Latest News & Views - Black Mountains College

The latest news, views and ideas from us, and our advisors and partners. To find out about upcoming events take a look at What’s On.

Reading, Writing and Publishing in a Changing Climate

19 September 2023 Conservation

This post is from a talk given by Ben Rawlence at The Hurst, March 16 2023. It covers ground many of you will have wondered about yourselves: The relationship between publishing and the environment, and the role of both authors and… Read more

Our New Trustee: Sophie Howe

4 July 2023 Guest Blog, News

We're delighted to announce that Sophie Howe will be joining our fantastic board of trustees. Read about Sophie and her experience below: Sophie Howe is an advisor to governments institutions and corporates on embedding wellbeing economics and future generations… Read more

Black Mountains College in the Media

27 February 2023 News

Read all about our mission, in the words of well-known media channels! Can a new university breathe life into Britain’s climate education? Black Mountains College in Wales, and its co-founder Ben Rawlence, is advocating a wartime-style overhaul of the… Read more

An Essay By Ben Rawlence – “Public Education in an Era of Planetary Emergency”

22 February 2023 Uncategorised

CEO of Black Mountains College, Ben Rawlence, shares his thoughts on public education in a rapidly changing world. Good afternoon. Hi, I’m Ben. I’m 48 years old. I was born in Salisbury in Wiltshire at 330 ppm. But now I… Read more

A New Story – Black Mountains College

31 October 2022 Guest Blog

Claire Gardner, Network Coordinator at Be the Earth, shares her experience of, “A New Story – Imagine, Transform, Adapt” – a 3-Day retreat at Black Mountains College. Keep scrolling to find out more. My experience at the retreat was wholesome to say the… Read more

An Essay by Jenny Watt: “From ego-systems to eco-systems. How heart-centred practices offer a way forward to heal our economy”

10 May 2022 Guest Blog

Thoughts on embodied learning from our of our supporters.. Jenny Watt is currently pursuing a MA in Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College. From ego-systems to eco-systems How heart-centred practices offer a way forward to heal our economy “Those who contemplate the… Read more

Meet Shirish! Our Newest Trustee…

13 January 2022 Guest Blog, News

BMC are very proud to welcome Shirish Kulkarni to our Board of Trustees! Shirish is an award-winning investigative journalist, researcher and community organiser, with 25 years’ experience working in all the UK’s major broadcast newsrooms. More recently he’s worked on… Read more

The Treeline – Ben Rawlence

6 January 2022 News

Ben Rawlence is an award winning writer, activist, former speech writer to Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy and co-founder. Ben wrote two books about the human consequences of environmental catastrophe in Africa: Radio Congo about the people living in… Read more

What’s missing from COP? Climate education and a theory of change – Ben Rawlence

22 November 2021 Uncategorised

Do you remember those terrifying AIDS adverts in the 1980s showing a tombstone and an iceberg? For anyone of TV watching age at the time, the adverts with the strapline, "Don't Die of Ignorance" were unforgettable. It was a masterclass… Read more

COP26 & Nature Friendly Farming Network

20 October 2021 News

BMC, alongside many other organisations, are supporting the Nature Friendly Farming Network in the generation of the below letter, which will be sent to Wales First Minister, the Minister for Rural Affairs, the Minister for Climate Change, and the Deputy… Read more

Lynn Clausen on Working with BMC

20 October 2021 Further Education, Guest Blog, Higher Education

It is a privilege to be working with BMC, as teacher-trainer and course facilitator. To further the core goals of the BMC, I have applied for and being accepted as one of twenty fellows starting my journey on the Bard… Read more

The BMC Degree – Education as if People and Planet Matter

13 October 2021 Guest Blog, Higher Education

Education as if People and Planet Matter The rationale for Black Mountains College By Natalia Eernstman and Ben Rawlence Before the pandemic quashed mass gatherings, young people worldwide flocked to the streets to express their dismay with the status quo.… Read more

The Repertoire of Thinking by Susan Milne

27 September 2021 Guest Blog, News

In response to the government announcement, July 2021, of 50% cuts to arts subjects at higher education level, Paula Orrell the Director of Contemporary Visual Arts Network commented "They (government) need to find an economic solution to empower the future… Read more

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – The Expression of a Nation’s Progress

16 August 2021 Guest Blog, News

A blog by Prof. Alan Lovell, a member of our Advisory Board, exploring the suitability of using GDP to measure the success of a nation. Much has been written on the inappropriateness of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the expression… Read more

Through a Different Lense

5 August 2021 Uncategorised

This newsletter is dedicated to alternatives to focusing on GDP growth, such as measuring well-being through considering physical and mental health, pollution levels, non-recycled waste, the gender pay gap, volunteer numbers and over 40 other indicators. It also addresses 'happiness'… Read more

Black Mountains College Discovery Day

5 July 2021 Uncategorised, Conservation, News, Events

We had a great time on Saturday, at our first 'Discovery Day'. Our aim for the day was to share our vision for BMC, our plans for the campus and our courses. We met loads of people, had some brilliant… Read more

Living in Circles

25 May 2021 Conservation, Further Education, News

BMC’s vocational programme is now open for applications. We have developed our first offering in further education around three ‘future’ skills that we believe will be important and necessary as our economy transitions to a more sustainable footing. We have… Read more

The Electric Future of Forestry and Farming

28 April 2021 Further Education

This week BMC had the pleasure of test-driving the new Polaris electric All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) designed for off-road work in agriculture and forestry. Usk and Wye Valley ATV demonstrated the vehicle in Park Wood, Talgarth for the benefit of partners from… Read more

Welsh Farming – All Change?

25 March 2021 Conservation, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Havard Prosser, BMC Trustee and former Chief Environmental Adviser at Welsh Government explores the future of Welsh Farming. We have reached a critical phase in the history of Welsh agriculture. In a draft White Paper published in December 2020, the Welsh… Read more

BMC’s campus

26 January 2021 Uncategorised

We are thrilled that we have secured a 50 year lease on Troed-yr-Harn Farm. Troed yr Harn farm is 1 mile south of Talgarth, and will be our launch campus. We've been a bit quiet in the last year, but… Read more

What is a University?

5 January 2021 Further Education, Higher Education

In our most recent meeting with the Youth Panel, our academic lead and author of Who are Universities for?, Professor Tom Sperlinger, led a discussion asking 'What is a university and who is it for?'. Tom asked us (5 members… Read more

Help us make BMC a diverse, accessible and inclusive college, by BMC Co-Founder, Owen Sheers

18 November 2020 News

Our plan for Black Mountains College to be a pivotal catalyst in transforming society has a number of dependencies. The most obvious are funding and premises, but the most important is that we have the right people shaping and building… Read more

#Futuregen – Lessons from a small country, by Jane Davidson.

22 July 2020 Uncategorised, Conservation, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Why we must put Future Generations at the heart of all policy thinking – in the interests of us all. I’m a baby boomer. And I’ve often worried that my generation are not good ancestors. I believe it’s time for… Read more

Soil – the lifeblood of the planet

14 July 2020 Conservation, Guest Blog, News

Octavia Hopwood is a microbiologist, soil ecologist, and environmental presenter. Her guest blog is about soil, its phenomenal properties, the effects of our 'management' of it, and how it can be part of the solution. Soil is the lifeblood of… Read more

The future of fire: Is there a sustainable future for combustion?

2 July 2020 Uncategorised, Guest Blog, News

William Gold is a research associate at the University of South Wales working on science communication and circular economy for the RICE project and, in his guest blog, examines the role of combustion in a sustainable future. For over a… Read more

The sound of a village, dreaming…

26 June 2020 News

BMC itself is an invitation to dream. Can we dare to imagine a different higher education experience? One taught outdoors, based around re-connecting us to nature, bringing together all that we know about how humans learn to empower students to… Read more

Dreaming the Future

26 June 2020 Higher Education, News

Building Back Better, The Great Reset, The Great Re-think, The Green Recovery, The New Normal, Not Back to Normal… the human race seems keen to use the global shutdown as a springboard for change. Everyone is talking about doing things… Read more

Combining art and science to address the challenges of our time. A dancer’s perspective on BMC, by Kirstie Simon.

24 June 2020 Uncategorised

Professor of Dance at the University of Illinois. In such tumultuous times, when humanity faces an uncertain future and we have a growing awareness that our perspective on life needs to shift dramatically, it is timely to grapple with the… Read more

Decolonising the Curriculum, by Ben Rawlence

9 June 2020 Higher Education, News

Black Lives Matter is not just a series of protests on the streets of America. It is a long-overdue call for re-examining the ways we see, talk, think, live and work. Re-imaginations, transformations, whether personal, social or institutional are difficult,… Read more

Thinking Like a Forest

28 May 2020 Guest Blog, News

We’re thrilled that Diana Beresford-Kroeger is speaking at the inaugural Black Mountains College Lecture at Hay (digital) Festival on May 31st. Register and join us online. This got Ben thinking… we need to think like a forest. My friend Keith can… Read more

Which way will the world flip after Covid-19?

14 May 2020 Conservation, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Colin Tudge hopes for an Agrarian Renaissance Biologist, writer and co-founder of the Campaign for Real Farming, Colin Tudge is our guest blogger. Everyone – even governments! – is acknowledging that the world can never be the same again after… Read more

Regenerative Horticulture for a sustainable future. By Rashid Benoy

22 April 2020 Conservation, Further Education, Guest Blog, News

For the past few months, I have been doing the groundwork with the BMC team to prepare for the planned Regenerative Horticulture course. Regenerative Horticulture is an umbrella term that encompasses the principles of permaculture (holistic design that simulates natural… Read more

Black Mountains College and our Sustainable Development Goals

16 April 2020 News

by Dr. Libby Pearson THE (Times Higher Education) recently published its Sustainability Impact Dashboard, a tool to empower universities to achieve their sustainability goals. Sustainability and our impact on climate change has always been at the heart of BMC's vision for… Read more

Sue Pritchard on sustainable farming, food and Black Mountains College

14 April 2020 Conservation, Further Education, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Sue Pritchard, Director of the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission, talks about sustainable food, farming and land use, and how Black Mountains College is best practice in education in the light of the urgent need for transformation. With a guest… Read more

Why Black Mountains College is Important: An Artist’s Perspective. By Heather Ackroyd

12 March 2020 Conservation, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Heather Ackroyd, of artist duo Ackroyd and Harvey tells us in her video how BMC will be an important driver of the transition for the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-Ku_M0W0U Read more

Inspiration from Vitra Campus

5 March 2020 News

Libby went on a trip to Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein last week to imagine what a BMC campus could look like. The Swiss furniture manufacturer's campus is an architectural inspiration. The buildings work with the surrounding residential areas… Read more

Why Black Mountains College is Important: A Conservationist’s Perspective. By Sir Tim Smit KBE

12 February 2020 Conservation, Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Black Mountains College is possibly the UK’s most exciting and important development in education. It draws together strands of humanities and science into an un-siloed whole, enabling students and teachers to understand the interconnections of all things. Only then can they… Read more

The Black Mountains College Campus

11 February 2020 News

ARWAIN works with Powys County Council to get local people, businesses and communities involved in delivering sustainable, innovative solutions to address some of the economic, social and environmental challenges facing Powys. ARWAIN funded our options appraisal project, which we ran… Read more

Why Black Mountains College is Important: An Author’s Perspective. By Sir Michael Morpurgo OBE

3 February 2020 Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Over recent centuries we have become ever more separated from the planet on which we live. We have used it up mercilessly, squandered the precious resources, ignore its needs, forgotten that our survival and the planet’s survival are mutually dependant.… Read more

Why Black Mountains College is Important: An Academic’s Perspective. By David J. Helfand

29 January 2020 Guest Blog, Higher Education, News

Prof. of Astronomy, Columbia University Chair, American Institute of Physics President Emeritus, American Astronomical Society President Emeritus, Quest University Canada I have been privileged to participate in a number of meetings over the past few years with those planning a… Read more

Why Black Mountains College is Important: A Farmer’s Perspective

20 January 2020 Guest Blog, News

By Jeff Gwillim. My family have farmed the land above Talgarth since the 1700s and, in this time, much has changed and we are constantly learning to adapt to these changes. We run a traditional all-grass hill farm. That is… Read more

Growing Team – Community Training Coordinator

16 January 2020 News

Amanda Page joined the team at the start of the year as our new Community Training Coordinator. Amanda manages our vocational training programmes. Amanda founded a Community Interest Company called Gap Learning that delivered a programme of courses for all ages… Read more

And now we are three…

17 December 2019 News

We have a new-ish member of the team. Emma Bald is now running our communications and marketing. Emma's worked in marketing and communications for a couple of decades, running the Department of Health's and Department for Educations' digital campaigns for… Read more

Discovery Day

29 November 2019 Further Education, News, Events

Last week we held our first Discovery Day for our NVQ course in seasonal catering which will be on offer from September 2020. Five students from Gwernyfed High School came, along with their teacher. They started with a tour of… Read more

The Story so Far

28 November 2019 News

On a wintry night in 2016, with wind rattling the windows, Ben and his neighbour Owen talked about the frightening future that their young daughters would inherit. We all knew then and still know now that our society and our… Read more

Go to top

Date	Awarding Body	Subject/unit/module	Level	Result

Date	Awarding Body	Subject/unit/module	Level	Result

Names and addresses of recent employers	Nature of work	From (mm/yyyy)	To (mm/yyyy)	Full-time or Part-time

Qualification & Grades	School/College/University	Date

Qualification & Grades	School/College/University	Date