Ksenija Kuzmina
Dr. Ksenija Kuzmina is a Belarus-born design researcher and educator working across design, pedagogy, and socio-ecological transformation. Ksenija’s work investigates how participatory design and learning practices can support empowerment, inclusion, and collective/climate action in complex social-ecological systems. She is a co-founder of Design for Empowerment platform, and a co-editor of the Special Issue of Sustainable Design Education in Higher Education, Sustainability. She is currently based in the UK with her family; she is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Creative Futures, Loughborough University London, and a Programme Lead for the MA/MSc Design Innovation.
Holly Collison-Randall
Dr Holly Collison is an anthropologist in the field of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Holly has completed extensive fieldwork in Africa and South East Asia examining post-conflict development interventions and the use of sport. Her research explores youth identity, notions of community, International development, peacebuilding, social inclusion and grassroots perspectives and experiences of SDP. Holly is also a qualified performance netball coach and multi-sports coach and has used these skills in her participatory methodologies in the field.
Anna Farello
Dr. Anna Farello is an Assistant Professor at Ball State University, USA. She earned her PhD at Loughborough University London in Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) and continues to focus most of her research on this discipline. Dr. Farello studies the role of sport in striving towards wider social outcomes such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Farello has collaborated with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the International Olympic Committee, Playworks, Inc. and Good Sports. She currently serves as a Think Tank member for the Olympic Refuge Foundation and as an advisory board member for Ball State’s Center for Peace and Conflict studies.
Antonia Liguori
Antonia is Professor of Participatory Storytelling and Public Policy at Teesside University, where she is co-director of the Institute for Collective Place Leadership. Over her career, she has had the privilege to experience a very diverse and exciting pathway, both in the heritage sector and media industry in Italy, and in academia in the UK (Loughborough University 2014-2023; Teesside University 2024-present). Trained as a historian and digital humanist, she collaborates with communities, museums and international partners to amplify diverse voices through digital storytelling. Her work helps people connect personal memories with wider issues, from climate adaptation to health and wellbeing.
Benjamin Mole
Benjamin is a Doctoral Researcher at Loughborough University, London. He holds degrees in environmental economics from the University of Edinburgh and Lund University, plus seven years’ professional experience in renewable energy and sport-for-climate-action NGOs. His research is motivated by concerns about ecological futures and the uneven distribution of environmental harms, with particular attention to justice for marginalised regions, groups, and biodiversity. Originally from South Africa, he is particularly interested in Southern Africa both as a site of knowledge production and as a region facing distinctive pressures. His research explores how influential actors and institutions shape public understandings of nature and environmental responsibility.
Valentina Volpi
Dr Valentina (Val) Volpi is an Italian design researcher working across participatory design, playfulness, and politics. Her research examines how design can bridge different forms of knowledge across languages, disciplines, and communities, with particular attention to playful and experiential forms of learning and dissemination. Her doctoral research explored activist practices of precarious emplacement in response to housing precarity in East London, an inquiry she now carries forward in her role as a Research Associate at Loughborough University through international, community-centred knowledge transfer research on housing, environmental hazards, and community wellbeing.
Andre Brito
André is a lecturer in UX design and storytelling at Loughborough University, an Industry Expert in UI design and UX storytelling at Hyper Island, Sweden, and an independent documentary videographer. His background includes graphic design, advertising, print journalism, and an MA in Documentary by Practice at Royal Holloway University of London. André has been teaching in the intersection of design and storytelling for 12 years, while producing documentaries on topics ranging from PTSD in war veterans, suicide prevention for NHS England, and more recently for the Olympic Refuge Foundation, in Bangladesh, alongside this wonderful team of researchers.