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.

Caroline is a landscape archaeologist whose work explores the long-term relationships between people, places and the more-than-human world. Drawing on archaeology, geography and ecology she is interested in how the deep histories of places can help us think differently about the future, and how archaeological perspectives can contribute to contemporary conversations about ecology, nature restoration and systems change. She is particularly interested in place-based learning, encouraging students to engage critically with landscapes through observation, fieldwork and creative inquiry. Before joining Black Mountains College, Caroline taught Archaeology & Heritage at the University of Worcester.

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 our short courses and public education strategy for a very diverse set of audiences: from young people, to fund managers, parish councillors, faith leaders, artists, community leaders and everything in between.

Originally trained in sociology and politics, Patricia developed her research practice as an ethnographer at the Cardiff School of Ethnography. Her work explores how knowledge is created and shared in practice, with research spanning education, artificial intelligence, and regenerative and agroecological initiatives. She is particularly interested in how communities experiment with alternative ways of living and develop new understandings of technology, sustainability, and collective life.

As a lecturer at Black Mountains College, Patricia combines critical inquiry with practical engagement, encouraging students to explore how social, technological, and environmental change is experienced in everyday life. She is interested in place-based knowledge, creative responses to uncertainty, and imagining more caring, resilient, and regenerative futures.

Outside academia, Patricia enjoys exploring Welsh landscapes and native plants, herbal medicine, regenerative growing, horticulture, and self-sufficiency. Having grown up between Venezuela and Spain and now living in Wales, she is also interested in how people develop a sense of belonging across places, cultures, and landscapes.

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.

Vita has twenty years’ of experience researching the community and voluntary sector, developing specialisms in social justice and inequalities, community leadership and empowerment, and local level systems change. She is passionate about applying action research principles and using creative and participatory research methods to work with, for and by communities. She previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (The Open University) and the Third Sector Research Centre (University of Birmingham) where she successfully completed her PhD in 2017.

Vita has joined BMC as an Action Research Fellow on the C4 Project. This UK-wide programme, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), brings together communities and researchers through a “Community Catapult” model. The aim is to co-create practical solutions to social challenges by making sure community voices shape research and innovation. She is also currently Co-Chair of the Voluntary Sector Studies Network which aims to promote understanding of the voluntary sector and voluntary action through research, and provides a voice and space for voluntary sector researchers and practitioners.