At Communicate 2023: Together for Nature, we’re bringing together 75 fantastic speakers and chairs across the online, Bristol, Manchester and London programmes of talks, panel discussions, workshops, and masterclasses.
This year we are hosting a tremendous diversity of speakers all passionate about environmental communication. Get to know some of them now by listening to their podcasts or watching their talks below!
Online
Dr Amy Clarke is the Deputy Director of The Centre for Hate Studies based at the University of Leicester. Her podcast Hidden Hate explores some difficult and topical questions about the causes and solutions associated with online and offline hate.
Megan Reitz is Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Hult International Business School. She has spoken on a number of podcast episodes discussing employee activism and how to speak up.You can also watch her TED Talks “How to lead in the new era of employee optimism” and “How your power silences truth”.
Alex Fearon is a creative email marketing specialist and founder of Maybe Later. She features on the Do More Good podcast episode Crafting the perfect email.
Mohammed Afridi is the Director of Organising at the Civic Power Fund. He has featured on the podcast It’s bloody complicated discussing community power and what it means.
Patrick Devine-Wright is the Director of ACCESS (Advancing Capacity in Climate and Environment Social Science) . He features on the Exeplore podcast: Climate Change – community is key discussing the actions needed to reach net zero in the UK.
Michael Clemence is the Engagement Manager for Trends & Foresight at Ipsos. You can watch his mini-series about understanding Generation Z audiences with the first episode Who are Generation Z?.
Kalpana Arias is a technologist, urban greening activist, gardener and food growing educator, writer, speaker and the founder of Nowadays On Earth. Watch her TED talk “How to connect to nature in the digital age”.
Bristol
Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE is an environmental psychologist and Director of the UK Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST). She has featured on the Transport Talks podcast discussing Behaviour change for net-zero mobility. You can also listen to her interview with GDST “In Conversation With…” to hear more about her career.
Roy Kareem is the Director of Bright Green Future. He has previously featured on Voices for Nature podcast discussing the Black and Green Ambassadors project, which connects and celebrates diversity in environmental issues. You can also listen to his talk “Nature, creativity and coaching”.
Anna Jones is a rural affairs journalist, author, broadcaster, and television producer. She has presented and produced a wide range of rural affairs programs for the BBC which you can listen to here.
George Rhodes is the Director of All Able and Digital Accessibility Lead at University of Westminster. He has featured on the Sight and Sound Technology podcast here.
Shannon Walker is the Founder of Social Disruption. She has featured on the Social Day podcast discussing “Diversity, inclusivity and the influencer pay gap”.
Barney Speed-Grenfell is Owner and Founder of Ignited Presenting. You can learn more about his TEDxBristol Project “Dare to Disrupt” which explores how the ‘positive disruptors’ are demanding better in todays society.
Manchester
Jon Alexander is the author of CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, and co-founder of the New Citizenship Project. He recently featured on BBC Radio4 episode Killing the Consumer. He has also been interviewed about his book here, been a speaker for the Carnegie Council From another angle: the way we see ourselves and the RSA How to see ourselves as citizens.
Rebecca Roberts is Founder of Thread & Fable and a communications professional, specialising in youth audiences. She hosts The Hear it Podcast which aims to better engage youth audiences within marketing and communications.
Jason Williams, also known as ‘Cloud Gardener’, is a multi RHS Award Winning Garden Designer and Social Media Communicator. He hosts the Cloud Talk podcast discussing gardening and mental health. You can also visit his YouTube channel which explores ways to garden even in an urban environment.
London
Melissa Marselle is a Lecturer of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey and a core member of the Environmental Psychology Research Group. She has featured on Audible to discuss Nature and health in an urban setting and on the Hoare Lee Exploration podcast episode Environmental psychology with Dr Melissa Marselle.
Joseph Bull is an ecologist, conservation scientist and practitioner: currently Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, and co-founder of Wild Business Ltd. He features on the Nature Recovery Podcast episode Nature positive with Joseph Bull.
Phoebe Weston is a biodiversity writer for the Guardian. She has featured on their Science Weekly podcast episode Killing the skydancer about illegal raptor persecution in the UK.
Nicky Hawkins is a framing and insight consultant at Heard. She has featured on the Sounds Like a Plan podcast episode Storytelling with Nicky Hawkins discussing media storytelling around the climate crisis.
Timandra Harkness is a writer, broadcaster and presenter. She hosts her own podcast called Timandra Harkness takes a risk to see what risk means to different people. She has also presented pieces for Newsnight and The Guardian.
Luke Tryl is UK Director at More in Common. He has featured on the no Man’s Land Podcast on episode Finding common ground with Luke Tryl to discuss the divides in UK society.
Kirsty Sedgman is an award-winning cultural studies scholar at University of Bristol. She has featured on the USA Today 5 Things podcast episode Why are so many people behaving badly? as well as the Human Risk podcast episode Dr Kirsty Sedgman on Being Unreasonable.
Solitaire Townsend is Co-founder & Chief Solutionist at Futerra. You can watch her TED talk “Are ad agencies, PR firms and lobbyists destroying the climate?” or talk with Solutions House “How to be a Solutionist”.
Steve Simpson is the Professor of Marine Biology & Global Change at the University of Bristol. You can listen to his TED talk “Changing the soundtrack of the ocean” about how humans are altering ocean soundscapes.
Danielle Mulder is a Net Zero specialist and BBC Group Director of Sustainability. You can listen to her previous Communicate talk In conversation with… with the Natural History Consortium.
Gaby Hornsby is TV Lead for Sustainability at the BBC. You can listen to her talk 10 years of impact across the BBC, Are we making a difference? and Measuring and quantifying impact with The Green Planet about how natural history TV can drive positive environmental change.
