Our People

Andre is an experienced academic based on the borders of Wales with a background in environmental social movements and cooperatives, and an interest in critical pedagogical approaches. A geographer by background, his research and teaching has focused on social movements, the commons and social justice. He has published on grassroots movements for climate justice, urban activist struggles for the right to the city and the production of the commons and struggles around the purpose and future orientation of higher education. Andre has a broad range of teaching and course leadership experience having taught across an array of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and been a Course Leader for several programmes. In the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, where he completed his PhD he taught on the innovative MA in Activism and Social Change program.

A social scientist, geographer and science policy commeasure by training. He has introduced research-led summer school, workshops, exhibitions and field trips as extracurricular activities to engage students in critical pedagogy and multimedia projects. A believer in practice-based learning and learning by doing to enhance students’ education experience, he uses interactive and reflexive pedagogy to promote group thinking. Currently working on climate adaptation and sustainability issues among marginalised littoral communities in the Indian Ocean region. He has worked at SOAS, Sussex, Yale, Manchester and Bristol universities.

Natalia is an artist and educator, interested in creating transformative learning spaces through artful, performative and experiential means. She holds a doctorate in community learning, climate change and the arts; and has taught in various community settings and across higher education (Arts / Environmental Education at graduate and post-grad levels). She specialises in creating spaces where communities can learn their way into an uncertain climate changed future. At BMC she teaches the creative modules as part of the Degree course, and manages the residential short courses for a very diverse set of audiences: from young people, to fund managers, parish councillors, faith leaders, artists, community leaders and everything in between.

A social science researcher by training, she has studied varied educational systems and practices, always with a focus on how students relate to and experience their education. She is interested in how we learn, how we can shift how we frame and interpret the world and how learning can transform us. She holds a doctorate in higher education research and has taught in undergraduate and post-graduate courses, as well as in forest school settings. She has also trained in Regenerative Horticulture at BMC.