Professor Bill Metcalf
Bill is an Associate Professor (Hon) for the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, University of Queensland and an Adjunct lecturer for the School of Environment and Science, Griffith University. in addition to this he is a self-employed editor and researcher. Bill has been researching, writing about and occasionally living in Intentional Communities for over 30 years and in this time has produced 12 books, more than 20 chapters and over 40 peer reviewed articles. In 2018 he was granted the Distinguished Scholar Award, by the Communal Studies Association
Bill is a regular contributor to radio and television debates about communal living and utopianism and is currently researching and writing the complete history of Utopian communalism in Australia.
Professor Helen Jarvis
Dr Helen Jarvis is Reader in Urban Social Geography at Newcastle University: she gained her PhD from the London School of Economics in 1997. Her current research considers intentional communities of collaborative housing, civic engagement, geographies of inequality from a household perspective and work-life reconciliation. She is internationally regarded for advancing new paradigms of sustainable de-growth and social architectures that support a green sharing economy. Visiting fellowships include a period as 'researcher in residence' in the 'freetown' of Christiania, Copenhagen, in 2010. She sat on the board of directors of the UK Cohousing Network 2014-2018 and remains a core participant of Tyne and Wear Citizens (a branch of Citizens UK).
Penny Clark
Penny Clark is a PhD candidate at the University of Westminster and has a background in social research methods. Her doctoral research explores environmental sustainability in cohousing and coliving communities. Her research interests include intentional communities, communal housing, pro-environmental practices and sustainability transitions.
Dr Jim Hudson
Jim is a Senior Research Associate at Birmingham University’s School of Policy Studies, where he’s recently been appointed to work on a new project exploring the potential of collaborative housing in the context of later life social care. He first became involved with intentional communities while living in Berlin for several years; he returned to the city for his PhD, which explored the challenges faced cohousing projects created by their members to support each other in later life. Prior to his new post at Bristol, he’s been based at the London School of Economics, where his research included a year-long study of the role of community-led housing in reducing loneliness (for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), and a study aimed at capturing collaborative community responses to the pandemic. In recent years he also worked as a volunteer with RUSS CLT, a grassroots community housing project in southeast London.
Professor Peadar Kirby
Peadar Kirby is Professor Emeritus of International Politics and Public Policy, University of Limerick and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. He has published widely on Irish and Latin American politics and political economy, on globalisation, and on vulnerability/resilience. His latest book is, Karl Polanyi and the Contemporary Global Crisis: Transforming Market Society in the Era of Climate Change, and in 2018, The Political Economy of the Low-Carbon Transition: Pathways Beyond Techno-optimism, published by Palgrave Macmillan. He is a resident of Cloughjordan ecovillage, Co. Tipperary where he co-ordinates the educational programme.
Anton Marks
Anton Marks is a British-born Israeli and a founder member of the largest urban kibbutz in Israel. He has been involved in the intentional communities scene for over 20 years. He runs the Intentional Communities Desk, for whom he edits their magazine, is a board member of the International Communal Studies Association and is on the advisory board of the Eco Village Voice. Anton's passion for intentional community, his personal communal living experience and having visited countless communities all over the world are a recipe for engaging and challenging talks.
