5x15 x Kew Gardens: Regeneration

Claire Howard (they/them) is a qualified teacher with over 15 years’ experience in education and youth work. They are particularly interested in the power of story- telling to enact change, and how to bridge the ‘adolescent dip’ in nature connection amongst young people growing up in urban environments. They now co-ordinate the youth programme at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which reaches over 200 young people each year. Kew’s youth programme prioritises long- term, meaningful engagement with the young people it serves, and is designed to amplify youth voice through projects that explore the fundamental question of why plants and fungi matter. In their spare time they also work as a mountain leader, developing young people’s confidence, skills and sense of belonging in the outdoors.

Phoebe Smith is an adventurer, presenter, broadcaster, author, photographer, speaker and podcast host. In 2018 she formed Team #WeTwo with her teammate Dwayne Fields and launched the #WeTwo Foundation, with the aim to use responsible adventuring as a force for good. The Foundation's aim is to inspire the next generation. They run an expedition each year, taking with them a group of underprivileged young people to key destinations all over the planet. On each expedition, they will take part in citizen science: helping with vital research and adding experience to their own CV. Pre-trip they will be 'paying it forward' by participating in environmental, conservation, and youth initiatives in their local communities. Phoebe is also the author of 10 books including the bestselling Extreme Sleeps: Adventures of a Wild Camper.

Tori Tsui (she/they) is a climate justice organiser and writer from Hong Kong now based in Bristol. Her work focuses on the intersections between (environ)mental health and climate change, culminating in her debut book, It’s Not Just You. She is an organiser with Unite for Climate Action, EarthPercent, Climate Live and Stop Rosebank.

Dwayne Fields is a presenter, explorer, naturalist, and all-round adventurer. Dwayne is an inspiring advocate for encouraging people to get outdoors and explore the world around them. Following a life-threatening incident in his younger years, Dwayne developed a passion to break the norm and expectations, reconnecting himself with his early experiences of the outdoors in wild Jamaica. He went on to become the first black Briton to walk over 400 nautical miles to the magnetic North Pole and has lived a life of incredible adventure and exploration thereafter, whilst simultaneously encouraging others to do the same.

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