At Transformations Community, we celebrate the inspiring stories and diverse experiences within our network. Our Community Spotlight highlights dynamic individuals, groups, and organizations driving social-ecological change. Each feature aims to honor achievements, share knowledge, and inspire broader community engagement. Know someone making a meaningful impact? Nominate them for our Community Spotlight and help us showcase the power of community action.
Alex Tveit (CA) is a systems-focused leader working on community empowerment and inclusive innovation. He is Co-Founder and CEO of the Sustainable Impact Foundation, which helps communities shape innovation on their own terms, and an Emerging Technology Fellow at Community Foundations of Canada. He also serves as AI Project Steward in the Transformations Community, Complexity Field Catalyst with the Canadian Network for Complex Systems, Lab-to-Land Steward within Pale Blue AI, and a Board Member at Polity Cooperative, a democratic decision making platform. Across these roles his attention sits where climate, affordable housing, education, healthcare, democratic deliberation, systemic investing, and AI meet. His work brings systems thinking together with community-centred practice, with a steady focus on shifting power and making sure technology serves the people it claims to help.
Alex Tveit (CA) is a systems-focused leader working on community empowerment and inclusive innovation. He is Co-Founder and CEO of the Sustainable Impact Foundation, which helps communities shape innovation on their own terms, and an Emerging Technology Fellow at Community Foundations of Canada. He also serves as AI Project Steward
Estelle Gautier is a South African artist dedicated to influencing attitudes and behaviours that contribute towards climate change. Through her art, work and studies, she discovered the extent of the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in developing countries where people are living in conditions of poverty and inequality. Estelle
Andrea Marais-Potgieter is a Conservation Psychologist who recently completed post-doctoral fellowships at the School of Human and Community Development, Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand with Prof. Andrew Thatcher, and at the Global Change Institute with Prof. Laura Pereira. Her research explores the role of the human psyche in
Theresa Züger is an interdisciplinary researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). She investigates how AI systems can be designed to serve a common good. AI for the public interest means that the development and deployment of AI systems should not primarily aim to maximise profit, but to benefit
Karen O’Brien is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway and co-founder of cCHANGE, a social enterprise that promotes a conscious and collaborative approach to sustainability transformations. Her research focuses on the human and social dimensions of environmental change, particularly climate change. She promotes integrative approaches
Ioan Fazey is Professor of the Social Dimensions of Environment and Change and Director of Strategy for the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York, UK. His research, teaching, and facilitation focus on helping individuals, businesses, organisations, and society develop an understanding of, and capacity for, stewarding
Laura is a Professor at the Global Change Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand and a researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Her work focuses on sustainability transformations in developing country contexts, tipping points, future thinking, and food systems. She leads the “Seeding Transformative Futures for People and Nature
Kyla Tienhaara is an associate professor and Canada research chair in economy and environment at the School of Environmental Studies and the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston. Her research currently focuses on the role of public and private investment in the energy transition. One area of
Chris Riedy is a Professor of Sustainability Transformations and the Associate Director of Learning and Development at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. He is a transdisciplinary action researcher, focusing primarily on energy transitions. Chris served as Co-Chair of the Transformations Conference 2023 and is an Advisor
Mariana Zafeirakopoulos is a Social Design Lecturer at the University of Sydney. Mariana is a transdisciplinary scholar-practitioner, who works with other researchers and practitioners, combining different disciplines – like Social Sciences: International Relations, and Public Policy, with Design – to create new knowledge for intervening in our ever-evolving and complex
Etrit Shkreli is fascinated by how human beings frame their challenges, the assumptions they make, how this impacts their interactions, and the stories they tell about themselves, others, and their relationships. She studied psychology and politics. Etrit wrote her doctoral thesis on Hannah Arendt’s political thought and then went on
Julianna Gwiszcz is a transdisciplinary, transboundary scholar-practitioner, activist, and transformations catalyst focused on sustainability, human rights, and global health. She’s passionate about creating a just and sustainable future for all. Her work combines hands-on learning and leadership development to drive global change. Two critical programs within the Transformations Community have
Julia Leventon leads the Department of Human Dimensions of Global Change at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CzechGlobe). The department as a whole looks at the responses of people, policy, and politics to global environmental change. Julia’s research focuses on transformative change towards sustainability,
Blane Harvey is an Assistant Professor and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University’s Department for Integrated Studies in Education (Canada) where he leads the Leadership and Learning for Sustainability Lab. His research examines how knowledge on climate change and sustainability is produced, validated, and communicated, and how facilitated learning and knowledge
Ignacio Gianelli is a Ph.D. student and Research Collaborator at the EqualSea Lab (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) in Galicia, Spain. During his Ph.D., Ignacio is exploring, promoting, and communicating transformative pathways for small-scale fisheries. He aims to co-create transformative spaces in which to envision plural, possible and desirable futures for
Lakshmi has a B.Sc. in biology, two M.Sc. in environmental management, and a PhD in sustainability sciences. For the past twelve years, she has been involved in capacity-building projects related to wetland management & water governance. She is currently working at the National Laboratory for Sustainability Sciences on research projects
Dr. Yiheyis Taddele Maru is a social-ecological systems research scientist at CSIRO. He started his profession as a veterinarian and now has a post-graduate diploma in rural & natural systems management and a Ph.D. in integrative systems research, modeling, and building resilience & sustainable development of rural communities. At CSIRO, Yiheyis has been conducting
Dr. Deborah O’Connell has unique expertise in ‘systems leadership’ – working across the system with a range of stakeholder groups, developing and applying new approaches to disaster risk reduction, vulnerability assessment, resilience building, systems-based strategy development, community engagement & facilitation. Deborah works across the sciences, arts & humanities to engage
Dr. Andrea Jimenez is a lecturer in Information Management at The University of Sheffield. She has a Ph.D. from Royal Holloway University of London’s School of Management and a Masters’s in Sustainable Development. Her research focuses on the role of digital & social innovation as well as entrepreneurship in socio-economic
Chukwuma Paul is a student at the African Leadership University, which is aims to serve 3 million ethical African leaders by 2030. Paul has made a significant impact on the spectrum of SDGs, ranging from climate change to healthcare. In 2022, Chukwuma’s team won the hackathon hosted by Project Management
Dr. Nepali is a professional in community-based natural resource management and conservation and a graduate of University of Life Sciences, Norway and PhD in Forestry from Institute of Forestry, Nepal. Dr. Sushila has worked in the field of conservation for more than 30 years and advocated for Gender Equality and
Dr. Joel Onyango is the Applied Research Lead at the African Researchers Consortium (ARC), a network focused on research for inclusive sustainable innovation and enterprise development. Joel has published extensively in climate-smart innovations and entrepreneurship, inclusive innovation policy, and resource degradation. Joel is a convenor for the Young African Scholars
Paulina Aldunce was the host of the 2019 Transformations Conference. Paulina is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources at the University of Chile. Her research interests are Disaster Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change. Paulina has been involved as principal investigator and co-investigator in several
