s Scrapstore in Bristol for too many years, including periods as Chair and Treasurer, helping to steer the charity through its ups and downs.

Emma has an MA in Urban Design from Oxford Polytechnic, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, and an OCN-accredited Funding Advisor.

Research Fellow

Frank Coles

Frank Coles is a media professional of nearly 20 years standing working across TV, radio, news media, marketing, branding, publishing and the internet. He is a published author, has his own National Geographic web channel and has been a political correspondent on environmental construction. He holds a post-graduate qualification in computer science (MSc 2001, Cardiff University) with a specialism in machine vision and artificial intelligence and is currently studying an MSc in Forensic Emotional Awareness at UCLAN. Frank has lived and worked all over the Middle East, SE Asia, Europe, and as far north as the pole.

Research Fellow

Fred Barker

Fred is an experienced researcher, analyst, engagement specialist and communicator.  After obtaining a degree in the Science of Materials, Fred gained an MSc on The Structure and Organisation of Science and Technology.  A career in local government, consultancy and the advisory machinery of government followed, focusing on various aspects of the nuclear industry, including the role of local communities in shaping approaches to nuclear liability management, and on public and stakeholder engagement processes.

More recently, Fred has worked on community energy and community food projects.  He is currently helping establish a new community garden and plant propagation centre at St Werburghs City Farm, where he will become a ‘Grow Leader’, helping to facilitate the involvement of various user groups and volunteers.

Fred is particularly interested in ‘new economy’ initiatives, urban resilience and ways of achieving sustainable development.

Research Fellow

Glenn Strachan

Glenn has a multidisciplinary degree in Development Studies, a PGCE in Geography and Biology, an MSc in environmental and development education and his PhD research was on the influence of the sustainable design of education buildings as a catalyst for institutional change. Glenn has held posts in schools and further education, he has been an Advisory Teacher for Political and International Understanding and he was Head of Education at the Earth Centre Millennium Project.

Since 2002, Glenn has combined consultancy work in ESD with part-time roles in HE, including Course Director of the Education for Sustainability MSc at London South Bank University and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Gloucestershire. He is currently Chair of Trustees at the Shared Earth Trust charity, which runs the Denmark Farm Conservation Centre in West Wales aimed at promoting biodiversity in rural land management and providing courses in ecology and sustainable living.

His research and writings cover a wide range including rural well-being, systems thinking, sustainable entrepreneurship and pedagogical approaches to learning for sustainability.

Fellow

Gwyn Jones

Following a 26-year career in the international IT and Consulting sector, I have since focused my energy on promoting sustainability in all aspects of life, work, education and communities.  I have learned from and collaborated with thought leaders in this area with the  objective of learning how we can create new ways of living in harmony and balance with nature that will ensure there is enough for everyone forever.

As an Elder, I work with all generations to co-create a future in which all generations to come can lead good, thriving lives. In so doing I am continuously, learning how to pass on the knowledge and wisdom acquired over many decades of failures and successes to those who are now engaged in building their future well after I have passed.

I am currently a Director at the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Advisory Board Member for various organisations, social entrepreneur, keynote speaker, consultant and facilitator developing sustainability at personal and organisational levels – promoting purpose-led organisations that create environmental and social value.

Senior Research Fellow

Helene Finidori

Helene has a background in business strategy, branding and organizational development. Until recently she taught Management and Leadership of Change in the Barcelona Centre of the International Program of Staffordshire University. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the Commons Abundance Network. Her main area of research are social change and systemic perspectives, with a focus on the development of tools and approaches for transformative action, and in particular those connecting dots and building bridges between people, organizations, cultures, disciplines, types of knowledges and languages. Helene is currently engaged in the PLAST project (Pattern Languages for Systemic Transformation). This project is developing an ecosystem of tools and methodologies for collective Intelligence around pattern languages of the fourth generation, oriented towards the collective interpretation and active monitoring of evolving socio-technical-economic and environmental systems.

Senior Research Fellow

Helmut Leitner

Helmut is an independent software developer and IT consultant. He is a researcher and author in the field of complex systems and pattern research. He graduated in chemistry from the Technical University of Graz, continued with a dissertation on the computer simulation of complex molecular systems, and then was active in the personal computer revolution. In 2000 he started to pioneer and research online communities and wiki systems, using pattern-based approaches. He is among the longest-serving authors of the German Wikipedia. As a member of the GIVE Research Society in Vienna he engaged in projects for the sustainable development of regions and villages supported by new technologies.

He publishes books and articles and gives lectures at universities and to the public. His current work focuses on the dissemination of Christopher Alexander’s pattern method and the unfolding of the pattern research community: for example the PURPLSOC workshop and conference series, the PLAST project on patterns for systemic transformation, and the German Commons movement.

Fellow

Henry Russell

Dr Henry Russell founded Russell Regen in November 2023 following 15 years in the agricultural supply, academic and charity sectors to accelerate the transition to a regenerative food system. This focuses on the regeneration of the whole food chain, with farmers enjoying a good quality of life and purpose in their work; nature displaying flourishing ecosystems and reversing its degradation; and society offering nutrient-dense food and reconnection with food growers. Henry’s experience is broad including project management, facilitation, desk-based research, data analysis and on-farm support. He is open to partnering with any organisation or individual that shares this vision for a truly regenerative food system future and to work on projects that contribute meaningfully to this objective.

An area of particular passion for Henry is group work/facilitation to achieve consensus and vision creation. He is an Accredited Professional in Holistic Management, a decision-making framework for managing complex systems such as Nature. This dovetails well with the Schumacher Institute’s key themes around systems thinking and Henry’s fellowship with the institute seeks to deepen systems-thinking collaborations around sustainable food systems. For anyone keen to collaborate, please reach out and a full Summary of Services document can be provided on request.

Website link: https://www.russellregen.com/

LinkedIn link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryjrussell/

Research Fellow

Houda Boulahbel

A scientist at heart, and a molecular biologist by training, Houda spent a decade as a biomedical research scientist, investigating the biological systems involved in cancer development in prestigious scientific institutions in the UK and Denmark.

She spent the following 10+ years working with key players in the pharmaceutical industry, international health organisations, and medical associations on strategic partnerships and communications programmes. She has extensive experience in the design, planning and implementation of health campaigns and education programmes, and in the optimisation of multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Houda is a strong believer in democratising systems thinking, through consulting work with life sciences and health organisations, and through creating an online publication that simplifies the principles of systems thinking to enable its wider application.

Houda holds a first-class degree in Genetics and a PhD. in molecular biology. A native of Algeria, she speaks Arabic, French and English, and sometimes remembers a bit of German.

Research Fellow

Jake Hoban

Jake is a former linguist with an accidental career in technology and finance, who discovered systems thinking and woke up to the metacrisis affecting human and Earth systems. He looks for ways to apply systems approaches in real-life situations with all their messiness, conflicting views and organisational politics.

He is especially interested in how to avoid the extremes of either throwing stones at existing institutions from the outside, or simply colluding in them without challenging their underlying mindsets. He left full-time corporate employment in 2023 and is pursuing opportunities to work with and influence individuals and organisations who are open to change.

Research Fellow

Jennifer Hinton

Dr. Hinton is a systems researcher and activist in the field of sustainable economy. Her work focuses on how societies relate to profit and how this relationship affects global sustainability challenges. Her relationship-to-profit theory uses systems thinking to explain how key aspects of business and markets drive social and ecological sustainability outcomes.

She started developing this theory with the Post Growth Institute in the book How on Earth, which outlines a conceptual model of a not-for-profit market economy. Hinton holds a PhD in Sustainability Science from Stockholm University and a PhD in Economics from Université Clermont Auvergne. As an activist, she collaborates with civil society organizations, businesses, and policymakers to transform the economy so that it can work for everyone within the ecological limits of the planet. She has been a core member of the AdaptEconII project, Post-Growth Economics Network, 36×36 project, Transition Athens, and the Post Growth Institute.

Research Fellow

Jennifer Loyd-Pain

As an independent conservation educator, Jennifer’s primary aim is to connect people, particularly the next generations, to the natural world through their local parks and green spaces. As the human population of cities continues to increase, Jennifer has primarily focused her teaching and research on the conservation of biodiversity in urban habitats, as well as the role of education in finding solutions to conservation challenges. She is most interested in fostering understanding of, and respect for, those animal species that are often taken for granted, and whose valuable ecological role is often overlooked.

With over 15 years of experience in environmental education working with nature centres, urban and state parks and a natural history museum as an employee, manager and consultant, Jennifer also trains educators and volunteers in a variety of sectors how to connect others to natural resources. Jennifer served as the NAI Vermont state representative for the Northeast Region (Northeastern United States, the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Quebec) from June 2015 until May 2017.

Jennifer moved back to the United Kingdom from the United States in 2017 and is looking forward to further integrating systems thinking into her work. She has taught undergraduate Wildlife Ecology, Principles of Animal Behaviour, Conservation Biology and Introduction to Environmental Science at the Community College of Vermont, and continues to do so as an online instructor. In order to update her field skills for the UK, Jennifer is working towards a part-time UCert in Biological Recording and Species Identification with Manchester Metropolitan University and the Field Studies Council.

Jennifer has a PhD and an MSc in Education for Sustainability from London South Bank University.

In addition to carrying out conservation education research that reflects the aims of the Institute, I am looking forward to working with fellows on the development, delivery and evaluation of Continuing Professional Development training courses.

Research Fellow

Jeremy Green

Jeremy Green has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 30 years. For most of this time, he has been an industry analyst at specialist research companies including Ovum, Machina Research, and most recently Gartner.

Before this he was Head of Market Planning at the mobile satellite services company ICO, heading a team responsible for market research, forecasting, and competitor analysis. Here he ran several huge multi-country market research projects which interfaced with complex trade-off and price elasticity models. Jeremy also represented ICO within the GSM Association, where he was instrumental in establishing the Satellite Interest Group (SATIG). Before joining ICO he worked at KPMG and BIS. His research focuses on the emerging Internet of Things, with a particular interest in Smart Cities and connected transport.

He has an independent blog which covers, among other things, the use of ICT to help make transport more sustainable, at www.jeremygreen.net. He has regularly appeared in the specialist press, and on radio and TV as an expert industry commentator and has been a judge for the GSMA’s annual mobile awards.

In 2009 he was seconded to the UK government’s Sustainable Development Commission to work on a project on sustainable transport, including input to the Commission’s high profile report Smarter Moves: How Information Communications Technology can promote Sustainable Mobility.

Jeremy has a PhD in Science and Technology Policy from the University of Manchester. He has worked in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong.

Research Fellow

Jim Brown

Jim Brown has worked with cooperative and community businesses since the late 1970s. Inspired by an Open University broadcast featuring Schumacher in the early 1970s, Jim has devoted himself to understanding how scale, community, climate change, and equality interact in the design of work and enterprises. He is currently developing a project called The Right Size, using his home city of Bristol as an enterprise research laboratory.

Jim is the strategic adviser and co-founder of the Community Shares Unit at Co-operatives UK where he is also an independent adviser to the Booster Investment Panel and the Co-operative and Community Capital Committee. He has held visiting research fellowships at the University of Bristol, the University of East London, and the University of Wollongong in Australia. Among his publications are the Community Shares Handbook, Co-operative Capital, and the Business Growth Action Kit.

Research Fellow

John Hardwick

John Hardwick (MSc, ACC) brings over 40 years of engineering management, design, R&D and supply chain experience, to help turn technical professionals into confident and effective leaders.  He provides a customised blend of training, mentoring and coaching to individuals, teams and groups, including workshops which focus on soft skills development.

At Hewlett Packard (HP) as an internal coach, John led programmes to improve the leadership culture, focusing on the creation and delivery of coaching skills training for the top talent in UK and Ireland, and the Customer Solution Centre (CSC) organizations in Sofia, Tunis, and Costa Rica.

He has a Master of Science degree in Machine Design from Cranfield University, and 2 coaching diplomas from The Coaching Academy in the UK.  He is also an accredited coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Fellow

Jonathan Code

Jonathan M. Code spent his early years in Southern Ontario and has a lasting connection to the Canadian Shield and the freshwater lake ecosystems of this region. He is never more at home than in a canoe on a lake at dawn, paddling on one of Frontenac Park’s many remarkable lakes.

Jonathan completed his first degree in Integral Studies at CIIS, San Francisco with a culminating project on Goethe’s method of exact sensorial imagination.

Since 2000, Jonathan has been actively engaged in a wide range of educational contexts and initiatives. He has taught and developed programmes for young adults with learning and behavioural needs, faculty in educational organisations, students in higher education, and the general public. His contributions to the field of education have included courses and workshops in theatre and performance, traditional crafts, agriculture and ecology, and the Western esoteric tradition. Jonathan’s work in these domains has been strongly influenced by J.W. Goethe, H. Bortoft, E.F. Schumacher, O. Barfield, V Deloria Jr, D. Klocek… and many other contributors to consciousness studies and philosophy.

Jonathan completed his doctoral degree with the University of Bath in 2023 with a study of traditional fire-lighting and its affordances for educational philosophy, purpose and praxis.

Jonathan is the author of Muck and Mind: Encountering Biodynamic Agriculture (2014) and the editor of Crafting: Transforming Materials and the Maker (2019). He has also published numerous articles and contributed to editorial and reviewing processes.

Jonathan is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Land Management at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, England.

Research Fellow

Julia Ankenbrand

With an MA in European Ethnology, English Cultural Studies and Sociology Julia is interested in sustainability from very diverse angles. She has worked in different contexts ranging from creating exhibitions and museum education to costume making. She worked as a project assistant in the Converge Project, as well as supporting project development which widened and deepened her practice in sustainability. She now advises the Institute on cultural implications of environmental and social sustainability.

Learning Team

June Gorman

June Gorman is a lifelong educator and educational theorist. After graduating with a BS from UC Berkeley, she began teaching higher logic and mathematics to inner-city children in Oakland, CA through Project SEED.  She then co-directed an alternative school in Berkeley called “Magic Mountain.”

For the last 30 years she has taught in California and Virginia, while working on developing emotional and social intelligence curricula in the modern classroom to enhance International Education for Sustainability. She also served both as national Education Chair of the United Nations Association of the USA and, from 2006 – 2012, on the International Model United Nations Association board.

In May 2010, June founded the Transformative Education Forum (TEF) at the US Mission to the UN in Geneva. She then co-founded the US arm of TEF-Global, as TEF-US in 2012.  She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the U.S. Partnership  K-12 Sector for Sustainability Education  (UNESCO Decade), as Education Advisor to the UN SafePlanet campaign to combine art with the science of sustainability for better public outreach and education, and as a member of the UN Education Caucus and UN Commons Cluster.

June has published many articles on the concept of “Transformative Education” including her most recent article in the UN Chronicle,  “Bringing Human Passion into Education for Sustainability and Bridging Cultures.” She continues to travel around the world, researching truly “transformative” examples of diverse education models for a more sustainable world.  Her greatest honour is still to be called, “just a teacher.”

Core Team, Research Fellow

Kate Swatridge

Kate is an operational researcher and business modelling consultant, helping organisations when they are struggling to define a problem, the solution or have a big decision to make.  This work often involves developing data-driven tools and models, which enable clients to explore scenarios and test assumptions, and which ultimately inform tactical and strategic decisions. She is working on Permaculture education in East Africa.

Core Team, Research Fellow

Katie Dick

Katie is a director of the Schumacher Institute. She is passionate about environmental and social justice issues and is enjoying continuing her learning on systems thinking through the institute. Katie’s journey in systems thinking started with a Schumacher institute course run by Martin Sandbrook in 2014. This was part of what inspired her to spend a year at Schumacher College completing a Masters in Economics for Transition. She finds systems thinking to be a good complement to her earlier scientific training (a first degree in Biochemistry and Masters in Human Nutrition) and enjoys the challenges it presents. She has worked for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for 10+ years in various policy roles, including on international sustainable development, sustainable procurement, climate change adaptation and chemicals policy.

Fellow

Kelly Alexander

Kelly Alexander, PhD, is a specialist in impact advisory, ESG, sustainability, and renewable energy, focusing on African markets and the EU. With over a decade of experience, Kelly is a director of TIGC.nl, advising companies and governments on social innovation, entrepreneurship, and renewable energy in African markets. She holds a faculty position at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria.

Her publications cover topics such as women’s movements in emerging markets, technical education for women in Tanzania, and water and energy security in South Africa and SADC. Kelly is also a sought-after speaker on African growth and development.

Learning Team

Kirsti Norris

What does sustainability really mean, and how can we move towards this?

Kirsti Norris has devoted her life to these queries, through her academic, professional and voluntary vocations. Starting her career in environmental consultancies with clients in corporations, military, public bodies and NGOs, Kirsti then focused attention to achieve the first insurance industry ISO 14001 for a leading UK insurance company, and then to manage the Corporate Responsibility strategy. Following a Masters in Responsibility and Business Practice, Kirsti directed her efforts to Further Education. Using action research to drive sustainability leadership, operations and curriculum in Colleges, Kirsti encouraged the sharing and development of learning in the sector through the highly acclaimed Leaders of the Future programme.

Kirsti launched Action for Sustainability in 2008 to support organisations on their sustainability journeys. Recent projects include designing a carbon neutral strategy; advising on CSR strategies; designing positive sustainable behaviour programmes; sustainability auditing; and academic conference design and facilitation. Kirsti’s particular expertise is in facilitating events that allow delegates to engage deeply with complex issues. In 2013 Kirsti co-authored Embedding Sustainability into Teaching, Learning and Curriculum for the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. In the same year her writing was selected for publication by Vala in Stories of the Great Turning.

A mother to two young girls, Kirsti is also director of the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, director of Growing Sustainable Futures CIC in Plymouth, and a governor of Beech Grove Primary School in Somerset.

Research Fellow

Kirsty Green-Mann

Kirsty Green-Mann MSc, MBA, MIoD, MICR&S, AIEMA, FRSA

Kirsty is an experienced leader in CSR, Sustainability and change having worked in the corporate environment for some 12 years with over 20 years of experience in business and a global remit. She originally studied Mining Engineering BEng (Hons) but went on to hold a variety of roles covering product development, project management, quality management systems, business improvement, corporate affairs and corporate responsibility. She has also worked on environmental strategy and sustainability reporting.

Kirsty has held a number of trustee roles in relation to the elimination of child labour, pensions, community partnerships and international development. She has particular interests in business and human rights, the role of good governance in addressing sustainability challenges and holding a positive belief in humankind, to bring about sustainable solutions in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Research Fellow

Leonard Ferrari

Dr. Ferrari retired from government service in February 2017 having contributed to U.S. industry, three outstanding American universities, the U.S. Department of Defense, NATO and the international academic community over a career that began in 1963.  He recently accepted a position as a Research Professor (UC Emeritus) of Computer Science & Engineering and the CITRIS Center at UC Santa Cruz.

The stated Mission of the CITRIS Center and Banatao Institute is: The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute create information technology solutions for society’s most pressing challenges.

He is currently working on two projects; 1) Improved efficiency data compression for video images and computer graphics; 2) development of international, multi-disciplinary networks of universities, research organizations, industry, NGOs, and research programs focused on the replacement of carbon-based energy and transportation systems by efficient, clean, renewable energy power and transportation systems for the mitigation of global warming.

Research Fellow

Lewis Coyne

Lewis Coyne is an ESRC-funded PhD student at the University of Exeter conducting research into the work of Hans Jonas. His thesis applies Jonas’ theory of responsibility to the ecological crisis and issues in biotechnology, motivated by Lewis’ overarching interest in the ethical and political demands of contemporary technological civilization.

In this connection he spent three months at The Schumacher Institute as an intern conducting a comparative technology assessment on two forms of geoengineering. Prior to his doctoral studies Lewis attained an MRes in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Exeter, and a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from Cardiff University.

Fellow

Lilas Privateer

Lilas Privateer is an anthropologist passionate about experimenting with various theoretical lenses to understand the intricate cultural dynamics of urban environments. She explores how cultures conjugate with the cities that host them, merging and influencing each other in complex ways. In addition, Lilas is dedicated to experimenting with art as both a tool and a space for research.

Research Fellow

Louise Ciotti

Louise is a built-environment thinker, designer and researcher. Her research portfolio covers many aspects of sustainable building and achieving socially sustainable outcomes. She is an expert in building with natural materials, low-carbon design, embodied energies and LCA, innovative building systems, product innovation and development, ecological pedagogy, retrofit, and climate adaptation (anticipating necessary physical and societal responses to future climate).

She is academically published and has project-managed research commissions from major funding agencies such as the Technology Strategy Board. As an experienced architect she has specialisms in education, community buildings and strategic site planning, with a particular interest in the re-use of existing buildings. Projects focus on user-centred design processes and help teams embed sustainable outcomes into the design. Her approach has been shaped by a long period of working as part of a research-led design consultancy, that applies a systemic approach to its management philosophy and design ethos.

Research Fellow

Lucy Ford

Lucy Ford is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford Brookes University where she teaches and researches on political ecology and the political economy of sustainability. Her research interests lie mainly in the areas of International Relations Theory and International Political Economy with a particular regard to, on the one hand, governance, civil society and social movements, and on the other, the political economy of sustainable development and the challenge of ecological thought to International Relations.

Fellow

Lycia Harper

Lycia is a complex systems practitioner, helping people understand and work with complex systems in practical, everyday ways.

She works on organisational culture and change, leadership development, community partnership, facilitation and coaching for organisations of all shapes and sizes from large corporates to tiny community organisations. Lycia has worked for 11 years in change consultancy after 16 years in marketing, brand and public relations.

Lycia has an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice and a BSc in Physics. Her practice is based on complexity science and systemic constellations, an embodied facilitation technique.

Research Fellow

Maria Carrera

Dr Maria Carrera Ph.D MSc, CPsychol

Maria has a background in psychology in both clinical and industrial disciplines. She is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and member of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (CIEHF). Her initial career focused on mental health issues and worked in clinical settings as a clinical psychologist practitioner. She has also worked as a researcher in different research institutions and universities and she was awarded a PhD in Psychology. Guided by her interest in the practical application of Psychology to other domains, Maria has worked during the last two years in the maritime field focusing on, but not limited to, human behaviour and safety in the maritime industry. The most recent projects she has managed and/or collaborated in revolve around human factors and risk-based design, resilience, safe maritime operations and arctic shipping and human element factors in safe and efficient shipping (https://www.gnsworldwide.com/takes-two-smarter-ships-smarter-people/).

Maria’s current interest within the Schumacher Institute is to demonstrate that “people matter” and are the most valuable assets in advance and technological societies and domains. She brings a systemic, idiosyncratic and human-centred approach to her projects and combines knowledge and expertise of psychology, human behaviour, personality, well-being, human factors and statistics.

Research Fellow

Mario Yanez

Mario Yanez is dedicated to enabling a transition toward life-sustaining, regenerative human cultures. He has an academic background in finance, information systems and ecology. He has several decades of experience applying whole systems thinking to unfold cutting-edge interventions supportive of a much-needed cultural evolution. As a whole-systems designer, he works at various scales, implementing regenerative landscapes and transformative ecosocial systems. As a scholar-practitioner, he researches complexity and pathways toward cultivating wholeness and aliveness in human systems.

Mario resides in Portugal, practices globally and is native to the Greater Everglades bioregion.

Fellow

Martin Sandbrook

Martin Sandbrook MA, MBA, MSc has explored many areas in his professional work: he has been an accountant, a senior manager in the both public and private sectors, a process consultant and a lecturer, in Business and Management at Bath Spa University. In 2009, he graduated from the Responsibility and Business Practice MSc at University of Bath, an experience that marked a shift in his whole way of thinking and professional direction. Influenced by this learning, and by EF Schumacher’s statement that ‘our task is to look at the world and see it whole’, Martin now combines his passion and commitment to the ideas of sustainability and systemic thinking, with his experience in the management of organisations. He support individuals and organisations make the shift to a more systemic approach to action and change.

Martin is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He also founded a social enterprise, Involving Residents in Solutions. As a Director of the Institute, he developed and taught the post-graduate certificate Sustainability Toolkit and the current programmes Systems Thinking for Effective Action and Pale Blue Dot, a leadership and networking group whose members work with Martin and each other to learn about sustainability and systems thinking.

Distinguished Fellow

Michael Clinton

Michael attained his MSc from Cranfield Institute of Technology (now Cranfield University) in Aerospace Vehicle Design. He joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment and worked on Laser Radar systems for several years before switching to Operational Research. In this role, he supported the MOD procurement programme in a decision-support role. As such he worked on many complex programmes that required consideration of a wide range of factors, across a range of technical, operational and geopolitical disciplines, in essence, applied systems thinking.

Michael remained with the organisation through its development and eventual privatisation and the formation of QinetiQ. The increased commercialisation of the business exposed him to many aspects of business and commercial project management. He also has a keen interest in economics and resource depletion, which further deepens his systems thinking approach to problem-solving.

Research Fellow

Mike Parker

Mike Parker has 30+ years of experience in global systems and spent ten years helping a range of clients to implement innovative tools and techniques in a range of business domains. He has worked at director level in a global consulting company and in a number of different countries. Interests in psychology, anthropology, philosophy and economic systems supplemented by media and cultural studies are under-pinned by a long term interest in systems thinking.

Mike has an MBA in innovation, finance and strategy and has supplemented this with further post-graduate studies in Systems Thinking and Governance. He is a qualified Solutions Focused Psychotherapist.

Fellow

Mike Thomas

Michael is interested in how systems thinking can shift the world to a more sustainable and socially just way of living and being. He has a history of working in a range of sectors from community work to homelessness to his current role at Transition Network. He is interested in how systems thinking can be popularised and made accessible to people in communities to affect change. Infrastructure to support movements and build networks is also an interest and he is currently developing the CTRLshift network to bring together a range of organisations to explore how they can support each other’s work. He is also a keen musician and is involved in the volunteer-run Cube Cinema where he helps run it and puts on events.

Research Fellow

Mike Zeidler

Mike Zeidler has been involved in sustainability work since 1995, when he began supporting the Bristol Environment & Energy Trust, bringing private, public and voluntary sectors together in practical ways to enrich the city’s quality of life. An independent facilitator and consultant since 2003, Mike founded two membership organisations – the Association of Sustainability Practitioners and the Funky Spaces network in 2005/6 before founding the Happy City charity in 2010. Happy City seeks to put ‘what matters’ at the heart of our economy – providing measures which show how healthcare, culture and the environment add value to our prosperity.  Mike is a constantly curious, serial optimist, enthusiast and all-round, can-do kind of man.

Research Fellow

Naomi Woodspring

Dr Naomi Woodspring was introduced to systemic thinking and understanding through the work of Michael White and David Epston and their innovative Narrative Therapy model. She completed her MA at John F Kennedy University in the San Francisco Bay Area where the clinical psychology program was closely aligned with the narrative approach. After completing her MA, Dr Woodspring employed a systemic approach to design and implement programs with a community prison project for incarcerated women and their children, run-away and homeless adolescents, teen mothers, children and teen in treatment foster care, and delinquent young people. These programs all included a strong core element of working in collaboration/partnership through a systemic approach rather than the classic ‘helpism’ modalities.

Dr Woodspring went on to found her own consultancy working with for-profit businesses, non-profit organisations, and governmental agencies. Her work focused on change strategies for difficult challenges through a systemic approach. She designed sustainable solutions to a wide variety of issues from adult literacy to neighbourhood gentrification to security and property management for a US National Laboratory.

In 2011, Dr Woodspring’s interests shifted to gerontology and the challenges and joys of ageing. She completed her PhD in Critical Gerontology in 2014. Her book, Baby Boomers, Time, and Ageing Bodies was released in 2016. She is currently completing another book on ageing appearance, representation, and identity. She is a Research Fellow at The University of the West of England.

Research Fellow

Nat Dyer

Nat is a freelance writer and researcher interested in economics, nature, biology, and ideas. His work has appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist, Open Democracy, and Naked Capitalism among other places.

Previously, he worked as an anti-corruption and forests campaigner for more than a decade with Global Witness, Rainforest Foundation UK, and IIED. His stories have been featured by Channel 4 News, the BBC and the New York Times among others and have sparked government investigations and sanctions in the US, Canada and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has also worked as Programme Director for new economics charity, Promoting Economic Pluralism.

His current research involves exploring the ideas and life stories of a small group of big picture, ‘holistic’ thinkers whose work speaks to the ecological and political challenges of our times. These include the political economist Susan Strange, the philosopher Mary Midgley, the biologists Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, and E.F. Schumacher.

He has a degree in history from Birmingham University and a Masters in International Politics from Edinburgh University. He has a blog at www.earthriseblog.org.

Research Fellow

Natalie Rothwell-Warn

B.Ed French and Environmental Science, RHS Diploma Level 2

Natalie’s background is in education, she was a teacher in the Primary sector for over 20 years:

“I left teaching a few years ago to study an MSc in Sustainable Development in Practice and am now pursuing a career in sustainable systems thinking, with education at the forefront of my mind.

I am also interested in sustainable cities and urban living with a focus on green and blue infrastructure in the public realm. I recently worked on a national project commissioned by the Natural Environment Research Council where my role was to produce a suite of case studies, illustrating best practice of green and blue infrastructure both nationally and internationally. These were presented at two national workshops which included in the audience Public Health England.

Fellow

Nicolette Boater

Nicolette is an Economic Development Researcher, Strategist & Change Agent at Emergent Enterprise, identifying high-leverage interventions, empowering collaboration and developing narratives to nurture regenerative place-rooted economies. She sees such innovative economic thinking and practice as vital in the face of the cascading ecological, social and economic crises unfolding from widely prevailing extractive, degenerative and exploitative economic paradigms. Based in the Landscape City of Bath, she is passionate about doing so in the Bristol Avon Bioregion.

She draws on over 25 years of experience catalysing purposeful change, building stakeholder value and delivering desired outcomes in diverse governmental, business, community and research contexts, with achievements ranging from systemically evaluating and safeguarding meadowland for community and ecological wellbeing to leading an innovative, influential and internationally acclaimed study of the potential for the Euro.

Nicolette holds a prize-winning B.A. in Politics, Philosophy & Economics and an M. Phil from Oxford University, together with an Open University Distinction in Environmental Decision Making. She is also a Regenerative Economics & Finance alumna of the Capital Institute.

Research Fellow

Patrick McConnell

Pat has had a long career in Information Technology and Risk Management in areas, such as Health, Telecommunications and Financial Services.  He firmly believes that Technology can be of great benefit for the community, provided that implementation is managed properly and risks, particularly risks to consumers’ financial well-being, are carefully considered from the outset. To that end, he has written widely on Technology and Operational Risk Management. In particular, he has researched and published on applying systems thinking to the risks that arise across the global financial system.

Pat holds degrees in Pure and Applied Mathematics and was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration by Henley College.  He is a Fellow of The British Computer Society, a Chartered Engineer and a member of the IEEE.  He has developed and taught programs in Strategic and Operational Risk at Macquarie University (Sydney) and Trinity College (Dublin).

His current research interest is in the area of financial inclusion and the role of technology in providing individuals and families with access to the widest range of financial products appropriate to their needs.

Research Fellow

Philipp Grunewald

Philipp is an Associate Lecturer in Information Management at Loughborough University and one of the initiators of Socio-Ecological Enterprises. Socio-Ecological Enterprises are institutions that see themselves as inherently embedded in wider social and environmental systems. The project aims at supporting institutions in curating this collective consciousness. Philipp is engaged in research that relates to this broad challenge and collaborates with others on innovations in information and communications technologies that can help facilitate institutional transformations.

Research Fellow

Rebecca Matthew

Rebecca Matthew has spent nearly two decades examining models and practices that foster healthy communities. Calling upon theoretically and methodologically diverse approaches, her research focuses on solidarity-based economies, environmental justice, safe and affordable housing, and healthcare/social service access. In a historical moment of intensifying social inequality and environmental crises, her current scholarship calls upon critical social theories and qualitative research to explore economies that centre the health and well-being of people and planet alike. This work is informed by her prior research, which includes case studies of how worker-owned cooperatives can (and do) prioritize quality services and dignified labour conditions among care providers. In collaboration with international colleagues, Rebecca has researched the low-income housing market, findings from which emphasize housing stabilization, nonprofit housing provision, and efforts to support community (re)building and social capital development among rental households. Moreover, community engagement and collaborative partnerships define her efforts to support youth development and healthcare access. Her interdisciplinary research team developed a community health worker program for nearly four years to provide peer education, resource navigation, and systems-level advocacy.

She holds a PhD and MSW in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley; an MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and, a BA in Psychology from the University of South Florida and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia, School of Social Work in Athens, GA (USA).

Research Fellow

Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas is a systems thinker and place-based practitioner with a focus on tackling poverty. She is motivated by the belief that every child deserves the right to succeed, no matter where they live.

Rebecca has been working in the field of social justice for over 2 decades, from working on the Welsh government’s tackling poverty programme to leading an award-winning team for Age Cymru. She joined Save The Children UK in 2016 and is the executive lead of their place-based work in Wales.

Rebecca is co-author of the report ‘Unlocking the System: Place-based ways of working with children, their families and a neighbourhood psychologist in Bettws, Wales.’ Clinical Psychology Forum 357 – September 2022 and convenes some related peer learning networks.  

Described as a ‘systems steward’ by Collaborate and New Philanthropy Capital, Rebecca has demonstrated a unique ability to bring together partners around a shared vision to tackle systemic challenges. Moving at the speed of trust and modelling healthy relationships is key to her approach.

Rebecca has developed and embedded systems change approaches by focusing on activity that directly seeks to tackle key systemic challenges. Particularly focused on mitigating the impact of poverty in children’s lives right at the start. Using systems thinking Rebecca has led on innovations in Play, transition into school and wellbeing and resilience. One of her recent highlights has been the ‘Embrace’ programme, supporting and developing an innovative initiative that aims to create a lasting legacy, through addressing underlying systemic factors that contribute to poor early years outcomes. The programme developed as a partnership across the system with the mental health charity Platform, aims to influence future mental health provision through sharing insights with a wider audience, locally and nationally and has already been used as a case study of good practice by Public Health Wales’s Ace hub.

Rebecca is currently working with organisations across Wales to take the learning and collaborate to extend the impact of how the early years system works.

Distinguished Fellow

Rebecca Upton

Rebecca has a Bachelor of Science (with Honours) in Business Analytics and a Master of Science in Environmental Psychology. Although her first degree was mathematically driven, she always worked towards a passion for psychology. This was further established upon completing a Master’s degree which included developing interests in the psychology of sustainable development, social change and influence and connection to nature. She completed her thesis on understanding recycling behaviours at festivals and creating a behavioural change plan. Her PhD research question was: “Exploring and evaluating the impact and value of sustainability education, using the Eden Project as a case study”

Alongside her studies, she has worked as a consultant in the construction and housing, travel, and accountancy industries – as well as being a community engagement officer for a social inclusion charity, supporting them to create, implement and expand a national project.

Research Fellow

Rhian Sherrington

Rhian Sherrington, BA, MSc, is a Professional Coach and Learning Facilitator, with over 12 years experience of project management and leadership, learning and development in the public and third sectors. A specialist in behaviour change, particularly in the sustainable transport sector through working with Central Government as a Regional Adviser to North West Local Authorities and for Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity. Experience of strategic project coordination, group facilitation and design / delivery of training programmes.

Rhian is also a Sustainability Specialist and Tutor for the Facilities Management and Management & Leadership Programmes at The Business School, Manchester College and is a Tutor for Oxford University’s Sustainable Urban Environment Masters programme.

Research Fellow

Richard Erskine

Richard has spent nearly 30 years as an information management consultant, providing strategic advice to large organizations in the public and private sector on how to achieve a sustainable and joined-up approach to data, information and knowledge. He has worked across many industries and cultures around the world and has played a leading role in implementing his recommendations. Richard is currently writing a book based on his experiences of knowledge management in the digital economy.

 Prior to this, Richard worked as a software engineer, in Computer Aided Design, in both manufacturing and chip design.

 He has a PhD from Cambridge University (1977-1979) in theoretical chemistry and did a post-doctorate at Bristol University in the early 1980s, where he also met his wife.

Research Fellow

Robert King

Robert is professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe and a former research fellow with the Centre Leo Apostel at the Free University of Brussels. He was a visiting scholar at Duke University’s Center for the History of Political Economy and at the University of Copenhagen’s Saxo Institute, Humanities Division. His doctoral dissertation, “System Individuation in Differential and Dialectical Ontology: Deleuze, Hegel, and Systematic Thought,” won the 2011 College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Dissertation Award at Purdue University.

He is curious about how systems work, how they come into being and fade away, and how we might act to make them better. He publishes in philosophy, systems theory, and political economy. He participated in Cornell University’s School of Criticism and Theory, was a text seminar leader at the Collegium Phaenomenologicum in Città di Castello, Italy, and is proud to have been a participant in Humberto Maturana’s Unseld Lecture Series at the University of Tübingen. For his research, he has been awarded grants from the U.S.’s National Endowment for the Humanities, its National Humanities Center’s Summer Institutes in Literary Studies, and under the American Philosophical Society’s Franklin Research Grant, which enabled him to study the Norbert Wiener Papers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research Fellow

Robert Sadleir

Robert is co-founder of QWB Lab whose mission is to unlock the value of wellbeing in communities and cities.

Robert’s interest is designing innovative economic solutions for a sustainable planet and building data narratives to generate insight and knowledge. His work is influenced by his operational experiences in international humanitarian operations and systems approaches to human resilience. He is an alumnus of the Impulse Program for Tech Innovators, Maxwell Centre, University of Cambridge.

He is an economist by training, with additional degrees in international relations and comparative religion. He also completed the ‘Peacekeeping, Staff and Command Course’ at the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Nova Scotia.

Research Fellow

Robin Hancock

Robin is a chartered ergonomist with a background in psychology and human factors. He also holds a diploma in Design for Sustainable Futures from the Open University. After starting in academic research at Loughborough University following his MSc in human factors, he has worked as a consultant across a wide range of projects including systems engineering with London Underground, design of medical devices for surgeons and the development of an augmented reality system at the National Physical Laboratory.

More recently he has been helping renewable energy suppliers improve their software interfaces and vertical farming pioneers improve the efficiency of their workspace. He is particularly interested in the role of smart cities, service design, human factors and techniques such as participatory action research in encouraging sustainable development and resilience at a city level.

Research Fellow

Sally Britton

Sally Britton has worked as an organisation consultant, trainer and facilitator since 1988, helping organisations to enable their people to maximise their potential and contribute effectively in the workplace. Her clients include multi-national companies, social businesses, governments, government agencies and NGOs.

She was chair of EIRIS for over seven years, a social enterprise and leading, global provider of research into the environmental, social, governance and ethical performance of companies.

Sally set up and managed two supported housing associations and was formerly a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She has a Master’s Degree in Responsibility and Business Practice (University of Bath, 2000) and was an Associate of the Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice at Bath University. She qualified as a Social Systems Lead Auditor. Her particular interests include responsible finance and human rights in business.

Research Fellow

Sara Zaltash

ara Zaltash is an artist creating bold contemporary projects that enact an evolving engagement with political, philosophical and spiritual realities. Her work is disarmingly personable, enchantingly direct and prone to radicalism. Out of popular movements, digital lives and ancient practices, Sara seeks frontiers, pioneers and revolutions.

Born in Reading (UK) in 1985 to Iranian parents, Sara Zaltash has lived, studied and worked in Bristol (UK), San Francisco (USA), London (UK), Tehran (IRI) and Leeds (UK), as well as presenting work all over the UK and in Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Bucharest (RO) and Kaunas (LI).

Sara holds a BA Theatre, Film and Television (Bristol, 2008), a Postgraduate Language Certificate in Persian Language and Literature (Tehran, 2010), an MA Performance, Culture, Context (Leeds, 2012), and a Graduate Diploma in Law (BPP).

Sara is the creator and project manager of one day : Day One – Resilience, a participatory artwork  developed in partnership with the Schumacher Institute, which connects with cities around the world that are committed to becoming more resilient in their approach to the future.

Learning Team

Sarah Denie

Sarah is a macro-economist and educator with a Masters degree in International Economic Studies from Maastricht University (NL).

Having started her career as a global strategy analyst in the financial sector, she soon decided to take her interests in human rights and ecological integrity seriously, and changed profession to become a researcher for Dutch and international NGOs. While researching a wide variety of industries and their persistent unsustainable social and environmental practices, Sarah became increasingly interested in the deeper drivers of the system. She returned to her original field of economics and self-educated in a wide range of economic alternatives.

Through Beautiful Economy, Sarah works as an independent teacher, trainer and curriculum developer. Her expertise lie in combining insights from sustainability, new economics and philosophy to create engaging learning programmes which foster personal and professional transformation towards social and ecological integrity. Sarah has worked with the more progressive programmes in new economics and sustainable leadership (Schumacher College, Leaders for Economic Change, Knowmads Business School) as well as in more mainstream education (University College Utrecht, and Nyenrode Business School).

Research Fellow

Sarah Toy

Sarah is a chartered civil engineer with 27 years’ experience working in the public, private, not-for-profit and academic sectors. She has worked on a wide range of infrastructure projects from motorways to cycle lanes and flood defences to low-cost water and sanitation systems in Africa, Asia and South America. Many of her roles have involved building multi-disciplinary teams with engineers, public health experts, community development specialists and economists to work across traditional boundaries and achieve shared long-term goals such as improved population health.

She has always been particularly interested in sustainable urban mobility and has spent the last 15 years developing her understanding of how people’s daily lifestyle choices and behaviours can be influenced or “nudged” through a combination of hard (physical) and soft (social marketing) measures: for example, how to gain to compliance with speed limits or encourage active travel modes over the car.

In her most recent role as Strategic Resilience Officer for Bristol, she worked closely with two elected mayors and built a strong coalition of city leaders to embed the Resilience Strategy in city-wide policy, planning and practice. This has led to an increasing interest in researching city leadership models, which focus on creating inclusive, healthy cities for future generations.

Research Fellow

Sheleagh Llewellyn

After completing BA (Hons) Communication Studies in 1983, Sheleagh became interested in how community action can lead to change. She joined Cardiff Housing Co-operative, worked in a Printing co-operative, became involved with South Wales Women’s Film Group and co-founded ‘Honno”, the first Welsh women’s press. During the 90’s she managed a housing project based in South Riverside Community Development, at a time when the local area was chosen for neighbourhood renewal. As part of the renewal, Sheleagh became actively involved in various projects and campaigns to protect and improve this inner-city neighbourhood.

Sheleagh describes her work as a job of weaving, rather than climbing a ladder, she is interested in the idea of organic change, that comes from the fabric of community life, by building the capacity and confidence of individuals and organisations to be resilient and have belief in their dreams and ambitions.  Over the last 35 years she has worked with a number of different charities and community organisations and along the way she has acquired a toolkit of knowledge, skills and understanding that encompasses different approaches to community action and development, community safety, organisational development, managing conflict, impact assessment, social research, training and facilitation, active citizenship, local and global networking and fundraising.

Sheleagh is currently chairperson of South Riverside Community Development Centre, which manages 3 community buildings, and specialises in building a partnership to create practical solutions to community needs.  She also works as a fundraising consultant with Richard Newton Consulting and as a freelance consultant.

Having attended a number of Schumacher Institute events, she is interested in exploring the potential for linking citizenship and learning with the systems thinking approach. She is currently working with Jen Loyd-Pain, Schumacher fellow and wildlife educator, to establish Wild-space Wardens, which aims to train volunteers to take care of the wildlife near to their home.

Research Fellow

Simon Gill

Dr Simon Gill PhD BEng (Hons) CEng MRAeS 

Simon’s background is in risk, safety and resilience within the aviation industry. With a degree in engineering and a PhD in psychology, he has always sought a better way of developing products and services to put people at the centre, preventing error and managing risks to individuals and corporations. As Human Factors Manager for Airbus, Simon developed methods to improve maintenance human factors. He has adapted these concepts for use within health and social care and has developed software to support decision-making within these settings. He is a member of Q, the UK National Health Service initiative to improve Quality and Patient Safety and is the founder of the Organisational Resilience Special Interest Group.

Fellow

Stephen Hilton

Stephen Hilton, MSc, MA

Stephen, a fervent advocate for regenerative economies and socially driven innovation boasts a diverse academic and professional background, which has primed him for navigating complex societal challenges with innovative responses. Following his Fine Arts degree, he ventured into social research, graduating with distinction in Social Research Methods. Stephen’s pioneering work in technology and democracy earned him acclaim as Local Government Innovator of the Year. Rising to Director of the council’s Bristol Futures Department, he led groundbreaking approaches to sustainable urban development, including Chairing the Bristol Resilient Cities programme and helping secure Bristol European Green Capital 2015. Founding City Global Futures, Stephen fosters equitable, sustainable and smart places.

Navigating the world with lifelong severe sight impairment, Stephen remains dedicated to promoting accessibility and inclusion in all facets of life. Graduating from Dartington’s Schumacher College with distinction in Regenerative Economics, Stephen continues to reshape entrenched systems through initiatives like Slowmentum, translating regenerative principles into actionable practices across the Bristol and Bath communities.

Research Fellow

Steve Maslin

Steve is an architect whose specialism is design and advice around people’s needs.  He is a Design Council CABE Built Environment Expert and director of his own company, Building User Design (Solutions Ltd).

He is also a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the National register of Access Consultants, the Building Research Establishment Global Standing Panel of Experts and several British Standards Institute committee.

Steve has personal experience of enabling education, while family life has given him a significant experience of diversity. He has worked within architectural practice, Shelter, housing associations, social services and local authority; and voluntarily within re-entry housing and youth projects. He takes particular interest in social sustainability, user/customer experiences, design for the mind and design for operability; whilst emphasising the significance of engaging project managers, facilities mangers, human resource managers and other stakeholders.

He believes that enabling and positive user experiences of built environments, informed by stakeholder engagement, leads to greater well being, organisational effectiveness and therefore increased social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Research Fellow

Suzan Joy

Suzan is an environmentalist, systems thinker and a community advocate passionate about collaborative actions that aim at supporting the wellbeing of people and the planet!

A co-founder and former director of Solidarity Uganda, an organization committed to training and supporting victims of injustice. Coordinated with movements across Africa and collaboratively trained hundreds in civil resistance and strategic nonviolence. She consults regularly for civil society and international grant-making organizations alongside grassroots community projects!

She recently pioneered the creation of the food Hackathon Uganda, a project which aims at bridging the disconnect between smallholder farmers and support available. This has evolved into Social Entrepreneurship Support for Food Security, operating in Uganda and Benin to connect social entrepreneurs working on food security to available social entrepreneurship support. With the aim to enhance food security in a sustainable way.

Suzan is the founder of Psychological and Economic Support for Women (PES4WOMEN) a network of women who collaborate to provide one another with emotional healing and economic independence so they can be fully nurturing beings to raise healthy generations

She is currently supporting the creation of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance East Africa hub to support grassroots movements across East Africa to be key drivers for the global movement for a wellbeing economy.

Research Fellow

Ted Fowler

Ted is a place-based practitioner in social and civic enterprise.

Ted left school at 16 and started his working life as a seasonal lambing shepherd and in sea fishing along with other seasonal crops, across Europe and labouring included in his yearly cycle for 7 years.  He came to Bristol in 1980 “got involved and learning” and five years later he took on the role of elected County Councillor for Ashley Ward (inner city).  He gained lead responsibilities for complex issues around policing, education, health, race and the built environment in his ward and competitive tendering, schools and FE delivery, equal opportunities, flood prevention and community development across the County.  Ted worked nights as a postie at the time.

While working for the public sector Ted developed and led Bristol City Council’s social and small business development programmes, connecting entrepreneurs and support agencies, developing partnerships to improve the range, depth and quality of performance, and accessing finance to establish these changes.  Before then he led the growth of Bristol Community Transport from a community project to becoming a substantial trading social enterprise.

Ted has played a leading role in developing the Bristol and Bath Regional Capital, City Academy Bristol,  Easton Community Nursery, Bristol Credit Union, the Malcolm X Centre, the Community Development Finance Association (“Responsible Finance”),  Immigration and Nationality Advice Services, VOSCUR, Bristol Community Transport, Creating Excellence and various inner-city community development, place-making and education initiatives.

In all these, his aim has been to maximise productive local engagement in making our city a better place to live and work. He has made substantial professional contributions to national and EU policy and best practices on business support and investment, financial inclusion, inward investment and relocations (major companies),  financial and economic inclusion, procurement, social value, incubation and asset transfer.

Research Fellow

Tom Stedall

Tom Stedall is a researcher, writer and software developer. His background is in the sciences, holding an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Bristol for research spanning physics, biology and computing. He also spent time at the California Institute of Integral Studies, studying in philosophy and religion. He is interested in all aspects of sustainable energy and food production, and currently works in renewable energy. His deep, connecting interest, drawing on physics, biology, philosophy, psychology, religion, ecology, economics and development, is in consciousness and in the significance of the interfaces of science and spirituality for sustainability. He lives and works in Bristol, with active collaborations in the UK and US.

Fellow

Trevor Hilder

Trevor went to university in 1969 to study Theoretical Physics. But when he got there, he discovered the joys of other disciplines and emerged with a degree in Theology & Philosophy instead.

He qualified as a teacher and then moved into ICT in 1974.

He set up the first ICT training department at Tesco Headquarters in Cheshunt in 1977, then moved into systems programming. He wrote one of the first database systems to run on the IBM PC and has since managed ICT projects in many industries.

Trevor learned systems thinking from Professor Stafford Beer and applies it to solving complex problems with carefully selected small teams of people.

He is deeply interested in the history of science, religion, and technology and how the relationship between these has evolved since the dawn of civilisation. He is interested in applying these insights to practical steps to make the world a better place.

Research Fellow

Zoe Young

Zoe Young is a writer, speaker and documentarist. Her reports from frontlines of nature, culture and power give voice to the voiceless; bring balance by bridging worlds. She shows films, addresses audiences and publishes internationally. Her book “A New Green Order: The World Bank and the Politics of the Global Environmental Facility” was described as ‘illuminating, heartfelt and highly profound.