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Taisa Mattos
Education & Research Coordinator at the Global Ecovillage Network, works as an international trainer and consultant in the fields of sustainability, social innovations and community life. Ecovillage researcher, Taisa is the author of the book Ecovilas: a construção de uma cultura regenerativa, holds a masters degree in Communities and Social Ecology, and is also a Professor at the Post-Graduate Program on Pedagogy of Cooperation and Social Methodologies (UNIP/Projeto Cooperação) in Rio and São Paulo. She has coordinated and taught Gaia Education and UNESCO certified Ecovillage Design Education Programmes globally since 2009. Board member of the International Communal Studies Association, Taisa is the co-founder of Terra Una Ecovillage (MG-Brazil) and also contributed, for several years, to Transition (Towns) Initiatives in Rio.
Anne-Kathrin Schwab
Anne-Kathrin Schwab is a sociologist and researches in the field of ecological and sustainable lifestyles. Her PhD was an ethnographic analysis of an ecovillage in Germany. She wrote about power structures, decision making processes, emotional deliberative democracy and in how far an ecovillage provides advantages for the region in which it is settled. She lives in a small village in Bavaria (Germany) and works as a research assistant at the University of Vechta in the Department of Economy of Sustainability and in several research projects. She also supports GEN and ECOLISE in different projects. Her passion, besides ecovillages and sustainable communities, are icelandic horses and her 5 year old son Jaron.
Rebeca Roysen
Rebeca Roysen is a teacher, researcher, writer and mother. She has a PhD in Sustainable Development and a MSc in Social Psychology and researches about ecovillages, sustainability transitions and grassroots innovations. You can find her academic publications here. She is dedicated to promoting transitions – in her personal life, in her community, in her research, in her political engagements and in her teachings. She is very much inspired by the personal and collective transformation power of community and loves to share her knowledge through lectures, workshops, and writings. She is a member of Ecoaldeia Aratikum, an ecovillage located in Instituto Biorregional do Cerrado (IBC), in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil. She is also a member of the research circle at CASA Brasil.
Supported by:
Iris Kunze
Iris Kunze holds a PhD. in geography and sociology. She has co-developed the field of ecovillage research since 2002. Iris is an expert on social movements, transformative social innovation and sustainable ways of living. She has researched and taught at the University of Münster, the Center for Global Change and Sustainability (GWN) at BOKU University, the Institute for Integral Studies and the Austrian Institute for Sustainable Development. For Publications and information visit: http://www.community-research.eu
