What I’ve learnt is simple, but profound: storytelling can hold pain, but builds connection, solidarity, hope and fosters empathy that can spark action on climate change.

It’s moments like these that have shaped my practice as a researcher, educator, and climate justice advocate. And it’s why I’m so thrilled to join the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University, a community that treats stories not as decoration, but as deep, interdisciplinary tools for research, relationship, and change.

I have come to academia mid-career, after 25+ years working with children, families, and communities in the social care, youth, and education sectors. My interdisciplinary research in Geography and Environment draws on that grounding in practice, blending creative therapies, play, and outdoor learning with place-based environmental science. I am what you would call a “pracademic”, passionate about Creative Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Action-Based Storytelling. I am passionate about them not just as research methods however, but as movements towards more inclusive, equitable, and human-centred environmental research.

One project that exemplifies this approach is Flood Stories, a collaboration with colleagues at Global Link Education and the Environment Agency. This initiative uses immersive 360° videos to capture the lived experiences of young people affected by flooding. By placing viewers in the midst of these narratives, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of flood risks and recovery challenges from a child’s perspective. Our recent paper stories showcases how immersion in children’s flood stories can be a powerful tool in a flood education programme, motivating learning, and fostering action of flood risk and resilience among participants and members of wider communities.

Another project, INSECURE (INtergenerational Stories of Erosion and Coastal community Understanding of Resilience), focused on Withernsea, a coastal town in East Yorkshire experiencing some of the fastest rates of coastal erosion globally. Collaborating with over 60 Year 8 students from Withernsea High School, we employed PAR methods to explore how young people perceive and engage with coastal change. Through community mapping, empathy exercises, and intergenerational interviews, the participants told their community’s story through the creation of poems, artworks, photos and film, reflecting their observations and learnings. The culmination of this project was a co-created film that was nominated in the Climate Emergency category of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Research in Film Awards (RIFA) 2021 and which was showcased at COP26.

The Storytelling Academy’s ethos of collaboration, care, and applied, interdisciplinary work resonates strongly with my values, and I am delighted to join the ranks of likeminded researchers using storytelling to advance understanding and communicate research. I’m especially excited by the Academy’s international partnerships, and its bold work with underrepresented voices. My current projects explore how children and young people in flood-risk areas can shape adaptation plans; how menopausal women use cold water swimming as climate action; and how Indigenous and ethnic minority women in Vietnam protect and reimagine their environments through everyday acts of care, resistance, and storytelling.

At the heart of it all is the belief that stories are action. They are how we make sense of complexity, navigate uncertainty, and imagine new futures. They’re also how we connect, with each other, across generations, geographies, cultures, and disciplines. I’m delighted to be part of this vibrant community. If you’re working with stories that matter stories that heal, that challenge, that dream, I really would love to collaborate. Let’s listen, reimagine and let’s tell.