Ann has worked in the environmental and education field for over 30 years. After a stint as a countryside ranger in Scotland, she began travelling the world teaching, facilitating and consulting in places such as Papua New Guinea, Australia and Canada.

She was Head of Education/Social Change at WWF-UK and the Commissioner for Education and Capability Building for the Sustainable Development Commission (2005-2010).

Ann took on the job of revamping CEE, now SEEd in 2008 and has enjoyed seeing it grow back to national significance as well as sharing her expertise. She is passionate about the role of learning in sustainability and for it to be about real people, real opportunities and real responsibilities.

ann.finlayson@se-ed.org.uk

Claudi is an operations manager with many years of experience working in educational, business, and community settings. She is also a community organiser and founder of Stroud District Action on Plastic, an award-winning volunteer group working with individuals, schools, businesses, local government and community groups that are setting out to reduce their plastic footprint. Author of Small Steps to Less Waste – Stories to Inspire Change, published in 2021 by Hawthorn Press, Claudi has taken part in BBC national news and radio programmes and has spoken at many events, such as Womad, Hawkwood College Seed Festival and Climate Action Labs, and the Cabinet Office’s Zero Waste week. 

claudi@se-ed.org.uk

Sarah has a background in working with young people, initially as a social worker and then in secondary education with an emphasis on mental health. She also has business experience from setting up and running enterprises, including a well-being therapy centre in Gloucestershire. Sarah has extensive experience in environmental activism – working towards systemic change with the Stop Ecocide campaign, and at a grassroots level in environmentalism and sustainability through Earth Protector Communities. Food equity and food resilience in local communities have been key areas of focus for Sarah through the pandemic and beyond.

sarah@se-ed.org.uk

Rachael is a poet and fiction writer based in Manchester. Coming from a background in youth work, inclusion and engagement, and sustainability, better outcomes for the future for everyone are close to her heart and she would like to see tools for achieving this shared far and wide.

Rachael studies Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, and is interested in exploring environmental and social issues through the written word. In her free time she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and adventuring.

admin@se-ed.org.uk

Cathy is a Senior Lecturer in Education for Sustainability (EfS) and a Senior Fellow of the HEA. She leads modules on Global Issues and Culture and Communication at Oxford Brookes University and has been working in education for over 30 years in the UK and Spain.

She is passionate about sustainability education and is presently leading the Future Pathways Education for Sustainable Development ESD Project, and working on embedding sustainability teaching and learning across the university. She is interested in the theory of change and transformative learning, and how we can reframe cultural narratives for a fairer, fitter future for everyone.

A previous participant on the SEEd Changemakers course, Cathy was delighted to become part of the SEEd family, initially as part of their hard-working board. She has now taken up the role of Chair and is honoured to be part of guiding, supporting and promoting SEEd’s invaluable work on making change happen.

See profile above.

James has been a partner in a firm of independent financial adviser for 25 years, educating people to make better financial decisions, and is interested in transferring this skill to SEEd by changing the word ‘financial’ to ‘environmental.’ James is keen to help create new relationships between SEEd and local business. Since becoming a grandfather, and being frightened and saddened by the predictions in the 2018 IPCC report, he has become increasingly more engaged with environmental issues and has been actively supporting Extinction Rebellion’s call for government to tell the truth and act accordingly. James is keen to spend time planting trees, protesting, and helping disseminate positive initiatives.

Jane is former magazine journalist turned TV executive. Experience includes TV Production, International Distribution, Broadcasting and M&A. Now at Sky, she has established a production portfolio, and distribution division, Sky Vision, growing the business by 2000% over six years, restructuring Sky Vision, and joining Sky’s new production initiative, Sky Studios, as Chief Commercial Officer. Jane is a Board member of UK TV Production companies: Love Productions, Blast Films, True North, Sugar Films, Avanti Media; and of US TV Production companies: Jupiter Entertainment, Znak & Co, Talos Films. She is also a Board member of Edinburgh TV Festival Council and Edinburgh International Television Festival Ltd, a Trustee of Royal Television Society, BAFTA member and film voter, member of International Academy of Arts and Sciences (Emmys), and Co-owner of Darbyshire Limited, fine art framing and art fabrication business. Jane lives in Stroud with husband Paul, teenage sons Billy and Joe, Seamus the dog, and six sheep. She is an avid scuba diver, enthusiastic mixologist and terrible surfer, with unbridled passion for all three!

With 30 years of experience in journalism and business, Jane is keen to put her skills and expertise to use in a not-for-profit organisation – to give back. She is interested in environmentalism, and finds the fusion of environmentalism in education particularly compelling. She wholeheartedly supports the holistic, whole school, approach of SEEd.

Doug is an environmentalist and educator and a lifelong protagonist of learning for the environment and sustainability. Following 30-years as a director with the Wildlife Trusts and at the Wildfowl and Wetlands, Doug became an independent advisor to the heritage and environmental sectors in 2006. He was a Baord member for English Nature and its successor, Natural England, served as a Trustee for the Heritage Lottery Fund, led the Public Engagement Group for DEFRA, and now currently Chairs the National Trust SW Regional Advisory Board and is a newly elected member of the NT Council, he took over as Chair of the Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership in August 2018, and was, until recently, Chair of the Jurassic Coast Trust and the Earth Trust. Now completing an eco house project near Stroud, for the last two years he has been revisiting his radical roots in the ecological movement and exploring the mechanics of systemic change.

Dr Katy Wheeler is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex. She is currently undertaking a research project about Education for Sustainable Development. She has looked at a range of educational resources developed by various NGO’s and private organisations to learn how young people are mobilised as citizen-consumers through these resources. Her previous research has explored sustainable/ethical consumption in different countries. She has published numerous articles and two books ‘Fair Trade and the Citizen-Consumer: Shopping for Justice’ (Palgrave, 2012) and ‘Household Recycling and Consumption Work: Social and Moral Economies’ (Palgrave, 2015, with Miriam Glucksmann). She is delighted to join the team at SEEd and looks forward to finding ways to co-produce and disseminate research about ESD, as well as to support the work that they do.

Morgan is a Senior Consultant for public services consultancy Mutual Ventures, with a focus on children’s social care, local growth, and healthcare; she has been involved with SEEd in different roles since 2010. Morgan previously spent eight years as a civil servant, working across seven central Government departments, with a range of policy, project management and strategy roles. She previously trained as an English as a Foreign Language teacher in China, was seconded to a criminal justice charity to develop their first monitoring and evaluation strategy, and developed sustainable transport options in private consultancy for local government. Morgan provides public sector experience, impact measurement knowledge and a corporate and commercial background to support SEEd in improving its internal policies, and measuring its outreach and impact.