Team

EarthSonic is a project by In Place of War. The following profiles are the core team members of the project ensuring the success and aimed impact of the project.

Ruth Daniels

CEO & Creative Director

Teresa Bean

Director of Research & Education

Rozenn Logan

Senior Producer, IPOW

Nikki Camilleri

Senior Producer, EarthSonic

Madi Cox

Admission & Communication Officer

Ailbhe Treacy

100 Agents of Climate Change Project & Outreach Manager

Vickie Amiralis

Music Label Development Manager

Saria Tourbah

Project Coordinator

Merlyn Driver

Archive Manager

Lexy Morvaridi

Emerging Artist Project Manager

Zivi Sainsbury

Ecoacoustics & Archive Advisor

Ruth Daniels

Ruth Daniel is CEO, Artistic Director, Activist, Change-Maker, Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester and proud owner of an old VW van.

As CEO of In Place of War, Ruth has led a diverse range of arts and peace-building initiatives across the globe. She has developed and implemented over a hundred cultural programmes in sites of conflict and disadvantage such as war zones, post war zones and areas of economic deprivation. She prepared numerous successful funding applications, recently receiving a £1million AHRC research grant for a 3 year programme that will explore how grassroots organisations can create social change using art.

From guitarist at the age of 8 to record label owner, band manager, fundraiser, international cultural activist, entrepreneur, educator, influential speaker (TEDx) to prestigious award winner within a national arena (Social Enterprise of the Year & Manchester Woman of Culture to name a couple), Ruth’s passion to empower people to build their own positive futures through creative entrepreneur programmes, the development of cultural spaces and artistic collaboration shows no boundaries in terms of fields of work.

Teresa Bean

Teresa leads on research activities at In Place of War, including research papers, evaluation and impact, research funding proposals and academic partnerships. Building on her postgraduate studies and field work with IPOW, her research interests include art based social movements. She is currently working on a project led by Prof. Oliver Richmond (University of Manchester) exploring the role of community approaches to arts based peacebuilding.

In addition to this, she has played a key role in developing In Place of War’s education programmes. As a former teacher, she wrote the CASE (Creative and Social Entrepreneur Programme) and has overseen the delivery of education programmes in Uganda, Colombia, South Africa and the MENA. The Programme has been recognised by the University of Manchester for social impact. Teresa is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.

Rozenn Logan

Rozenn is a Senior Producer with a background in multidisciplinary arts, curating, engagement and event production. Upon completing a degree in Fine Art Painting at the University of Brighton, she began working as an artist educator in London and internationally. She subsequently worked for three years as Head of Education at the Saatchi Gallery, where she designed and developed an artist-led, accessible engagement programme for schools, young people, families and community groups. In 2018 Rozenn gained a Master's Degree with Distinction in Contemporary Curating from Manchester School of Art. As Senior Producer at In Place of War, Rozenn manages a portfolio of creative peace-building projects, programmes and events, in collaboration with the international change-maker network.

Nikki Camilleri

Nikki is a first generation British music industry executive, speaker and advocate, originally hailing from Malta. Her work has seen her do stints at Warner Music Group and Believe amongst others; sign acts such as Ayelle, Alfa Mist, Cat Burns (Top 10 charting), James Vickery giving many of them their first deal; and work releases by household names such as David Guetta, Disciples and many more. Some of her favourite work has included working Glastonbury Festival and Mayor of London Arts & Culture events, scouting, negotiating and signing international audio and visual content/ IP deals (ranging from record deals to distribution), conceptualising artist campaigns with amazing talent which has resulted in millions of streams and countless sold out live shows.

With a keen interest in social impact, she founded Mana to advance sustainable careers in the music industry - enabling artists to maximise their projects, advocating for working conditions in which music professionals thrive and as a result breaking down the barriers of who gets to be creative. Mana delivers talks, consultation, artist development and mentorship for organisations and universities, research institutes and startups, conferences and directly within the artist and music community, having helped over 1000 creatives and counting.

Madi Cox

Madi is the Administration & Communications Officer at In Place of War, ensuring smooth operations, spearheading communications and social media strategies. Outside of In Place of War she is also part of the Creative Audio team at Meta.

With a Bachelor’s in Opera Performance and a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music, Madi is an active musician, performing internationally in various projects including garage-rock/punk bands and her indie synth-pop project, Space Slvts. In her spare time, Madi volunteers as a chapter leader in Madrid for We Make Noise, an organisation that aims to advance global gender equality in music technology, where she helps to teach workshops around music production, technology in live performance, and songwriting.

Alibhe Treacy

Ailbhe is a Project Manager and Researcher passionate about driving positive change on a global scale through project management. She has a decade of experience in managing complex projects in diverse cultural contexts, honing skills in relationship-building, stakeholder engagement, budget management, problem-solving and leadership. In 2023, Ailbhe completed a Master's degree in International Development, specialising in Development Management, at the University of Manchester. She joins In Place of War in 2024 as 100 Climate Agents Project and Outreach Manager.

Vickie Amiralis

Vickie Amiralis is an artist, curator and freelance project manager dedicated to environmental and community projects within the arts. Since 2020, Vickie has been part of In Place of War’s Global Music Industry Advisory Board, and now joins as the Label Development Manager. Vickie has over a decade of experience curating music releases and collaborating with artists and musicians on international projects and publications. Holding a focus on A&R, product design, marketing, agreements, accounts, distribution, licensing and a specialist background on manufacturing physical formats and limited-edition artworks. Vickie now works on a freelance basis, product and project manages prints, publications and music releases.

Vickie released In Place of War’s Cucusonic album (2021) on digital and as a 100% recycled vinyl package. The 19 track compilation explores Colombia’s biodiversity and through collaboration, brought together; Colombian bio-scientists, anthropologists, 19 musicians, University of Manchester’s ‘Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology’ and In Place of War.

In 2023 Vickie launched an independent studio that is the home of her multidisciplinary art practice as well as her curatorial and education projects. The studio aims to be a platform for social-action and skill-sharing with a focus on bringing together artists and communities through accessible events. The debut event was SEEDS which explored the human-nature nexus and aimed to ignite discussion and action in the format of a free exhibition (17 exhibiting artists) and an event series that included; hand-building with clay, poetry writing, collaging, cyanotype photography, performance, sound therapy, artist talks and charity discussions.

Saria Tourbah

Saria is the EarthSonic Project Coordinator at In Place of War, contributing to the overall development of the project. She has been involved in the music and entertainment industry for several years, working with different artists and industry stakeholders, producing and managing live events, as well as keeping up with new trends and innovations. She has a passion for supporting music promotion from different cultures, as well as providing artists with the necessary tools to export their music globally. She is also an avid philanthropist and paved the way to co-founding the Saja Foundation, an organisation bringing art classes to vulnerable children in and out of hospitals.

Merlyn Driver

Merlyn is a musician, creative producer and nature enthusiast focusing mainly on connections between music and the environment. Born in Orkney in the north of Scotland, Merlyn’s rural upbringing and studies in anthropology and ethnomusicology have shaped his songwriting and determination to unite music with social and environmental causes.

Merlyn launched the intercultural and environmentally-focused music exchange programme Making Tracks in 2019. His other projects include the critically acclaimed multi-artist album Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds (2022), released in partnership with the RSPB and inspired by the curlew - one of the UK's most iconic and endangered birds.

Lexy Morvaridi

Lexy Morvaridi is an artist, cultural programmer and DIY activist - currently a studio artist at Gasworks in London. He has been passionately involved in the UK’s independent, DIY music sector, working in various roles as well as grassroots projects and activism; he has an MA in Cultural and Creative studies from Kings College London and currently works as an artist, curator and project manager overseeing different projects that focus on the intersection of activism and creativity.

With over 10 years of music industry experience he has worked in multiple venues and across several festivals. As the contemporary music and culture programmer at Southbank Centre for five years, he worked closely with artists across all four venues, produced and programmed takeover festivals including Meltdown, commissioned inter-disciplinary stage shows, booked major touring acts and developed specific programming strands such as Purcell Sessions, Concrete Lates, and futuretense. As a British-Iranian artist he works across various sound art and music projects that explore the themes of agency and identity. One half of artistic duo InnerSwell with Laima Leyton, they have facilitated grass-roots community arts projects and collaborations with activist groups using sound as a narrative tool - working in collaboration with London’s oldest adventure playground they created a sonic piece, pLayPlAyplAY, with young people that fundraises money back to the space.

As a curator and producer Lexy has developed various projects that focus on the intersection of community, social action and music; including an Arts Council funded collaborative album and corresponding youth engagement project inspired by the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (18 Artists), released through the cultural platform/label he co-founded, Lonely Table. Recently he has worked with Anja Ngozi, supporting her vision with Síbín Vol. 1 - a charity collaborative album, fanzine and workshops with young people. Currently he is the guest curator for St Albans Verulamium Museum, working with local migrant communities to explore their narratives and stories in relation to the collection at the biggest Roman site in Britain.

Lexy is joining In Place of War in 2023 as the EarthSonic Emerging Artist Project Manager.

Zivi Sainsbury

Zivi is a musician, film composer and sound artist. She has recently composed a number of soundscapes and music for exhibitions including the art and films of Jonty Hurwitz. She is currently orchestration consultant for Gideon Berger studio on a new immersive, AV production with music by artist Anohni, partnership with the English National Opera.

Her multi-disciplinary career has spanned alternative classical music to live electro swing. This love of music is also key to a wide variety of philanthropic work with the Mark Leonard Trust. She is currently involved in projects with a number of music charities including the Paraorchestra, The Orpheus Centre, and with a particular focus on the emerging area of ecoacoustics.

Trustees

UK Board of Trustees

Richard Mantle Obe Dl

Chair of Board of Trustees

Prof. Vikas Shah MBE

Entrepreneur & CEO, Swiscot Group

Prof. James Thompson

Founder, Academic

Claire O’Neill

CEO and Co-founder of A Greener Future

Tom Shore

International Development & Programmes Specialist

Anna Berenfeld

Financial Philanthropist

Paul Stacey

Founding Director, Reading Rep Theatre

Nadia Khan

Founder, Women in CTRL

Darren Cormack

CEO, Mines Advisory Group (MAG)

Mike Smith

Mentoring & Business Development Manager

Dave Bianchi

Artist Manager & Entrepreneur

Irina Martin

Board Advisor (Financial Advisor)

Robert Munuku

Board Advisor (Artist & Creative Entrepreneur, Kenya)

Farah Wardani

Board Advisor (Director, Laban Theatre, Lebanon)

USA Board of Trustees

David Smith

Co-Founder & Chief Curiosity Conductor, Age of Artists

Diederik Advocaat

Co-Founder & Chief Curiosity Conductor, Age of Artists

Eddie Berg

Co-Founder & Chief Curiosity Conductor, Age of Artists

Richard Mantle Obe Dl

Richard Mantle was the General Director of Opera North. His first appointment in the opera field was as Deputy Managing Director at English National Opera, and he has worked atScottish Opera and Edmonton Opera (Canada). He is currently a Director of the National Opera Studio, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and was awarded an OBE in 2013 for his services to music.

Prof. Vikas Shah MBE

Award winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator who has built businesses in diverse sectors around the world.

Prof. James Thompson

Renowned author and Professor of Applied and Social Theatre and Vice President for Social Responsibility at the University of Manchester.

Claire O’Neill

Claire O’Neill is an internationally renowned figure and a leading voice for sustainability in the live events and entertainment industry, regularly speaking alongside heads of industry, activists, scientists, and UN agency and government officials. CEO and Co-founder of A Greener Future (Formerly A Greener Festival) in 2006, Producer of the Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI), consulted as sustainability expert to LIVE Green, and Chair of the Association for Electronic Music green working group, Claire has trail-blazed best practice including the Greener Festival Award, Green Touring Rider for Arcadia Spectacular’s shows, and the Green Artist rider with Paradigm Agency – now adopted by major artists worldwide and sparking the new multi-faceted platform A Greener Tour, and has led the creation and implementation of the Greener Arena Certification.

Tom Shore

Specialist in programme delivery, advocacy, operations and strategic leadership in the fields of International Development & Culture.

Anna Berenfeld

Anna’s career sprung from finance into philanthropy across Europe, UK, Russia and the USA. Currently Anna works for Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder on projects around the globe.

Paul Stacey

Paul is the Founding Artistic Director of Reading Rep Theatre. Paul built Reading Rep from his £500 overdraft to multi-award-winning producing theatre and cultural hub.

Nadia Khan

Nadia brings over 20 years of experience in the music industry developing artist careers, talent management and running independent label businesses with a passion for developing talent from the grassroots. An advocate for sharing knowledge and education. As the Founder of Women in CTRL, Nadia is a passionate champion for diversity, equity and inclusion, and her work in promoting gender parity and representation of women in music has been widely recognised, being awarded Outstanding Contribution at the Music Week ‘Women in Music Awards’ in 2021.

Darren Cormack

Darren is CEO of MAG, a global humanitarian charity. Darren holds a first class Master’s in International Management and is an experienced Non-Executive Director. His previous roles include managing a wide range of global environment, conservation & humanitarian projects.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith is one of the most respected A&R minds in the British music industry. His prestigious roles include Managing Director at Warner / Chappell UK and Global President of Downtown Music Publishing

Dave Bianchi

David is an entrepreneur & music manager who is founder & CEO of Various Artists Management. He has managed Charli XCX, Ashnikko, The Libertines, Killing Joke, Mark Morrison, Supergrass, Echo & The Bunnymen and Seasick Steve.

Irina Martin

Irina Martin is a Senior Partner advising international, corporate and private clients on the best investment opportunities in her native Ukraine. She has a solid track record in cross-border operations in the UK working with international corporations and governments.

Robert Munuku

Robert is the founder and Creative Director of Mau Mau Arts, a Pan-African film, music & visual arts production company in Nairobi, Kenya.

Farah Wardani

Farah Wardani is an award-winning professional actress, who has pioneered the use of theatre for social change and activism in Lebanon, via her theatre company Laban. Since 2006, she has worked with over 50,000 men, women and children throughout the country to provide safe spaces for people to express their emotions and reduce their tension, providing a welcome distraction from daily hardships.

Global Advisory Board

In 2020 we formed the In Place of War Global Music Industry Advisory Board. Recognising the power of collaborating with the music and wider entertainment industry from the incredible success of our existing partnerships, we wanted to form a collective of engaged, enthusiastic, compassionate individuals to support and guide our work. In response to the pandemic, working with organisations like Beatport, Insomniac Events and Shambala, we raised £150k for our COVID Emergency Fund via fundraising live streams, providing grants to the change-makers in our network with the most urgent need. We know that, through collaboration and solidarity, the difference we can make to music communities in places of conflict, has far more impact. One of the most powerful ways of doing this is by establishing a worldwide movement of creative professionals who care about and want to contribute to positive change. So we have united leaders of the international music industry in supporting the work of In Place of War and have already begun some fantastic projects as a result.

Amy Van-Barren

Head of Community at Resident Advisor

Resident Advisor

Ben Allen

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Ben Allen Music Marketing

Fiona McGugan

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Simons Muirhead Burton LLP

Jamie Franklin

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Roland Instruments

Janesta Boudreau

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Rocking Horse Road Productions

Jessica Strassman

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Consultant, producer-manager and A&R

Jonas Sudendorf

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Native Instruments

Julien Fehlmann

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Studio Mécanique

Kim Astley-Cooper

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

The Grand Palace and Super Cat PR

Kimberley Rowell

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

BBC

Laura Jones

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Little Underground Management

Lisa J. Robinson

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Lisa’s Living Room

Marcus Ross

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

FUGA

Peggy Dold

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Music Executive

Philip O'Farrell

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Outernet Global

Rich Thomas

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Music Network at Red Bull

Shannon Herber

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

A0K1VERSE

Tommy Young

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Google

Verity Mayes

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Beatport

Vickie Amiralis

In Place of War

Amy Van-Barren

Amy is Head of Community at Resident Advisor. She is based in the UK.

Ben Allen

Ben is Founder & Director of Ben Allen Music Marketing. He is based in the UK.

Fiona McGugan

Fiona is a paralegal at Simons Muirhead Burton LLP. Having come from her role as Director of Operations & Strategy at the Music Managers Forum UK, her experience includes tour management, brand partnerships, sync & artist advocacy. Fiona is based in the UK.

Jamie Franklin

Jamie is Artist Relations Manager: Europe at Roland Instruments. He is based in Brighton in the UK.

Janesta Boudreau

Janesta started in the Canadian music industry nearly 20 years ago. From a background in album production and artist management, she moved into music supervision for film and video games in Canada and the UK with her company, Rocking Horse Road Productions. She is now based in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Jessica Strassman

Jessica is a Producer-Manager, A&R, and consultant based in Los Angeles. Prior to starting her own company, she worked in leadership & creative roles at TikTok, BandLab, Columbia Records and Twitch.

Jonas Sudendorf

Jonas is Head of Community & Partnerships at Native Instruments, leading manufacturer of software and hardware for computer-based audio production and DJing. He is based in Berlin.

Julien Fehlmann

Julien is the founder of the recording & music production facility Studio Mécanique in Switzerland. Following his recent academic training, he now manages art & music projects in conflict regions for different organisations

Kim Astley-Cooper

Kim is the founder of PR/storytelling companies The Grand Palace and Super Cat PR and based in London.

Kimberley Rowell

Kimberley is Assistant Editor, BBC Three, BBC News & Current Affairs, at UK and worldwide broadcaster, the BBC. She is based in the UK.

Laura Jones

Laura is a Producer Manager & CEO/Founder of Little Underground Management. She is based in New York.

Lisa J. Robinson

Lisa has nearly 30 years of experience in music publishing. She is the Founder of Lisa's Living Room and based in New Jersey.

Marcus Ross

Marcus is Senior Licensing & Partnerships Manager at FUGA, the world’s leading full-service music distributor. He is based in Amsterdam.

Peggy Dold

Peggy has 20+ years of experience as a music executive in the general and Hispanic music markets. She has worked in multiple global markets and is currently based in Nashville, USA.

Philip O'Farrell

Philip is CEO and founder of Outernet Global. He based in the UK

Rich Thomas

Rich is Director, Music Network at Red Bull and is based in Los Angeles.

Shannon Herber

Shannon is Director, A0K1VERSE, Steve Aoki's NFT company. She was formerly Pop & Dance/Electronic Awards Genre Manager, at The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), and is based in Los Angeles.

Tommy Young

Tommy is a Principal Engineer at Google and has worked in the digital video advertising industry for well over a decade. Avid lover and supporter of music and the arts 24/7, a musician himself in a past life. In addition to the service for In Place of War, he serves on the board of directors at HERE, a non-profit multi-dimensional theatre in lower Manhattan. Proud father to two cats (Dan and Darlene).

Verity Mayes

Verity puts the needs of artists, labels and suppliers at the forefront as Director of Strategy for Music Services, striving to empower content providers to succeed across the Beatport ecosystem. She has an extensive background across electronic music, both as a DJ/artist - releasing as Maze on labels including Permanent Vacation and as part of Maze&Masters (residents for He.She.They. worldwide) - and having worked across product, marketing and events strategy and management for companies including Ministry of Sound, Solid Grooves, Mobilee, and Rinse FM.

Youth Advisory Board

Our ambition is to create opportunities for young people to be involved at all levels of the organisation and we are committed to questioning and shifting power balances to allow for the different interpretations they might bring. We recognise equity issues of religion, race, disability, gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity and culture as integral to youth involvement. We value all young people and their experience, skill and knowledge. We pride ourselves on the expertise within our team and the connections we have and want to create opportunities for young people to step into these spaces and form these connections. Young people have unique insight into how support might best be offered and how processes could be improved, so as Youth Board Advisors, they will help to shape the way we do things and the direction we take as an organisation. Youth engagement gives legitimacy to decision-making externally and sends a strong message regarding our commitment to young people and belief in their potential. We have already seen in our work how listening to young people has led to better practice and new, exciting ways of working so we would like to build on this.
Our Youth Advisory Board is made up of young people from the UK who have taken part in our 100 Agents of Change Programme, as well as young people from the Global South who work with our partner organisations to make changes in their local contexts.

Selam Mengistu

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Ruby Boyd

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Esther Nsiimenta Favoured

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Vera Chisvo

Founder & Director, Ben Allen Music Marketing

Selam Mengistu

Selam is a London-based cultural producer, comedian, and migrant advocate, who plays a pivotal role at Counterpoints Arts, spearheading the No Direction Home standup comedy series. As a Youth Board member at In Place of War, she emerged from the 100 Agents of Change programme in 2021. Selam's brainchild, Azmari Bet, showcases her Ethiopian heritage, amplifying traditional Ethiopian arts, cuisine, and culture. Through this platform, she empowers marginalised refugee artists, fostering connections between generations and non-Ethiopian communities in celebration of Ethiopia's rich heritage.

Ruby Boyd

Ruby Boyd is an artist and musician from Nottingham, England. She studied illustration and design at university and loves drawing, writing and playing wheelchair tennis. In 2021, Ruby took part in In Place of War’s 100 Agents of Change pilot programme and was very inspired by the work of the charity. With the 100 Agents of Change being online, Ruby felt it was completely accessible to her as a disabled person. Ruby is an advocate for accessibility and inclusion and is really excited to be part of In Place of War’s permanent Youth Advisory Board.

Esther Nsiimenta Favoured

Esther is founder of the powerful teen movement Teens for Change in Kabale, a town in Western Uganda. Teens for Change works with young people that have grown up in broken families, in the poorest of situations and the poorest of communities in Kabale. Esther is passionate about inspiring teens and creating a positive movement for change in Uganda and beyond, and strongly believes in the ability of all young people to use their creativity to make change and a positive impact in the world. By engaging disadvantaged teenagers in the creative arts, she inspires them to make positive changes in their lives and a better future for themselves, for their communities and for Uganda.

Vera Chisvo

Vera is a Zimbabwean-based funky jazz vocalist and guitarist. As a proud activist and philanthropist, she recently founded a creative hub in Harare, Zimbabwe, the Incubator ZW: a virtual hub that aims at inspiring and motivating creatives to reach their full potential. Incubator ZW also hosts a bi-monthly podcast and video blog called ‘Her Hour’ that promotes freedom of speech among young Zimbabweans around issues that affect them in their everyday lives. Vera is also the Arts and Events Coordinator at Magamba Network, Zimbabwe's leading youth-driven digital media organisation. She is the coordinator of their festival Shoko Festival, the biggest urban culture festival in Zimbabwe. In addition, Vera is an alumni of the US State Department International Visitors Leadership Programme year 2023. She also sits on the National Board of the Zimbabwe Coalition of Debt and Development representing the arts and culture sector.

Climate Advisory Board

The Climate Advisory Board plays a crucial role in providing guidance, insights, and expertise to the EarthSonic project. The board consists of carefully selected climate activists, artists, and individuals deeply committed to the cause. The Advisory Board will play a vital role in shaping EarthSonic’s direction, ensuring enlightenment with its mission, and maximising its impact.

Patrick Miller

Moto Republik Hub Associate, Magamba Network

Love Ssega

Musician, Producer, Artist

Louise Harris

Climate Activist and Singer-Songwriter

Nyombi Harris

Climate Activist & Founder of Earth Volunteers

Chal Ravens

Head of Audio, Novara Media

Rumaitha Al Busaidi

Environmental Advocate, Scientist, & Founder, WomeX

Leah Thomas

CEO Green Girl Productions

Patrick Miller

Patrick 'Millz' Miller is a Zimbabwean playwright and gamer with a public advocacy, activism and creative arts background. He is the founder and creative director of Project iThemba, a non-profit organisation based in Harare, which runs three main programs: Walking with Shadows Symposium, The Gaming Hub ZW, and Writers' Cafe. Walking with Shadows is Zimbabwe's first and currently only queer literary art symposium. The Gaming Hub ZW start-up is a hybrid space that creates and curates cross-cultural cooperation and understanding through gaming. Writers' Cafe is an initiative focused on creating safer spaces for freedom of expression through the written word. In the past three years, he has been exploring intersectional gaming experiences - unpacking how digital and analogue games can be used to make people aware of climate change issues.

Love Ssega

Love Ssega is a London-born musician, producer and performing artist of Ugandan heritage. Starting as a pop musician he has performed internationally and had music premiered across BBC Radio 1 to BBCRadio 3 and BBC 6Music. Love Ssega’s site-specific performances have been commissioned by the National Gallery, Hayward Gallery,Serpentine Pavilion and Whitechapel Gallery, whilst his visual art has been exhibited globally at MoMA PS1 and MIT Museum. Justice and climate activism weaves through his work, which was shown at UNCOP26 and featured by New York Times Climate Forward. Love Ssegais also the founder of South London arts and community-led Clean Air Movement LIVE + BREATHE. Previously Artist-in-Residence withPhilharmonia Orchestra and is Chair of Shadwell Opera. Love Ssegawas awarded an Allianz Foundation (Berlin) Fellowship in 2023 for art and climate justice and is a Trustee of Brian Eno-led climate charityEarthPercent.

Louise Harris

Louise Harris is a 25-year-old climate activist and singer-songwriter who went internationally viral for crying on top of a gantry above the M25 as part of a Just Stop Oil protest in November 2022. Having been arrested multiple times and even imprisoned for taking non-violent direct action with Just Stop Oil, she believes that the power to change - and save - the world lies in the hands of ordinary people, who, unlike our world leaders, still know what love is; still know what love feels like. Following 2 years of intense involvement on the frontlines as well as behind the scenes of civil resistance, and now slapped with a suspended sentence, Louise has turned to music to spread her message of grief, and hope. Being a pop and dance singer-songwriter, she now seeks to release music which helps people to emotionally connect with the climate crisis, and feel moved and empowered to fight it, through collective climate action. Her latest climate release, "We Tried", was backed by Chris Packham, Brian Eno and Christiana Figueres, and reached #4 in the Big Top 40 Christmas Countdown as well as #1 on iTunes and #3 in the Official Radio 1 Single Downloads Chart.

Nyombi Harris

Nyombi is a passionate and dedicated climate activist and speaker, who has been advocating for environmental justice and policy change since 2019. He is the founder and CEO of Earth Volunteers, a non-profit organisation that aims to restore ecosystems and educate communities on climate action voluntarily. He is also a Fellow at Environmental Funders Network, a pilot program that supports young climate activists to amplify their messages and reach wider audiences while compensating them for their time without exploitation, experience, and expertise.

Chal Ravens

Chal Ravens is the head of audio at Novara Media. Based in London, she is also a longtime music journalist whose writing has appeared in The Wire, The Guardian, Pitchfork and the London Review of Books.

Rumaitha Al Busaidi

Rumaitha Al Busaidi is an Omani scientist and environmental advocate working on sustainable solutions to climate change. Her 2021 TED talk examining women as the key to our climate future has garnered over a million views. Rumaitha currently serves as Business Development Manager at Hydrom, the orchestrator of green hydrogen development in Oman, and also serves as Vice President of the only environmental NGO in the country, Environment Society of Oman. She actively works with the Omani government on sustainable diversification and energy transition strategies. Internationally, she has advised the Biden administration on developing a climate resilience standard for US foreign aid focusing on empowering women as a form of climate mitigation, the government of Greenland on creating a framework for sustainable tourism in Greenland, and the Arab League on empowering Arab youth in climate change negotiations spaces. Her work on climate change has been recognized by the United Nations, the EU, and NATO, to name a few. Rumaitha is named in Reuters’s climate hot list and subsequently was recognized in their ‘Top 25 Women in Climate Change’ list and most recently named on the BBC 100 Women list for 2023.

Hailing from Muscat, Rumaitha is the founder of WomeX; a platform teaching negotiation skills to Arab women, a member of the first-ever Arab Youth Council on Climate Change, and co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Lab, where she co-authored the youth recovery plan featuring policy recommendations from over 2 million young people across the globe. Rumaitha holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford, and is coined as the first female soccer analyst in the Arab World and the youngest Omani to step foot on the South Pole.

Leah Thomas

Leah is a celebrated environmentalist based in Los Angeles, CA. Coining the term ‘eco-communicator’ to describe her style of environmental activism, Leah uses her passion for writing and creativity to explore and advocate for the critical yet often overlooked relationship between social justice and environmentalism.
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Leah founded and launched the non-profit Intersectional Environmentalist, a platform and resource hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice, provide educational resources surrounding intersectional environmentalism, and promote inclusivity and accessibility within environmental education and movements in 2020 - which has since become a leading resource for diverse and accessible climate education.
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Leah is also the founder of the eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah, where she uses her multiple years of eco-focused educational and work experience to inform her ever-expanding list of projects, and connect with her audience of more than 400k followers across channels. Leah has been named to several notable lists—including Forbes 30 Under 30 2024, TIME100 NEXT, INSIDER’s Climate Action 30, Marie Claire’s Creators to Watch, EBONY Power 100, and InStyle’s The Badass 50—and is an established public speaker who has presented at Google, 1% for the Planet’s Global Summit, Dreamforce, and more.

Who we are

Learn about the many people involved in the EarthSonic project and what we are doing to make a difference.

UK Board of Trustees

USA Board of Trustees