Future Learning Design Podcast

What kinds of education might 'enable healthier possibilities of (co)existence that are viable, but are unthinkable/unimaginable within our dominant cognitive and affective frames of reference.' (GTDF Collective, Global Citizenship Otherwise, p3)

An education of the gut and the heart, not just the head!

This week, it was an honour to chat to the amazing Dr. Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti.

Vanessa is the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria. She is a former Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change and a former David Lam Chair in Critical Multicultural Education.

Vanessa has worked extensively across sectors internationally in areas of education related to global justice, global citizenship, critical literacies, Indigenous knowledge systems and the climate and nature emergency.

Vanessa is the author of Hospicing Modernity: Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism⁠: https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/hospicing-modernity/

You can find links to her Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Arts/Research Collective⁠: https://decolonialfutures.net/

Global Citizenship Otherwise Study Program, created by Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures: https://decolonialfutures.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/decolonial-futures-gce-otherwise-1.pdf

Vanessa is also one of the designers of the course 'Facing Human Wrongs: Climate Complexity and Relational Accountability'⁠: https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/teaching-learning-and-development/courses/facing-human-wrongs-2-0-climate-complexity-and-relational-accountability/

Social Links

LinkedIn: @vanessa-andreotti

GTDF Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DecolonialFuturesCollective

Ray is a cybernetician, systems scientist, and Professor of Systems at the Open University in the UK. He is currently President of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR). He was also Professor Systems for Sustainability at Monash University, and fellow at the Centre for Policy Development, and President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in the year 2014-15. He is known for his work on systems praxeology within rural development,[1] sustainable management,[2] systemic governance and the design and enactment of learning systems.

An incredibly useful and practical overview of many ofthe topics discussed in this episode can be found in Ray's book, Systems Practice: How to Act. In situations of uncertainty and complexity in a climate-change world. (2017): https://oro.open.ac.uk/51143/ 

For a full overview of Ray's life and work you can read his Wikipedia page here: ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Ison⁠ 

Social Links

LinkedIn: @ray-ison

She can be found at ⁠jamilahpitts.com⁠. 

Homa Tavangar (https://homatavangar.com/ ) is an incredible educator and leader. She is the co-founder of the Oneness Lab with Eric Dozier  (https://www.onenesslab.com/ ) where she helps schools and companies go ‘deeper than diversity,’ as well as the Big Questions Institute, (https://bigquestions.institute/)  where, with her co-founder Will Richardson, she leads professional learning opportunities to build capacity and design the future with fearless inquiry for individuals, schools, and many other education-related organisations.

Homa is the author of widely-acclaimed books, including Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (Random House, 2009), Global Kids: 50+ Games, Crafts, Recipes & More from Around the World (Barefoot Books, 2019), The Global Education Toolkit for Elementary Learners (Sage/Corwin, 2014), co-author of a 3-book series with Professor Yong Zhao on educating creative, entrepreneurial World Class Learners (Corwin, 2016), and contributor to Mastering Global Literacy, by Heidi Hayes-Jacobs, ed. (Solution Tree, 2013). Most recently she co-authored 9 BIG Questions Schools Must Answer to Avoid Going “Back to Normal” (*Because “Normal” Wasn’t That Great to Begin With).

Social Links

LinkedIn: @homatavangar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/homatavangar/ 

Instagram: @homatavangar - https://www.instagram.com/homatavangar/ 

X: @homatav - https://twitter.com/homatav?lang=en 

Professor Jonathan Jansen (⁠https://www.jonathanjansen.org/⁠ ) is Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is currently President of the South African Academy of Science and the Knight-Hennessey Fellow at Stanford University (2020).

In his work, Professor Jansen explores how we keep radical ideas alive in bureaucratic structures. Is there a destination we arrive at called a decolonised curriculum or is it an ongoing process of meeting power structures and institutionalised biases? What's the role of language in the decolonising process if we can't even communicate with each other? What is the role of education in constructing national identities in ways that are inclusive of the diversity of people in most communities?

A selection of his most recent books:

Decolonisation in Universities: The Politics of Knowledge (2019) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Decolonisation_in_Universities/efWADwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 

The Decolonization of Knowledge: Radical Ideas and the Shaping of Institutions in South Africa and Beyond [with Cyrill A. Walters] (2022) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Decolonization_of_Knowledge/KNduEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 

Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities (2023) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Corrupted/saeUEAAAQBAJ

Social Links

X: @JJ_Stellies - https://twitter.com/JJ_Stellies⁠

LinkedIn: @jonathan-jansen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-jansen-543123b1/  

Professor Natalia Kucirkova is Professor of Reading and Early Childhood Development at the University of Stavanger.

She researches children’s use of media and technologies. She is especially interested in children’s use of e-books and literacy apps, particularly in relation to the use of personal data (digital personalization) and evidence-based approach to EdTech. Her latest project "Sensory Books" is about reading that engage children's sense of smell.

She is a passionate advocate for social justice, women leadership and embedded research impact.

Natalia is also CEO and Co-Founder of WiKIT which is a university spin-out based in Norway, with a global network of specially trained researchers, to match scientists with ethical EdTech and enable properly evidence-driven edtech products.

She is also the author of The Future of the Self: Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond’.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @natalia-kucirkova

YouTube: @edtechchildrenliteracy

⁠Yong Zhao⁠ is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the ⁠School of Education at the University of Kansas⁠ and a professor in Educational Leadership at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne in Australia. He previously served as the Presidential Chair, Associate Dean, and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Prior to Oregon, Yong Zhao was University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the ⁠Confucius Institute⁠, as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. He is an elected member of the ⁠National Academy of Education⁠ and a fellow of the ⁠International Academy of Education⁠.

In this conversation we chat about why the US should abandon PISA - the "nonsensical global academic horse race": https://dianeravitch.net/2024/02/12/yong-zhao-why-doesnt-the-u-s-scrap-pisa/

"If ChatGPT had taken the 2022 PISA, it is highly likely that it would outscore all the students in the world.”

We also discuss why countries generally should stop comparing and borrowing from each other, and why diversity and localisation and personalisation are Yong’s keys to how the educational landscape needs to develop in the future.

Recent books and articles:

Duck and Cover: Confronting and Correcting Dubious Practices in Education with Rick Ginsberg (2023)

'Shifting the Education Paradigm: Why International Borrowing is No Longer Sufficient for Improving Education in China' (2018).

'“Testing treats students as enemies and are often launched against them in an ambush”, wrote Mao in 1964, “It works against the active and lively development of youth morally, intellectually, and physically”'

Learning for Uncertainty: Reach for greatness (2023) 

Social Links

LinkedIn: @yong-zhao

X: @YongZhaoEd

She is the author of Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence, published last year: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5600/Context-Changes-EverythingHow-Constraints-Create⁠

Her other books are Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System (MIT 1999) and co-editor of Reframing Complexity: Perspectives from North and South (ISCE Publishing, 2007), and Emergence, Self-Organization and Complexity: Precursors and Prototypes (ISCE Publishing, 2008).

Alicia was named the 2002 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; in 2003 she received the Edward T. Foote Alumnus of Distinction Award of the University of Miami; in 1995 the Distinguished Humanities Educator Award of the Community College Humanities Association. In 1992 Alicia was appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Advisory Board of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) where, from 1992-2000 she served as NEH’s Chair of Council Committee on State Programs. In that capacity she was responsible for the oversight of approximately $32 million in NEH funds distributed annually to the States Humanities Councils.

Born in Cuba, Alicia has played a leading role in introducing complexity concepts and theory to that island nation and currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of Friends of Havana’s January Complexity Seminars, a 501(c)3 not for profit organization which supports the work of complexity scholars in Cuba.

Jared has published 6 books, including most recently with co-author David Bott: 10 THINGS SCHOOLS GET WRONG (and how we can get them right)

Other books include:

⁠Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights From Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick⁠

From the Laboratory to the Classroom with Jason Lodge and John Hattie 

Jared is the Director of LME Global, host of the popular Youtube channel, From Theory to Practice, and previously honorary researcher at the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.

Jared’s research has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED, BBC, The Economist, PBS's Nova and ABC’s Catalyst.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @jared-cooney-horvath

Instagram: @jared.cooney.horvath

It is increasingly clear that recruiting, developing and retaining teachers is a very real issue around the world. Dr. Rachel Lofthouse is at the forefront of thinking through how we might be able to address some of these challenges.

Rachel is the Professor of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. She has established the Research and Practice hub, CollectivED: Centre for Coaching, Mentoring and Professional Learning.

Rachel’s research interests focuses on the transformation of professional learning through partnerships of scholarship and practice development. She is keen to find out how educational workplaces can both offer, and constrain, professional learning, with a current focus on coaching and lesson study and the inter-relationships between practice, well-being, professional learning and leadership. 

We also talk about Rachel's recent involvement in the Reimagining A Positive Direction for Education (RAPIDE) project designed to understand through narratives underline the enormous energy of educators to adapt to external disruptions.

Social Links

X: @DrRLofthouse

LinkedIn: ⁠@rachel-lofthouse⁠

As an elementary teacher by training, Dr. Gary Stager has taught students from preschool through doctoral studies. In 1990, Gary led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools and played a major role in the early days of online education. Gary is the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute for educators.

Gary is co-author of Invent To Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, called the “bible of the maker movement in schools,” by Larry Magid of CBS and The San Jose Mercury News. Invent To Learn has been translated into nine languages. Gary’s most recent book is Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50: Future Visions of Education Inspired by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon’s Seminal Work.

When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.

Gary’s work has earned a Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics Education and he collaborated on a project that won a Grammy Award. Recently, Gary was invited by Fondazione Reggio Children to lead public seminars, and even teach children, in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Gary was also on the advisory board of the NSF-funded project, BJC4NYC: Bringing a Rigorous Computer Science Principles Course to the Largest School System in the US. Gary also maintains the world’s largest archive of text and multimedia by Seymour Papert at The Daily Papert.

X: @garystager

Today’s guest has been doing amazing work in this areas alongside Peter Senge, Daniel Goleman and colleagues at the IB, through the Center for Systems Awareness at MIT. Dr Mette Miriam Böll is the is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the centre, as well as the co-founded of The MIT Systems Awareness Lab with Peter Senge. 

Her academic background is as a biologist specialized in the evolution of complex social systems, mammalian play behavior and philosophy of nature. Mette has a Ph.D. in organizational ethology and holds additional degrees in contemplative leadership and the philosophy and history of science. 

She uses her training in these diverse areas to research how emotions and feelings are transmitted in social relations and how the resulting relational fields in turn shape the larger systems human beings are parts of, with a particular focus on education.

Mette previously held a position as head of research at Metropol University College, a teachers’ college in Copenhagen and before that she taught neuroscience of emotions.

You can find out more about the Compassionate Systems Framework and upcoming trainings here: https://systemsawareness.org/introduction-to-compassionate-systems-framework-in-schools/

Social Links

LinkedIn: @mette-miriam-rakel-böll

Instagram: @centerforsystemsawareness

Professor Barbara Oakley is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Oakland University. Barbara’s research has been described as “revolutionary” in the Wall Street Journal. She is New York Times best-selling author who has published in outlets as varied as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Her book A Mind for Numbers, on effective learning in STEM disciplines, has sold over a million copies worldwide.

Together with Terrence Sejnowski, the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute, Barbara co-teaches Coursera’s “Learning How to Learn,” one of the world’s most popular massive open online courses with some four million registered students, along with a number of other leading MOOCs.

Barbara has adventured widely through her lifetime. She rose from the ranks of Private to Captain in the U.S. Army, during which time she was recognized as a Distinguished Military Scholar. She also worked as a communications expert at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, and has served as a Russian translator on board Soviet trawlers on the Bering Sea.

Barbara's latest books:

Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn

Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything

Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens

You can find others here: https://barbaraoakley.com/books/

Social Links

LinkedIn: @barbaraoakley

Instagram: @barb_oakley

Nicole Dyson is a multi-award-winning educator and entrepreneur, and a global authority on project-based learning and youth entrepreneurship. With an extensive background in school teaching and leadership in the public education system in Australia, she is the founder of Future Anything, an award-winning education provider that works with 15000+ young people (and their educators) each year. Nicole also founded YouthX, Australia’s only startup accelerator program for school-aged entrepreneurs, and Catapult Cards, a design thinking toolkit for classrooms and corporates that donates 50% of its profits back to providing micro-grants for youth-led startups.

Future Anything was the winner of the Xero Outstanding Micro-Business Award at the 2021 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards and was listed as one of only ten initiatives around the globe realizing the employment and entrepreneurship ambitions of young people in the Prince’s Trust Group’s Report (2021) on The Future of Work. Future Anything was also the winner in the 2023 Business Champion Awards for Oustanding Education Services.

Nicole was listed in the inaugural 40 Under 40 for Queensland in 2023, as well as winning the ‘Gamechanger Award’, recognizing a person who has “re-written the rules of business to challenge, inspire and spark significant change.” She was also recognized in The Educator’s “Most Influential” list for 2023, acknowledging 45 educators significantly influencing culture and reform within Australia’s education sector, and was the recipient of SBE’s ‘Unsung Hero’ Award in 2022.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @nicdyson

Instagram: @nicdyso_ / @Future_Anything

X: @nicoledyson

Formerly Principal of an award-winning international school in the Middle East, and with a long and varied career in school leadership both in the UK and internationally, Matthew Savage now works closely with premium schools and school groups worldwide, helping them to use data wisely and well.

In recent years, he has worked face-to-face or remotely with thousands of educators across hundreds of schools in more than 60 countries, exploring the intersection of wellbeing and DEIJ through the prism of triangulated, "warm" and "street" data.

His keynotes and workshops have featured in educational conferences worldwide, including for COBIS, BSME, ECIS, TAISI, 21st Century Learning and Outstanding Schools.

He writes regularly for numerous, international magazines and blogs, including for Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine, International School Leader, School Management Plus, International Teacher Magazine, SchoolRubric, the International Schools Network, Diverse Educators, Teach Middle East and CIS.

He has been interviewed for numerous podcasts, including Teach Middle East, Flourishing at School, WISEducation, ISC Research, and Noonchi, for which he is a Thought Partner. He is also the host of The Data Conversation and Jack and Me podcasts himself.

Matthew is proud to be an Associate Consultant for LSC Education, in which role he coaches senior leaders in the UK and internationally, and also leads governance training with international school boards.

He is also fortunate to be one of the Editors of InterACT magazine, in which role he aims to be a lightning rod for the most valuable and least heard voices in the sector.

In addition, for the past ten years, he has loved being a trainer for GL Education globally, both face-to-face and online, through which work he continues to make and build connections worldwide.

Matthew is a passionate advocate for and ally of DEIJ worldwide, and member of ECIS’ DEIJ team and the Global Equality Collective; a member of the Diverse Educators network, and contributor to their 2022 book.

In this work, he helps schools both in the UK and around the world review their intersectional #DEIJ journey through the personal lenses of gender identity and disability.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @savageeducation

Web: https://monalisaeffect.me/

Email: matthew@savageeducation.com

Roger is one of the world’s leading authorities on Philosophy for Children (P4C) and philosophical education. Roger trained under Professor Matthew Lipman, the pioneer of Philosophy for Children (P4C), and @DialogueWorks with Nick Chandley to provide P4C training around the world, and developing Philosophical Teaching and Learning. https://dialogueworks.co.uk/philosophical-teaching-and-learning-ptl-pedagogy-for-the-21st-century/

He was a founder and President of SAPERE, the UK charity promoting P4C, and President of the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children. He graduated in Philosophy and Modern Languages at Oxford, and has taught at primary and secondary level.

Roger has spent the last decade developing Thinking Moves A-Z www.thinking-moves.com, a transformative scheme scaffolding critical thinking for both teachers and students.

Contacts

Email: rogersutcliffe@dialogueworks.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutcliffe-9557b817/  

Odunayo Aliu is an Education Specialist and Development Practitioner with experience in transforming the education landscape in rural and marginalized communities. She is the Founder of Bramble Network, a nonprofit organization that provides equitable educational opportunities to children and youth in rural and marginalized communities. Through her leadership, Odunayo has also been instrumental in the establishment and management of several EdTech and social enterprise initiatives, utilizing cutting-edge technology and community organizing to influence mindsets and cause societal change. Her ultimate aim is to democratise access to learning and transform education for millions of young people across Africa.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @odunayoaliu

Instagram: @odunayoaliu / @bramblenetwork

Dor Abrahamson is Professor of Secondary Mathematics Education in the area of Cognition and Development at University of California, Berkeley and a member of faculty at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Dor has been pioneering a design-based approach to research called embodied design. In his Embodied Design Research Laboratory (https://edrl.berkeley.edu ) Dor and his team look at cognition and learning of mathematics through the body. As one of his fascinating articles from 2016 is entitled, Learning is Moving in New Ways. 

A recent book summarising research in this exciting area of embodied cognition to which Dor has contributed is linked here: Macrine, S. L., & Fugate, J. M. (Eds.). (2022) Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning: https://edrl.berkeley.edu/lab-blog-posts/macrine-s-l-fugate-j-m-eds-2022-movement-matters-how-embodied-cognition-informs-teaching-and-learning/ 

Social Links

LinkedIn: @dor-abrahamson

LinkedIn: @wei-li-liew; @moesingapore

Dr. Brad Kershner is a school leader and independent scholar, currently serving as the Head of School at Kimberton Waldorf School. His research, teaching, and writing cover a wide range of interdependent topics, including education, leadership, parenting, cultural diversity, technology, integral theory, meditation, complexity, and developmental psychology. He received his graduate education at The University of Chicago and Boston College, and he is a longtime student of multiple Buddhist lineages. He is a co-founder of The Reconstitution Project, a meta-political think-tank, (www.thereconstitution.com), and his first book is Understanding Educational Complexity: Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership.

A recent article Brad has written for Integral Life, which he references at the end of our conversation, is Diversity, Empathy, and Integration: Reframing and Reclaiming a Movement Toward Healing and Wholeness.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @bradkershner

X (formerly Twitter): @bradkershner

Daniela Papi-Thornton is an educator, facilitator, and author whose work focuses on systems-led leadership: an approach to social innovation that centers on systems understanding. Daniela has served as a Lecturer at Yale School of Management, Watson Institute, and Oxford’s Saïd Business School where she was also the Deputy Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. She designed an educational tool called the Impact Gaps Canvas used at accelerator programs and social impact education initiatives around the world and launched Map the System, a contest now running at 50+ global institutions. Daniela has served as a consultant, advisor, and leadership training facilitator at a range of enterprises, from public companies to private foundations. Daniela’s work builds upon six years of emerging market entrepreneurial experience in Cambodia, running a hybrid educational organization. She co-authored a book, Learning Service: The essential guide to volunteering abroad and an influential report on "Tackling Heropreneurship" and her TEDx talk on Reclaiming Social Entrepreneurship highlights some of her thinking. 

Social Links   

LinkedIn: @danielapapi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielapapi/  

X (formerly Twitter): @danielapapi: https://twitter.com/danielapapi 

LinkedIn: @drpritiojha

Vardan Kabra - Co-Founder & Head of School at Fountainhead School in Surat, Gujarat. Since 2008, the school has now grown to over 2000 students. Author of the book, 'Reimagining Indian Education'. Gujarat Chair of FICCI ARISE, Founder and Managing Trustee at Ultimate Sports and Education Trust.

LinkedIn: @vardan-kabra

Anoushka Jolly is the founder of Anti-Bullying Squad (ABS), an anti-bullying company that also developed an application, Kavach.

In 2018, Anoushka, a student at Pathways School in New Delhi, decided to tackle bullying in her own way. In 2021, Anoushka’s anti-bullying app, Kavach won 50 million rupees in funding from investors Aman Gupta and Anupam Mittal on the Shark Tank India show. She has recently launched an updated version of the app, Kavach 2.0.

LinkedIn: @anoushka-jolly

Suraj Shah is an IBDP Psychology and Theory of Knowledge Educator and IB Examiner in Mumbai. He is also a trained Psychotherapist, Psychologist and Mindfulness Trainer.

LinkedIn: @suraj-shah

Kirstin Coughtrie is the Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Gaia Learning. Teacher & tech lover passionate about SEN, accessible learning and creating scalable solutions to global challenges. As an ambassador for teaching the UN SDGs and as a mum of children with additional needs and challenges, Kirstin has seen first-hand how important personalised learning is to their wellbeing and how vital flexible learning is to supporting families.

Kate Longworth is the Co-Founder & CEO of ⁠Gaia Learning⁠. Experienced 'startup' tech entrepreneur and Marketeer. Passionate about education and in particular working with SEN primary school learners. Kate is a marketing entrepreneur on a mission to help children around the world learn what they love and love what they learn.

Social Links

Linkedin: Kirstin Coughtrie - @kirstin; Kate Longworth - @katecarneyuk

Instagram: @gaialearningonline

Professor Keith Davids is Professor of Motor Learning at the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science. Keith uses an Ecological Dynamics framework for investigating skill acquisition, expertise and talent development in sport. He is an applied scientist who researches how processes of learning, development, performance preparation and participation in sport, physical activity and exercise may be facilitated. He reviews implications for coaching and teaching at elite, sub-elite and recreational levels of participants, as part of his work. Ecological Dynamics is an integration of Ecological Psychology, Dynamical Systems theory, Evolutionary Science and the Science of Complex Systems, considering individual athletes and teams as complex adaptive systems, self-organising under interacting constraints. Such systems change over different timescales, which has significant implications for learning, development and ageing in children, adults and elderly people. He has over 30 years experience of teaching and conducting research in Ecological Dynamics with collaborators in UK, Portugal, France, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, Norway and Sweden in related fields like Sports Science, Psychology, Behavioural Neuroscience, Sports Coaching, Physical Education and Human Movement Science. He has held/holds research positions in the UK (Manchester Metropolitan University: 1991-2003), Finland (University of Jyvaskyla, Finnish Distinguished Professor: 2012-2016), New Zealand (University of Otago: 2003-2007), Australia (Queensland University of Technology: 2006-2014) and Norway (2020-22: Norwegian Sports Science University (NTNU, Trondheim), Adjunct Research Professor). His scientific research is applied in the work of international sports organisations (national and international teams in Association Football, NFL, Rugby Union and AFL) and national Institutes of Sport in Australia (AIS), New Zealand (NZSI), and England (EIS), as well as KIHU (Finnish Olympic Research Committee) and PESTA (Physical Education and Sports Teachers Association, Singapore).

Keith is part of the Constraints Collective with Ian Renshaw, Will Roberts and Danny Newcombe: https://www.theconstraintscollective.com/

Keith is co-author of the 2019 book, The Constraints-Led Approach: Principles for Sports Coaching and Practice Design. You can find links to his other books here and journal publications here.

Deepak Ramola is the Founder and Artistic Director of Project FUEL. A two time TED Talk speaker & UN Action Plan Executor, he also previously served as the Kindness Ambassador for UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development.

Deepak is a storyteller and artist forwarding the understanding of life lessons of everyone from women of the Maasai tribe to young girls in Afghanistan and sex workers of Kamathipura, earthquake survivors in Nepal to Syrian refugees in Europe.

Founded in 2009, Project FUEL collects life lessons from people all over the world and turns them into interactive and performance activities, to pass on the learnings. The passing on happens by way of workshops, seminars, and sometimes even over coffee.

Every life is important and so is what each person's life teaches them. At FUEL, life lessons are continuously collected, documented, thought about deeply and then turned into performance activities. This ensures that you don't just hear someone's lesson in words but experience it tangibly, and apply it practically in your own life.

One way that the life lessons are shared globally is through the World Wisdom Map - a collation and exhibition of human wisdom that invites people to engage, contribute and learn from everyone's stories in an artistic and interactive way.

Project FUEL's methodology has been recognised as a world's top 100 innovations in education by Finland based organisation HundrED and has also been adopted by the Education Board of Antwerp in Belgium, and schools across Asia and the US.

A celebrated lyricist in Hindi Cinema, Deepak's songs have been voiced by Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Rekha Bhardwaj amongst others. His first collection of Hindi poetry titled Itna Toh Main Samajh Gaya Hoon received the prestigious Young Writer Award in 2020 at Jaipur Literature Festival. His latest book, 50 Toughest Questions of Life, has gone into a reprint two weeks after its release.

Social Links

LinkedIn: deepak-ramola

Twitter: @deepak1811

Instagram: @deepakramola; @projectfuel

This week's episode is a wonderful conversation with Nora Bateson (https://batesoninstitute.org/nora-bateson/). In my opinion, Nora is one of the most important thinkers working today to challenge the dominant paradigm of optimization, separation and machine-like efficiency that pervades our institutions. She does so in her own beautiful style and in deep continuity with the ideas of her father, Gregory Bateson, and her grandfather, William Bateson, among many others.

Nora's work with the International Bateson Institute (https://batesoninstitute.org/) brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. She coined the term "Warm Data" and, as you will hear in our conversation, this was in response to the disproportionate credibility and authority given to information derived by decontextualizing. I have had the privilege of working with Nora and her team to explore what Warm Data means for the way schooling and education happens. If you would like to find out more, we are hosting some online sessions in early October and also visiting schools to run Warm Data Labs with young people, in partnership with International Baccalaureate.

Nora is the author of Small Arcs of Larger Circles (https://www.triarchypress.net/small-arcs.html), released by Triarchy Press, in 2016. Her forthcoming book, Combining, which she is launching at an event in New York on September 30. You can find out more about the event here: https://nysgs.org/event-5402217

In our conversation you can hear Nora read two excerpts from the book - 'Mama Now' and 'Harvest'.

Nora also wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory. http://www.anecologyofmind.com/

Social Links

LinkedIn: @nora-bateson

Twitter: @NoraBateson

Faith Abiodun is Executive Director at UWC International bringing a wealth of experience from his time spent as an education and social enterprise leader, international affairs analyst, writer and speaker. 

Prior to UWC International, he spent nearly a decade at the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he served as an executive leading the recruitment of thousands of young leaders from all over the world for ALA’s programmes. He also headed the Communications, Marketing, Programme Recruitment and Partnerships departments, helping to build ALA’s global brand and developing strategic partnerships with governments, corporates, foundations, NGOs and schools. He also founded the ALA Model African Union, through which more than 1,500 young leaders from 58 countries participated in a simulation of the African Union.

Earlier in his career, Faith was a journalist with The Guardian in Nigeria; he also founded The Speech Academy, an elocution and public speaking institution and Future Africa, a public sector leadership organization with a network of emerging leaders spread across more than 30 African countries. Previously, he worked in Corporate Communications at the Bi-Courtney Group and served a sabbatical stint with the international secretariat of Catalyst 2030, a coalition of the world’s leading social enterprises working with national governments to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  

Faith is a member of the Board of Trustees for News Decoder, a Paris-based global education news service. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University, New York. He is also an alumnus of the World Innovation Summit for Education’s (WISE) Learners Voice Executive Education programme.

UWC Harvard Impact Study: https://www.uwc.org/impactstudy

Social Links

Instagram: @UWCint

Facebook: @UWCint

LinkedIn: @UWC International @faithabiodun⁠

Twitter: @UWCint

Jennifer Brandsberg-Engelmann⁠ has been teaching Economics, Business Management and Environmental Systems and Societies for 26 years in three countries, mainly in the International Baccalaureate. Jennifer is an expert in developing and executing educational strategies, projects, processes and curricula. Her core focus is training young people to take action for sustainable and regenerative societies. She has worked with student changemakers in the Sustainability Action Lab at ⁠Strothoff International School⁠, Germany, developing their knowledge, skills and passions through the ⁠Youth Mayors Field Guide⁠, a curriculum that she lead - developed with colleagues from other disciplines and other international schools.

Jennifer has co-authored Economics, Business Management and Environmental Systems and Societies textbooks integrating new economic thinking and social enterprise themes into those works. Jennifer has also delivered webinars on sustainability and works to shift curricular systems to new paradigms to address 21st century problems.

Recently, she has turned her attention to advocating for regenerative economics to be taught in secondary schools. You can find the regenerative economics syllabus she developed with ⁠Kate Raworth⁠ and other academics and teachers in ⁠an open letter posted on the Doughnut Economics Action Lab website⁠. She is working on a prototype for the course in the coming months. If you would like to offer help or feedback on this emerging work please contact her ⁠via LinkedIn⁠ or through the form for the open letter here: https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/259. 

The Schools Plus Network was launched in May by the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, led by Andreas Schleicher (previous guest on the podcast, Ep #38). The network is intended to position schools as the drivers of innovation and gather and connect the best innovative practices from schools around the world to share them with others. The network will work across three dimensions, to:

• Foster exchange between networks; 
• Scale up learning and innovation; 
• Inform policy, research and practice and the global education debate.

Anna Pons is project lead of the Global Teaching InSights at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. This initiative aims to use video to advance research on how teaching varies across countries and what practices are most effective for raising student outcomes, and to develop an online library to enable teachers to learn and share with their peers from across the globe. Previously, Anna co-ordinated the accession process of Costa Rica, Colombia and Latvia to the OECD in the area of education. Also, she co-authored in-depth reviews of the effectiveness and equity of nine education systems as well as the report Equity and Quality in Education, which identified system and school-level policies and practices for supporting disadvantaged schools and students. Prior to joining the OECD in 2010, Anna gained work experience in the Catalan government, a local government, and the private sector. Anna holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science from University Pompeu Fabra, and a Master in Economics and Public Policy from Sciences Po, ENSAE and École Polytechnique.

Leila Loupis is the Schools Plus Network Coordinator and Analyst at the OECD. Previously she was a senior coordinator of the Teacher Task Force network for UNESCO and has worked as a Communications Specialist for the United Nations and on the UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report.

Links for further information

• Web: https://www.oecd.org/education/school/oecdschoolsnetwork.htm
• Email: OECD.SchoolsPlus@oecd.org
• Twitter: @OECDEduSkills; @OECDDev; @aponsv

Alison Clark is an Professor of Early Childhood Education and visual artist. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK. Her main academic work is currently in Norway where she is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN).  

Since 1999, Alison has been interested in the theoretical, methodological and ethical aspects of young children’s co-construction of knowledge using visual, participatory methods. This research theme has centred on the development and adaptation of the Mosaic approach with her colleague Professor Peter Moss - a multimethod qualitative research approach for working with participant perspectives that has contributed to a ‘listening to young children discourse’ in the UK and internationally.

Cross-national collaboration and exchange is central to Alison's work. She co-founded the Special Interest Group on Children’s Perspectives, as part of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association in 2004 (with Professor Deborah Harcourt). She has also contributed to the exhibition Remembrance of Swings Past - a collaboration between the University of South-Eastern Norway, early childhood centres in the municipality of Horten, and Preus Museum, the National Photography Museum of Norway.

Alison's recent two year research study, Slow knowledge and the Unhurried Child was funded by the Froebel Trust and published in 2022 by Routledge as the book Slow Knowledge and the Unhurried Child: Time for Slow Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education.

Alison's Blog: Slow Knowledge https://alisonclarkinthemaking.wordpress.com

Alison's artist website: http://www.alisonclark.co.uk

Social Links

LinkedIn: @professor-alison-clark

Twitter: @WestrayAlison

Email: alison.clark@ucl.ac.uk

Helen is the Founder and Co-Chair of the Positive Schools Initiative (PSI). Since it's launch in 2008, the Positive Schools Initiative has worked with over 26,000 educators from over 6000 schools and colleges; from around Australia and 15 other countries. Positive Schools Initiative is focused takes an evidence-based systems approach to building Contextual Wellbeing, positive mental health and resilience in school staff, parents and young people.

Helen is a bestselling author and speaker and her most recent book is Contextual Wellbeing: Creating Positive Schools from the Inside Out (2018). Her work has been met with international acclaim and has been endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama among many others.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @helen-street

Twitter: @drhelenstreet

Dr Philippa Hardman is a learning scientist and affiliated scholar at the University of Cambridge. She is the creator of the ⁠DOMS™️ learning design engine⁠ - a groundbreaking evidence-based learning design process. She is a thought leader in the world of learning design and has spent 20+ years researching learning science & designing in-person, online & hybrid learning experiences. Phil has designed some of the world's most high-impact learning experiences, including the University of Oxford's first and most successful MOOC. She also successfully led the largest learning design project in history while VP of Learning at ed-tech start-up, Aula. More recently, Phil has started to consider the role of AI in learning design and delivery and recently delivered a TEDX Talk on AI and Education.

Phil's Substack: @LearningFuturesDigest

Connect with Phil on LinkedIn here.

• Given, Alice, Zak, Amerali, Gijs and Alex - Grade 11 students at UWC Atlantic College, Wales [starts at 01:54]
• Raja Rouissi - English Coordinator and English Language teacher at Al Durrah International School, Sharjah [starts at 30:23]
• Heather Beck - incoming Head of School at Awty International School [starts at 45:48]
• Dwayne Matthews - Chief Innovation Evangelist and Education Strategist at TomorrowNow Learning Labs [starts at 01:16:37]
• Gary Stager - Founder and CEO of Constructing Modern Knowledge [starts at 01:37:01]
• Matt Glanville - Director of Assessment at the International Baccalaureate [starts at 01:58:06]

Check out Part One in Episode #107, including:

• Martin and Rosetta - 13/14yr old students from the American international section of a public school in Bordeaux
• ⁠Chantelle Love⁠ - Grade 5 teacher at ⁠Australian International School of Phnom Penh⁠, Cambodia
• ⁠Raj Bolla⁠, Vice Principal at ⁠International School Ho Chi Minh City⁠ and ⁠Dr Tosca Killoran⁠, Deputy Head at International School Ho Chi Minh City
• ⁠Bodo Hoenen⁠ - Co-Founder and CEO of edtech company ⁠Nolej AI⁠
• ⁠Lord Tim Clement-Jones⁠ - Co-Chair ⁠All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI⁠, Chair of ⁠The Institute for Ethical AI in Education⁠ and Chair of Council at ⁠Queen Mary University of London⁠.

• Martin and Rosetta - 13/14yr old students from the American international section of a public school in Bordeaux [starts at 01:54]
• Chantelle Love - Grade 5 teacher at Australian International School of Phnom Penh, Cambodia [starts at 11:19]
• Raj Bolla, Vice Principal at International School Ho Chi Minh City and Dr Tosca Killoran, Deputy Head at International School Ho Chi Minh City [starts at 33:26]
• Bodo Hoenen - Co-Founder and CEO of edtech company Nolej AI [starts at 01:01:02]
• Lord Tim Clement-Jones - Co-Chair All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI, Chair of The Institute for Ethical AI in Education and Chair of Council at Queen Mary University of London [starts at 01:24:33]

Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang⁠ studies the psychological and neurobiological bases of social emotion, self-awareness and culture and their implications for learning, development and schools. She is a Professor of Education at the ⁠USC Rossier School of Education⁠, a Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Program Faculty at the University of Southern California, and Director of the USC ⁠Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE)⁠.

Mary Helen was elected 2016-2018 president of the International ⁠Mind, Brain and Education Society⁠ by the society’s membership. She is serving as a distinguished scientist on the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Science and Practice of Learning. Mary Helen is also associate Editor for the award-winning journal Mind, Brain and Education and for the new journal AERA Open, and sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

In her research work, Mary Helen leads cross-cultural, longitudinal studies investigating adolescent brain and social-emotional development, academic success and relations to school and life achievement in urban contexts as well as the neural and psychosocial correlates of mindsets in low-SES adolescents from different cultural groups. She also serves as scientific adviser to several Los Angeles schools/districts.

Mary Helen’s 2015 book, ⁠Emotions, learning and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience⁠, is available from W.W. Norton publishers (author proceeds are donated to education-related causes). 

In May 2020, Mary Helen wrote a must-read article in ASCD with ⁠Doug Knecht⁠ (⁠Bank Street College of Education⁠) entitled ⁠Building Meaning Builds Teens' Brains⁠, if you're interested to find out more about the significant implications of Mary Helen's work this is a great place to start!

Social Links

LinkedIn: ⁠@maryhelenimmordino-yang⁠

Twitter: ⁠@CandleUSC

Dr. Zachary Stein is a philosopher of education, psychologist, futurist, and author. He is a founding member of The Consilience Project, with Daniel Schmachtenberger, which is dedicated to improving public sensemaking and building a movement to radically upgrade digital media landscapes. Zak is also co-founder of Lectica, Inc. (with Theo Dawson, a non-profit dedicated to the research-based, justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in K-12, higher-education, and business), as well as the Civilizational Research Institute, and the Center for World Philosophy and Religion.

Zak is the author of Social Justice and Educational Measurement (2016) and Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology, and Society (2019).

In 2017, Roger L. Martin was named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers.

Roger is a trusted strategy advisor to the CEOs of companies worldwide including Procter & Gamble, Lego and Ford.

Roger Martin is a Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto where he served as Dean from 1998-2013, Academic Director of the Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship from 2004-2019 and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute from 2013-2019. In 2013, he was named global Dean of the Year by the leading business school website, Poets & Quants.

His newest book is A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Managerial Effectiveness (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022). His previous twelve books include When More is Not Better (HBRP, 2020), Creating Great Choices written with Jennifer Riel (HBRP, 2017) Getting Beyond Better written with Sally Osberg (HBRP, 2015) and Playing to Win written with A.G. Lafley (HBRP, 2013), which won the award for Best Book of 2012-13 by the Thinkers50. He has written 30 Harvard Business Review articles.

Roger received his BA from Harvard College, with a concentration in Economics, in 1979 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981. He lives in South Florida with his wife, Marie-Louise Skafte.

Roger's I-Think initiative works with educators and students to bring integrative thinking, innovation and design into K12 classrooms.

Social Links

Roger's Medium page: https://rogermartin.medium.com/

Twitter: @RogerLMartin

LinkedIn: @Roger-Martin

Zaretta Hammond is an international education consultant and the author of the best-selling book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. She holds a Master’s in Education in English Education, with a concentration in Writing from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Zaretta is a former high school and community college expository writing instructor. She has also served as adjunct instructor at St. Mary’s College School of Education in Moraga, California, where she taught Foundations of Adolescent Literacy. As a consultant, she has advised and provided professional development to school districts and non-profit organizations across the country around issues of equity, literacy, and culturally responsive teaching for the past 25 years. In addition to consulting and professional development, she has been on staff at national education reform organizations, including the National Equity Project and the former Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) and she sits on the Board of Trustees for the Center for Collaborative Classroom. She has published articles in Educational Leadership, The Learning Professional, and Phi Delta Kappan.

Zaretta brings a unique focus on neuroscience to the conversation about equity, literacy and culturally responsive pedagogy to make it understandable and practical for educators.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @zaretta-hammond

Twitter: @Ready4Rigor

She is also the founder and Chair of the Board of the FairFight Foundation, a charity that aims to empower girls and women from underprivileged backgrounds through martial arts.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @ginie-servant-miklos

The Global Bildung Network is a network run by volunteers and convened by Lene Rachel Andersen. It is a project under Nordic Bildung. Nordic Bildung is an association based in Copenhagen, Denmark and can be found at www.nordicbildung.org. If you would like to know more, you can contact them at info@nordicbildung.org

Global Bildung Day, on the March Equinox of 2023, is a worldwide gathering of bildung advocates, experts, teachers, and students; all united to support the quality of life, human and nonhuman, through universal education for daily life for all ages. Join us on March 21st as we explore Bildung, Globalization, Nation, and Peoplehood in the 21st Century: https://www.globalbildung.net/gbd2023-march-21/

European Bildung Day Conference 2023 - European Identity: Who are we? Who could we become? Join the drafting of a European Bildung Manifesto May 8-9 2023 in Vilnius: https://www.globalbildung.net/ebd2023/

Michelle Blanchet is co-author of The Startup Teacher (Times 10, 2020), co-author of Preventing Polarization (Times 10, 2023), and an educator and social entrepreneur striving to improve how we treat, train, and value our teachers. After ten years of experience working with young people, she founded the Educators’ Lab, which supports teacher-driven solutions to educational challenges. Michelle earned a master’s in international relations from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. She has taught social studies in Switzerland and the U.S. and has presented at numerous events, including SXSWedu and TEDxLausanne. Michelle is a part of the Global Shaper Community of the World Economic Forum. She has worked with organizations like PBS Education, the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, Ashoka, and the Center for Curriculum Redesign.

Brian has been in education for twenty-seven years teaching social studies and coaching varsity soccer in the US and abroad. Brian, a co-host of the 4 A Better Tomorrow Podcast, flew back and forth from Switzerland to run in the 2018 election as a US Congressional primary candidate from the 18th District of Illinois.

Brian holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Illinois State University, where he also served as an adjunct professor working in the field with student teachers in 2018 and 2019. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He currently teaches sociology and civics at Morton High School in Morton, Illinois.

Brian is the co-author of Preventing Polarization (Times 10, 2023) where he and Michelle Blanchet show how all educators can equip our youth with skills to become active and engaged citizens.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @michelle-blanchet-edulab / @brian-deters

Twitter: @educatorslab / 

Jo co-founded www.youcubed.org to give teachers, parents and students the resources and ideas they need to inspire and excite students about mathematics. Her work has been published in the New York Times, TIME magazine, The Telegraph, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and many other news outlets. Her latest book is: Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead & Live without Barriers, published by Harper Collins. 

She is currently co-leading a K-12 Data Science Initiative and was named as one of the 8 educators “changing the face of education” by the BBC.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @dr-jo-boaler

Twitter: @joboaler

Aksinya Samoylova is both a pioneering HR professional, and a passionate progressive educator. She saw that versatility is often overlooked or ignored in the hiring and management process, and that the same issue is endemic to international educational practices. Aksinya felt compelled to investigate polymathy and how it impacts education and work. The result was her book, Why Polymaths?

Aksinya’s keynote speeches and public talks, delivered in English and German draw on a unique combination of the original research she has compiled over many years, and her passion for Philosophy, Psychology, World History, Art History, Science, Asian Studies, and Indian Classical Dance. She is fluent in four languages and knows three others at different levels.

As a graduate in linguistics and pedagogy, she created a concept for a polymathic approach to learning for both individuals and educational insitutions.

Aksinya manages a polymath agency, the first talent acquisition service in the world to specialize in working with companies seeking multidisciplinary professionals.

Aksinya lives with her husband and daughter in Vienna, Austria.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @aksinya

Twitter: @aksinyaPolymath

Instagram: @polymathhistory

Abby Falik is an award-winning social entrepreneur committed to launching the generation of leaders our world needs now.

In 2010 she founded Global Citizen Year, a non-profit that uses the transition after high school to teach the REAL 21st century skills: resilience, empathy, agency and leadership.  As CEO, she raised and deployed over $65M in scholarships and equipped thousands of diverse, emerging leaders to change the world — for good.

In 2022 she joined the Emerson Collective as an Entrepreneur in Residence to incubate new models to transform how young people learn, launch and lead. Using Global Citizen Year as a blueprint, she is on a mission to reinvent the “gap” year as an accessible, purposeful and transformative rite of passage.

A recognized expert on social innovation, leadership, and the changing landscape of education, Abby has been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR and The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Abby is a frequent speaker and has been featured at forums including the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Obama Foundation Summit, the Fast Company Innovation Festival, PopTech, and The Nantucket Project.  In 2018, Abby was named one of America's Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers by The Business of Giving.

Fast Company named her one of the Most Creative People in Business, and Goldman Sachs has selected her as one of the 100 “Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” four times.  For her achievements as a social entrepreneur she has been recognized as an Ashoka Fellow, a MindTrust Fellow, and a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur.

She currently serves on the Advisory Boards of World Learning, Teach for All, and Harvard Business School, as well as on Fast Company’s Impact Council.

Abby received a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in International Comparative Education from Stanford University. She received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

She lives in Oakland, Ca. with her husband Joel Segre and their two young sons.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @abbyfalik 

Twitter: @abbyfalik

Instagram: @abbyfalik

Alex Budak is a Berkeley Haas professional faculty member, a social entrepreneur, and the author of the very popular book, Becoming a Changemaker: An Actionable, Inclusive Guide to Leading Positive Change at Any Level.

Alex believes everyone has the potential to lead positive change, and he dedicates his life to helping people from all walks of life become changemakers. He co-founded StartSomeGood.com, a platform that breaks down the barriers that prevent people from enacting change. StartSomeGood.com has now helped over 1,000 changemakers in 50 countries raise over $12 million to catalyze new initiatives. 

Alex previously ran Sweden’s leading social innovation incubator, Reach for Change, and worked at Change.org. 

At Berkeley Haas, Alex puts his heart and soul into teaching students and executives from around the globe the mindset, leadership skills and action steps required to become changemakers. He also serves as Executive Director of the Berkeley Haas Global Access Program and Faculty Director of The Berkeley Changemaker Gateway.

Alex has given lectures on changemaking, entrepreneurship, and leadership in venues ranging from Ukraine to Cambodia, Los Angeles to the Arctic Circle, and at the White House and UN agencies. 

Published in 2022, and following the same structure as his UC Berkeley courses, “Becoming a Changemaker” gives readers the tools and confidence required to become changemakers.

Alex is a graduate of UCLA and Georgetown University and the recipient of UCLA’s Recent Alumnus of the Year Award.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @alexbudak

Twitter: @alexbudak

Amala has developed the first international high school curriculum for young people who are displaced. They also offer Changemaker Courses in areas such as Peace-building, Ethical Leadership, and Social Entrepreneurship. Formerly known as Sky School, Amala was conceived in 2017 in response to the gap in quality education provision for displaced youth.

Holli Ghaisen is the Learning Lead for Amala in Kakuma, Kenya. Holli believes Amala’s High School Diploma is not only the answer to the high demand for education in Kakuma, but that it is also offers solutions to the community’s problems. He joined Amala to be part of that solution. Holli has worked for organisations such as Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) and Lutheran World Federation (LWF).

Louie Barnett is Amala's Education Lead, based in Singapore. Louie got involved with Amala as the course leader for 'Peace-building in your community' in 2018. As Education Lead, he is responsible for leading the development and delivery of Amala’s educational work and improving the impact Amala programmes have on student outcomes. Louie is an experienced chemistry teacher and Theory of Knowledge teacher and helped facilitate the Initiative for Peace programme at UWCSEA for several years. As a graduate of the Teach First programme in the UK, Louie has also worked on projects with Teach for Malaysia and Teach for Cambodia, part of the Teach for All network.

Motasim is 18 years old, from Sudan and currently living in Jordan. Motasim is a member of Amala's forth diploma programme cohort. Christine is from Uganda and currently living in Kakuma, Kenya. She is in the second cohort of the Amala diploma programme.

Dr. Akira Drake Rodriguez writes about race, cities, and space in the US.  She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design. Akira’s book, Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta's Public Housing (University of Georgia Press 2021), examines the dialectic between black feminist politics and public housing policy in Atlanta from 1936 to 2010.  She was recently awarded a grant from the Spencer Foundation to study critical participatory planning strategies in school facilities planning in Philadelphia. 

Akira was the convener and lead author on Transforming Public Education: A green new deal for K–12 public schools, an initiative of the Climate + Community Project, sponsored by The McHarg Center and Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative.

Ana Aguirre is a co-founder and worker owner at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop where she leads the cooperative development area. She is the Vice President for the International Cooperative Alliance Youth network in Europe, where she also serves in the youth executive committee. Among many other projects, she currently co-leads the course on Platform Cooperatives NOW! with The New School (NYC) and Mondragon. Ana studied at Mondragon Team Academy in the first class of the Leadership Entrepreneurship and Innovation (LEINN) degree.

Lucy Stephens is the founder, Co-Headteacher and Charity Director of The New School in south London, UK. With experience gained from a background in teaching, degrees in social psychology, nutritional therapy and herbal medicine, time spent working at the Prince’s Trust with marginalised young people, and having two of her own children, Lucy has focused her attention on what an alternative democratic model of education could look like. She founded The New School to put research into practice, to challenge the current paradigm, and to address the many deeply entrenched problems in education and society.