ESD LEARNING ALLIANCE - Key Persons
Alban Hasson has been a PhD Student at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit since 2018. His main research interests lie in urban agriculture (UA), food sovereignty, environmental policy, grassroots innovations, and the potential for learning to deliver sustainable urban food systems. His PhD research explores the conditions for the expansion of the political space for urban agriculture justice and food democracy, and the resulting democratic effects produced different trajectories. His research draws on theories of environmental justice and democratisation, where his he seeks a better understanding of the pathways available to ensure parity of participation and address distributive and recognitive justice in UA. In his spare time, Alban enjoys growing some of his own food, and is involved in Urban farms in his local neighbourhood.
Alban Hasson is the Graduate teaching assistant of the ESD programme. He has been at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit since 2018 and involved in different research and teaching activities.He recently completed his PhD on conditions of an expansion of the political space for urban agriculture justice and food democracy in London. His main research interests lie in environmental justice, the right to the city, and food sovereignty.
Job Titles:
- Research Officer at SLURC
Amadu Labor is a Research Officer at SLURC with a BA in Development Studies and a BSc in Agricultural Education from EBK University of Science and Technology. He has acquired extensive work experience in community development, including multiple contributions to SLURC research and data collection for FEDURP before joining SLURC as a Research Officer. He has previously supported the ESD learning alliance both as an intern and as a SLURC staff member.
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations
- Director of Operations at SLURC
Andrea Klingel is the Director of Operations at SLURC, supporting the Centre in its continued delivery of leading research in order to influence urban policy and planning as well as building capacity of urban stakeholders. Andrea, originally from Germany, is a policy and programme management professional with extensive experience in various project and programme management roles in London, UK.
Andrea worked for over 20 years in different environments in the private, third and public sector managing complex projects at senior level and manoeuvring complex stakeholder relationships. Her strong organisational skills and leadership and people management abilities equip her to see through the introduction of human resources aspects, programme planning and identifying new and building on existing funding streams for SLURC. She was the Logistical Manager of the international election observation mission to Somaliland in 2017 and managed a 60-member observer team from 27 countries.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Strategic Team
Andrés Sepúlveda is a sociologist from the National University of Colombia, holding a Master's Degree in Architecture and a Postgraduate Diploma in Regional Planning and Development, both from Los Andes University in Colombia. Additionally, he holds a Master's Degree in Urban Management and Development from the IHS - Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has also pursued studies in Development Studies and Non-profit Management at the postgraduate level in universities in the UK and Canada. Andrés has experience in the public sector, academia, the private sector, international cooperation and the non-profit sector. His work has covered topics such as urban informality, participatory processes in urban planning, upgrading processes of informal settlements, cities and migration, and street art in city making processes.
Job Titles:
- Lecturer
- Director of Research and Training and Lecturer, IGDS, Njala University
Braima Koroma is a lecturer at the Institute of Geography and Development Studies, School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University and the Director of Research and Training at SLURC. Braima has over 15 years of experience as a lecturer, researcher, consultant, trainer and facilitator, in the areas of urban livelihoods, the city economy, resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, urban planning and development, environmental management, and development impact evaluation.
Carlos Escalante Estrada is an urban architect with more than 30 years of professional experience in the field of urban planning and popular habitat. He has been a Consultant of the National Institute of Urban Development in Urban Planning, Productive Habitat and Development of Urban Environmental Capacities. Associate member of CENCA and Chairman of its Board of Directors of Coordinator of the Campaign for the Right to a Decent Housing for all of November, member of the Regional Action Committee of global campaigns promoted by the United Nations Habitat Agency, member from the AGFE Mission (Group of Experts against Forced Evictions) to the Dominican Republic and Argentina. Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Institute of Planning and Chairman of the Board of the Cadastral Institute of Lima of the same municipality. Co-researcher in Vulnerability and Risk projects with IDRC, IMP, CENCA, and DPU, currently participating in action research projects with DPU-PUCP KNOW project and GEMDev Grounded energy modelling of equitable urban development in the global South.
Diana has several years of experience facilitating multi-stakeholder projects in conservation, sustainability and education in various Colombian cities and in London. Her research interests include the concept of security and the strategies developed by social organisations to resist in areas of armed conflict. She volunteers with activist groups supporting struggles for environmental justice in the global South.
Donald is an inter-disciplinary development planner with a formal background in urban and regional planning. He has over ten years of international research and practical experience across a variety of pressing urban development issues, ranging from the informal economy to disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and public health in the broader context of sustainable development.
Donald has worked with international and local NGOs, policy and research institutions, universities, hospitals, the private sector, communities and their local support organisations. His work has taken him to various countries throughout Asia and Africa, including Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, South Africa, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Strategic Team
- Associate Professor in Environment and Sustainable Development
- Development Planner and Architect
Rita Lambert is an urban development planner and architect with over 20 years of international experience based at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL. Her research, postgraduate teaching and consultancy are closely linked and span across various countries (mainly Latin America and Africa). Her work focuses on environmental justice, urban risk, energy justice, urban regeneration, affordable housing, mapping and participatory methodologies. She undertakes action-research, training and capacity building working closely with communities, NGOs, local and national governments, and local researchers, to co-produce strategies towards just urbanisation.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director and Lecturer, IGDS, Njala University
- Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre
Dr. Joseph M. Macarthy is the Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) in Freetown. He holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Management from Newcastle University (UK). He is an innovative urban planner and a well-established scholar in urban development with backgrounds in urban management, climate change adaptation and, disaster risk and resilience with specific expertise on urban Sierra Leone. He also lectures in the Institute of Geography and Development Studies at Njala University in Sierra Leone.
Joseph's research interest centres mainly on urban development, urban vulnerability and resilience, mobility and transport, public health, urban management, housing and informal settlements. He has co-authored a number of research articles as well as some consultancy reports. He also has strong networks amongst both local and international scholars of urban planning and development and with municipal and national governments in Sierra Leone.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Economics and Management Sciences at the Hult International Business School
Dr. Nikhilesh Sinha is an Associate Professor of Economics and Management Sciences at the Hult International Business School, London. Nikhilesh completed his PhD at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL, supervised by Prof. Caren Levy and Dr. Colin Marx. His thesis examines informal rental housing sub-markets in Hyderabad from an institutional perspective. The thesis contributes a novel conceptual framework for the analysis of informal markets, while debunking several commonly held perceptions of the dynamics of rental housing markets in informal settlements. More recently, Nikhilesh has been awarded a research grant by the Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW) Project in 2020 to study informal housing markets in Dar es Salam, Tanzania.
Etienne's research is focused in the areas of urban mobility, water governance and energy transitions, having done most of his work in Latin America. He is particularly interested in social movements and in examining the potential of grassroots resistance, of solidarity networks and of alternative justice mechanisms towards enhancing environmental justice and sustainability.
Job Titles:
- Field Officer at the Center of Dialogue
- SLURC Intern
Fatima Kabba is a volunteer field officer at the Center of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA). She holds a BSc degree in Social Work from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Fatima joins the Learning Alliance for the third time as volunteer field officer at the Center of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), where she currently has two year's fieldwork experience.
Francisco Torres Camacho majors in Law and Anthropology with a minor in Sociology and Geography at Universidad de Los Andes. He was the Director of Social Responsibility in his University's Students Council. He received the Banco de la República Academic Excellence scholarship for outstanding results in the Colombian State exam (ICFES). In 2022 he won the Resolution Project at Harvard's Conference (HNMUN) with the project LUCHA, which provides quality courses for the Colombian standardized exam for the youth of Barrio Ciudadela Sucre in Bogota´s periphery. With the ultimate goal of exacerbating access to higher education for the students of Soacha.
Hawanatu Bangura (Awa) has a background in Accounting and Finance and is currently working at SLURC as a Field Researcher in the action research project "Community-led solution: Assistive Technologies in Informal Settlements" in Freetown (Sierra Leone). Awa is the lead person in the action research project and acts as a liaison for two informal settlement communities (Dworzak and Thompson Bay), with a focus on people with disabilities. She is also leading the coordination of the development of the Transform Freetown Plan of Freetown City Council, where is she co-ordinating four main sectors. She has previously worked on the post Ebola Recovery Program, where she worked in the Operation Clean Freetown Initiative as part of the President's Delivery Team, Office of the Chief of Staff. This is the second year she is supporting the ESD learning alliance.
Job Titles:
- Expert Certified Development Project Manager
- SLURC Intern
Henry David Bayoh is an Expert Certified Development Project Manager (CDPM) who also holds a BSc (Hons.) in Environmental Sciences as well as a MB and MA in Sustainable Development. He is the Focal Point for the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and a Senior Planning and Development Officer/Head of Climate Change at the National Tourist Board. This is the fourth year he joins the ESD Learning Alliance as an intern.
Hugo is a graduate in social sciences from the National Pedagogical University and has a Masters in Educational Care for the Prevention of Addictions in boys, girls, young people and adolescents at the University of La Rioja. Hugo works within the Inclusive Health Team of the Kennedy Local Mayor's Office in Bogota. He also teaches at the school Unidad Educativa el Futuro del Mañana.
Moreover, Hugo is a researcher and popular educator at the School of Popular Environmental Education-Action Guaches and Guarichas for Bacatá. The school began in 2018 and is constituted of different grassroots organisations and processes. Guaches and Guarichas work for the defense and restoration of the ecosystem La Vaca Wetland located in the UPZ 80 Corabastos, in the Locality of Kennedy, Bogotá. This area has complex social and environmental challenges. Guaches and Guarichas seek to counteract these through popular pedagogies using approaches based onparticipatory action research and a critical understanding of the context.
Hugo Oswaldo Mendoza Ávila is a sociologist and member and leader of the social movements of low-income neighborhoods located in the historic centre of Bogota. While resisting the gentrification of the area, their struggle is for the right to the city, the defense and protection of vital ecosystems and of human and non-human rights.
Hugo is currently a member of the ‘Cerros Orientales' (Eastern Hills) board and of the ‘water guardians' network, who work to preserve the city's water system and have been instrumental in influencing policy changes that prioritize the protection and restoration of rivers, wetlands and water reservoirs. They organise clean-up campaigns, reforestation efforts, and education programs to raise awareness.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of the Territorial District Planning Council
Héctor Hugo Álvarez Cubillos is vice president of the Territorial District Planning Council, which is the highest instance of citizen participation in the city. He is a community leader at the Triangulo community and a long advocator of community-led Eco-barrios (eco-neighbourhoods). He is also a member of the ‘CerrosOrientales' (Eastern Hills) board, a citizens platform made up of grassroots environmental movement that includes local residents, environmental activists, and indigenous groups.
Ibrahim Bakarr Bangura graduated from Njala University with a BSc in Rural Development Studies. He currently works as a Junior Researcher at SLURC. He was previously part of the SLURC team working with ASF-UK's Change by Design Methodology on Community Action Area Plans (CAAP) and worked with the Amazonian Initiative Movement as a Facilitator. He has also helped to facilitate ASF-UK's Community-Led Data Collection for Informal Settlement Profiling workshop. He is currently involved in the OVERDUE and Urban KNOW projects. Ibrahim has been part of the ESD learning alliance over the last four years.
Julia is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality programme at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL.
With an interdisciplinary background in social and environmental sciences, her research and postgraduate teaching have addressed themes of disaster risk management, urban resilience, urban planning, and more recently, critical pedagogy, epistemic injustice and overlooked cities. Over the past decade she has been collaborating in action-research programmes with partners in cities of Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, with the aim of learning together to activate and build capacities for more just and equal urban development.
Kate holds a MSc in Environment, Politics and Development from SOAS, London, during which she focused on critical political ecology perspectives on development. Kate's research interests lie with agrofuels and the energy transition in a context of climate change.
Kerry is an urban geographer who has worked on urban sustainability transitions at the academia-policy interface for the last 8 years. During this time, she has worked closely with stakeholders across government, private sector and civil society stakeholders in South Africa and the United Kingdom to produce academic and policy outputs on urban infrastructure transitions, focusing on water, sanitation, and energy. She has also directly contributed to the development of municipal and regional policy on green infrastructure, mining waste landscapes and urban water management.
Laura is social communicator and journalist with experience in educational communication, ecosystem facilitation and is also a legal representative of the collective Somos Uno.
Laura Hidalgo is a 10th-semester architecture student at the Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá. Her main interests lie in social architecture and urbanism, where she has developed transformative academic projects, seeking to integrate the community at the heart of her designs. Among her works stand out projects for the urban revitalization of the industrialized Carvajal neighborhood in southern Bogotá with the Urban Centers A+U Lab (2021); a design for the Indigenous University in Piamonte Cauca with the New Territories project at Universidad Javeriana (2022); a proposal for a creative district for young victims of urban violence in Bogotá, and a design of facilities that honor the culture in Mompox, Bolívar. Laura participated in the Architecture Student Contest by Saint Gobain in its Warsaw edition in 2022, where she received an honorable mention from her university. Currently, she is in the process of completing her thesis, in which she proposes modules for the comprehensive care of homeless individuals in urban voids in downtown Bogotá. This series of projects represents her commitment to social change from an academic perspective, using design and urban planning as tools for progress and inclusion.
Liza Griffin is a lecturer at the Bartlett's Development Planning Unit at UCL. She writes about environmental politics and the governance of 'wicked problems'.
Her research lies broadly within the fields of critical governance studies and political ecology. She has written about how we collectively manage socio-ecological problems and what is at stake in the different political regimes and governing techniques intended to address them.
Loan Diep is a researcher on urban green infrastructure, water and sanitation, and socio-environmental justice in cities, with a focus on informal settlements. She graduated with a BSc in Environmental Geography and an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development at UCL. Loan has worked as research consultant for organisations like UNEP and IIED, and as project officer for Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP). She is currently doing her PhD at UCL on the urban politics of Green Infrastructure in São Paulo, Brazil.
Luisa Agudelo is a 21 years old and currently pursuing her undergrad degree in philosophy and anthropology at Universidad de los Andes. She is interested in community-level initiatives in her city, as well as their social and environmental effects.
Mahila Milan- "Women Together" in Hindi-is a decentralised network of poor women's collectives that manage credit and savings activities in their communities. Mahila Milan aims to provide a space for women to take on important decision-making roles and be recognised for their contributions towards improving their communities.
Manuela Daza Romero is a final-year architecture student at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana with experience in research processes for sustainable development in rural and urban areas. She is passionate and possesses great teamwork, empathy, communication and interpersonal skills which are essential to the development of environmental justice.
Maria Paula Caro graduated from Los Andes University with a BS in Anthropology and Philosophy. Her interests are drug policy and environmental justice from a feminist perspective. She has previously worked and researched topics concerning Colombia´s drug policy and the communities affected by it.
Lina Díaz is an architecture student from Bogotá, Colombia, known for her interest to grassroots participation and sustainable development, as well as sensitive and meaningful urban planning. Currently developing a dissertation that clings to the dignified search for answers, both for art and nature, her project aims to take advantage of the powerful, strong and politic force that characterizes the art itself to turn it into social conscience approaches to take care of the common natural spaces Bogotá has, all this from punctual interventions of urban architecture that can be replicable along the city in the future. She has played an active role in the New Territories Project at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (2022), cooperating in the first community participatory workshop in the "Alternatives for public use for the Eastern Hills of Bogotá" contest in the Villa Nydia neighbourhood. Additionally, she participated in Fundación PANACA's "Aprenderhaciendo" workshop, gaining insights into and rural entrepreneurship dynamics while learning from community representatives from across Colombia.
Maria Paula Díaz, an architecture student from Bogotá, Colombia, is dedicated to inclusive urban development. Engaging in projects targeting marginalized communities, she contributes to positive change. In 2021, Maria Paula collaborated on the "Habitat para la Paz" project, which involved developing urban, architectural, and technical design recommendations for there settlement of the Marco Aurelio Buendia Noble and Peace Community (formerly ETCR of Charras in San José del Guaviare). As part of her involvement, she actively engaged in community meetings, facilitating discussions and gathering valuable input from community members. This hands-onexperience emphasized empathy and cultural sensitivity in planning. She aims to leverage her skills for social equity in underserved communities. Her dedication stems from a desire to effect change. Maria Paula is driven by a visión of creating inclusive spaces. With compassion and determination, she seeks to make a meaningful impact.
Martha is a resident and community leader in the Santa Rita neighborhood and has run the community action board (JAC) since 2018. The JAC is a non-profit government organization, focused on understanding and acting upon the pressing needs of the Santa Rita residents and acts as an intermediary organisation between the community and state entities in charge of tackling social and environmental problems.
Mary Sirah Kamara graduated from Njala University with a BSc (Hons.) in Environment and Development and an MSc in Environmental Management and Quality Control. She was part of the SLURC team that worked with ASF-UK's Change by Design Methodology to pilot the Community Action Area Plan (CAAP) and she is currently working on a ESRC funded research project that explores health and infection control in informal settlements. She also plays a pivotal role in the Accountability for Health Equity (ARISE) project, which aims to acknowledge the needs of the marginalised and urban poor through accountability mechanisms. She has been part of the ESD learning alliance for the past four years.
María José Nieto Combariza is a PhD student at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, where she researches the value of mobility (in two and three-wheelers) in the context of mass public transport reforms using a critical southern lens. María José is an economist by training and has previously completed an MSc in Development from the National University of Colombia and MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics. As a professional in her field, María José aims to encourage knowledge-based strategies to foster urban development by working with local and national government institutions and the UN. She has previously worked on urban sustainable development project in Latin America, the Caribbean and China, where she has supported decision-making within local governments and public institutions.
Michael Garrick is a geology graduate and MBA student at the Institute of Public Administration and Management. He is a passionate believer in the power of research as a development tool and has previously worked with students on water and sanitation services within the Learning Alliance.
Dr Monica Bernal Llanos holds a PhD in Development Planning from University College London (UCL).Her main research interests are climate change and systemic racism, as the two major (and interconnected) ills of humanity. Monica's doctoral studies focused on the co-production of knowledge and politics for climate change adaptation in Colombia, and she's also conducted empirical research on public perceptions on the history of teaching and research of eugenics at UCL.Monica has worked in Bogota, Lima and London, using participatory action research whilst working hand in hand with disenfranchised communities as well as with government officials, the private sector and members of the civil society.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor and Ex - Director at the Department of Anthropology of Universidad
Pablo Jaramillo Salazar is the Associate Professor and Ex-Director at the Department of Anthropology of Universidad de los Andes. Pablo graduated from the Anthropology programme at the Universidad de Caldas in 2004. Between 2006 and 2010 he did his PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester (UK). Since 2010 he has been a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the Universidad de los Andes. In this department he has been director of postgraduate studies and Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics (UK) and visiting professor at Unicamp (Brazil).
He is an associate member of the Development and Societies Laboratory (UMR201) at the University of Paris 1 -Sorbonne Pantheon- and the IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement). He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Revista Colombiana de Antropología. His publications include four books and academic articles published in journals such as the Revista Colombiana de Antropología, Ethnos and the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Strategic Team
- Associate Professor in Environmental and Sustainable Development
- Environmental Planner and Associate Professor at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit
Pascale Hofmann is an urban environmental planner and associate professor at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London, and has over 15 years of experience conducting research and consultancy work in the global south and Europe. She has expertise in water supply and sanitation in urban and peri-urban spaces, adequate and equitable access to services and the sustainable use of resources, everyday trajectories of the urban poor and actionable knowledge supporting pathways out of poverty.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Strategic Team
- Professor of Development Planning and Urban Sustainability
Adriana Allen is Prof of Development Planning and Urban Sustainability at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London, and has over 30 years of experience in research, postgraduate teaching and consultancy undertakings in 25 countries across the Global South. Through the lens of risk, sanitation, water, land, food and health, her work looks at the interface between everyday city-making practices and planned interventions and their capacity to generate transformative spaces, places, and social relations.
Job Titles:
- Research Centre ( SLURC )
Njala University, a rural comprehensive public research university in Sierra Leone, is committed to providing the highest standards of excellence in higher education in Sierra Leone and beyond, fostering intellectual and personal development, and stimulating meaningful research and service to humankind.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Strategic Team
Tatiana Ome completed her PhD at the DPU, focusing on sustainable development and alternatives to development. Her 2017 PhD thesis -An Ethnography of Bogotá's Ecobarrios: The Construction of Place-based Eco-political Subjects, Subjectivities and Identities is an important resource for this project in Bogotá. She is an anthropologist and archaeologist with a Master's Degree in Anthropology and Archaeology, both from Los Andes University in Colombia. Tatiana has more than 15 years of professional and academic experience in the public sector, academia, the non-profit sector, and multilateral organizations (e.g., United Nations). Her work has covered various topics, including alternatives to development (Ecovillages, Eco-neighborhoods, transition initiatives), just transitions to post-development, urban anthropology, urban development, cities and migrations, cultural heritage and urban and historical archaeology.
Valeria Ruiz Arenas is a final semester student of Anthropology at the Universidad de los Andes. She is interested in exploring way store cognise herself as part of the Earth and to care for it. She is deeply interested in political ecology and environmental justice. and resonates with inter disciplinary and collaborative efforts to think about different cities and futures. She advocates for food sovereignty, is interested in agroecology and cooking. She is passionate about art, especially music, photography and film and love walking and cycling.
Verónica Molano Mora is an architecture student at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Throughout her studies, she has had a special interest in the way urban environments are organised, especially the territories in which popular neighbourhoods are located, seeking an understanding of the dynamics of those who inhabit them. Verónica has stood out for her role as Junior Researcher for the publication of the booklet Inventario Patrimonio Cultural Material de Girardot, which has the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Mayor's Office of Girardot; the development and elaboration of collaborative workshops with inhabitants of popular neighbourhoods; and for being an active participant in the Rural Architecture Workshop led by Fundapanaca. She is currently developing a dissertation on the quantitative and qualitative deficit of public space in popular neighbourhoods located in the Cerros Orientales of Bogotá, specifically in the Alto Fucha territory.
Yirah is the National Chairperson of the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP). Yirah lives in the hillside settlement of Dwarzark, one of Freetown's largest informal settlements. He is the vocal person for slum dwellers in Sierra Leone and the disaster management chairperson for his community.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor at DPU UCL
Zeremariam is an associate professor at DPU UCL. has been involved in several projects in different International Organisations. Over the past three decades, he has worked on medium /short term consultancies, external evaluations and applied research with a variety of UN, International and national NGOs. From 1989 to 2016, he has served as the founding director and head of a Regional NGO (the Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa, PENHA www.penhanetwork.org) over the last 27 years.