Meet Our Team. Get to know the minds propelling our vision forward.

Julian founded Natural Neighbours after spending decades campaigning on sustainability issues, including biodiversity, climate change, planning rights, fracking, farming and plastic pollution.

He has led campaigns at internationally renowned organisations such as Friends of the Earth and the Conservation Council of Western Australia. Before that, Julian worked for the NHS in Cardiff rehabilitating people with brain injury and has has degrees in Psychology and Marine and Freshwater Biology.

Julian has always been passionate about supporting wildlife, and about connecting people. In 2021 he enrolled at the prestigious Oxford School of Garden Design, the first step on his mission to harness the power of outdoor community space to help fix the biodiversity and climate crises and restore the health of people and the planet.

In her early career Madeleine worked in Town Planning, Urban Regeneration and Residential Development. More recently she has worked for a small charity working with young families in her local borough of Merton which often involved supporting parents to improve their mental wellbeing. Madeleine has always had a passion for improving the environment around us not just for people but also for the natural world and is very excited about what Natural Neighbours has to offer.

Lauren has a lifelong passion for being outdoors, whether it’s hot, cold, sunny or wet. As a leading light in the rapidly-expanding Forest Schools movement, and a qualified Early Years educator, she has huge experience working with children, young people and adults in urban semi-natural settings, such as parks and woodlands.

Lauren is dedicated to providing inclusive opportunities for people to explore and connect with the wonders of the natural world; inspiring people from all walks of life with creative sessions that have gained her great acclaim locally and seen her featured in local and national print and broadcast media.

Annwen is a race equality advocate and neurodiversity consultant and has spent more than a decade working in the civil service, earning a British Empire Medal from the Treasury for her services to diversity and inclusion.

As a Christian, Annwen sees nature as God’s amazing and beautiful masterpiece, and cherishes being able to share and learn alongside fellow nature-nurturers in the neighbourhood. She is excited to see Natural Neighbours grow in ways that are accessible and inclusive of everybody.

Kirstie has worked in the education and arts sector for more than fifteen years, beginning her career in environmental education, and going on to work in education and digital for Tate. She created high-profile accessible and engaging digital interactive content for both Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Now, as editor of the independent magazine Sonshine, Kirstie has a passion for creating innovative ways to inspire people to make many small changes in their own life, that hopefully translate to big changes across society.

Caroline has been involved in the charity sector for more than 20 years – primarily as the Chief Executive Officer for the development charity Giving Africa. Before that, she held senior management roles at Help the Aged and The Children’s Society. She was also one of the founding directors of the Association of Volunteer Managers.

She has a deep understanding of what leads to successful impact and sustainable growth, developed through her experience in support of causes related to international development, children and older people’s wellbeing, disability, environmental justice, mentoring, volunteering, education and entrepreneurship, across both small and global not-for-profit organisations.

Through living with communities across Africa, India and England, Caroline has come to thrive on making new and enduring connections and now, as founding partner at Living on Purpose, she channels her energy into helping people create real and lasting impact through realising their purpose.

Christiana has over 9 years’ experience in finance, including roles as a Fund Accountant and Bank Operations at Stanbic IBTC, she has a strong foundation in financial management and operational efficiency, managing financial portfolios and ensuring regulatory compliance.

As part of an international financial institution, Christiana has actively participated in various corporate social responsibility initiatives, facilitating the provision of health and educational facilities to the less privileged. This has fuelled her desire to contribute to causes that positively impact our world.

She also enjoys designing and making female dresses in her spare time.

Will is a young conservationist passionate about facilitating ambitious, large-scale nature restoration across the UK. With words like ‘acorn’ and ‘otter’ disappearing from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, he’s dedicated to creating new opportunities for other young people to experience and connect with nature.

A recent MSc Wildlife Conservation graduate from Imperial College, Will volunteers part-time with the Global Rewilding Alliance and has hands-on involvement in nature restoration across both rural and urban projects.

With prior experience in sustainability consultancy and waste management, he has successfully influenced corporations to place the natural world at the heart of decision-making.

Vicki is an award winning campaigner, author (“Rebugging the Planet” and “Perfectly Safe to Eat?”), expert strategist and senior manager who has been working on environment, food and farming issues for over 30 years.

Vicki is Strategic Lead on Agriculture at the Wildlife Trusts, is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and has an academic background in pest management. She is also on the board of the Eating Better Alliance and has sat on numerous charity boards and government advisory groups over the years.

Siôn has deployed cutting edge technology and tactics across a range of environmental justice issues at Possible, Friends of the Earth, mySociety and now Climate Policy Radar, earning himself a reputation across the movement for his solutions-focussed ingenuity. In his current role Siôn is endeavouring to understand the potential of civic technology to contribute to climate movements, with a keen focus on catalysing local climate action particularly via the pivotal role of local government.

Based in Caerdydd/Cardiff, Siôn has played basketball for Wales, is a ‘recovering chef’ who describes himself as a bit of a foodie, is passionate about nature and rewilding, and is fluent in Iaith y nefoedd (also known as Welsh, “the language of heaven”), management jargon and environmental acronyms. Siôn is also a trustee at Tir Natur Cymru, AdFree Cities Cardiff and Cardiff National Park City.

Denis Fernando is an environmental justice and anti-racism campaigner and activist. He has been a lead officer in the National Union of Students and has worked to build movements and discourse for change in such diverse settings as Parliament, the Trade Union movement and The Rainbow Coalition Against Racism. He was among the Occupy London campaign group that set up camp in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral and the London Stock Exchange.

Denis has played a prominent role in many important environmental and social justice campaigns of the last few decades, but if you ever need to track him down you’ll most probably find him where he’s happiest – watching butterflies and listening to birds in his garden and the surrounding area.