Fireside Chat – Dr. Vandana Shiva, Minni Jain, Colin Andrews, and John D. Liu

Speakers

• Colin Andrews Chair of Tiyeni
  

  Colin Andrews

  Chair of Tiyeni

  Colin was brought up in many countries and had lived in 18 different homes before he left home. Starting his career in surveying in Iceland, he trained in Estate Management and became a Chartered Surveyor and later a member of the Australian Institute of Valuers. In Australia he worked on a number of farms and on return to the UK became a partner in an established firm of Chartered Surveyors which specialized in Estate and Farm management.

  His interests focus on biodiversity with particular interests in insects, wildflowers, and trees and their effect on farming. He is married with 4 sons and lives on a smallholding on the edge of the ancient and biodiverse New Forest in Hampshire UK. He joined Tiyeni in 2013 and became Chair of the Board in 2017.

• Dr. Adam B. Cobb Soil Food Web School, Content Development & Science Editor
  

  Dr. Adam B. Cobb

  Soil Food Web School, Content Development & Science Editor

  Adam’s passion for agriculture emerged in 2008, during his three months of volunteer work on organic farms in New Zealand. His time in graduate school cultivated a broad vision for the restoration of living soils, as well as utilization of research and community engagement to address current and emerging global food production challenges. After completing his doctorate at Oklahoma State University in 2016, he was funded as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Instructor. During the past 5 years, Adam authored or coauthored 20 research publications focused on agroecology and plant-microbial symbioses. He also taught multiple undergraduate and graduate courses on global food security, restoration ecology, and environmental science. He joined The Soil Food Web School in 2021, following his dream to help regenerate soils, improve human nutrition, and protect our planet.

• Dr. Vandana Shiva Scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author
  

  Dr. Vandana Shiva

  Scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author

  Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of numerous books. She is a tireless defender of the environment. Dr. Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers’ rights. She is also the founder and director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy. Shiva fights for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food: “I don’t want to live in a world where five giant companies control our health and our food.”

• John D. Liu Filmmaker, Ecologist, founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps
  

  John D. Liu

  Filmmaker, Ecologist, founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps

  After 15 years as a Television Producer and Cameraman for CBS News, RAI and ZDF John began to study ecology in the mid 1990s. John founded the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), he helped to create the China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center (CESDRRC), and he helped create the China HIV/AIDS Information Center (CHAIN). Over the years he has produced, directed, written and presented numerous films. He is currently Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and Visiting Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (NIOO/KNAW).

• Minni Jain Educator, Operations Director of The Flow Partnership
  

  Minni Jain

  Educator, Operations Director of The Flow Partnership

  For over 25 years Minni Jain has been working with communities to regenerate their landscapes and lives. As Operations Director of The Flow Partnership, she works on community-led management of floods and droughts using simple, low-cost, traditional methods. She also coordinates Waterways.world, a practical water school of landscape regeneration skills and methods to achieve replenishment of the world’s water bank. Jain has also helped set up the One Pond Fund to enable communities worldwide to resource their water projects.