I am a gardener, forager, award-winning author and lecturer, and researcher in plant humanities: a vibrant interdisciplinary field investigating the relationships between plants and people.
My research is companion-planted with my work as a community gardener at The Windmill Community Gardens Margate, and ornamental gardener at Canterbury Cathedral Gardens. In these spaces, we focus on succession planting, wildlife habitat integration, soil regeneration, perennial and heirloom vegetables, and permaculture design. In addition, I serve as Trustee and Director of the Hosty Biodiversity Reserve on the Saugeen Peninsula, the most ecologically significant wildlife area in Ontario, Canada. I am also a volunteer at Great Dixter, working with and learning from inspiring colleagues similarly passionate (and utterly nerdy) about soil health, species conservation, and edimental experimentation.
Prior to all this, I was a University lecturer for 14 years (receiving tenure as Associate Professor), where I developed recognised expertise in grant-writing, media and science communication, event organisation, and designing influential and innovative learning m̷e̷m̷e̷s̷ tools. After the pandemic, I decided to move into the public sector in order to spend more of my “one wild and precious life” outdoors and with wider audiences, and regularly give public talks and educational comedy performances on all things plants, philosophy, and people.
I have a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in taxonomy and the cognitive science of emotions and well-being from the University of Edinburgh, a PGCHE teaching certificate in community learning (with SEN-SEMH accreditation), and full RHS qualifications in plant science and practical horticulture from Walmer Castle Gardens. I completed my training in garden design at Great Dixter, taught by Annie Guilfoyle, culminating in my design project The Curious Garden: an outdoor educational space fostering curiosity through binary-breaking botanical oddities. In 2024, I began a year-long ethnobotanical expedition into wild food ecology, tracking, regenerative harvest, and processing, following the narrative ceremony of the Ju/'hoansi bushmen of Namibia, led by Michael Wachter. I am at my most peaceful and joyous with soil on my feet and the smell of the fire in my hair, following the seasons, enthusing to others about lizards and woodpigeons and finding weeds for breakfast.
Areas of Research Expertise
How gardens and foraging impact the gut microbiome and emotional well-being
The connection between forest schooling and creative lateral thinking
The nature and value of emotions in learning and educational assessment, in risk analysis, and in political/legal decision-making
The history and philosophy of political gardening (esp. in Ancient Greece)
My joint horticulture × academic CV is here.
Writing
My book project—Style & Stigma—explores the manufactured and monetised tension between body and mind, through the lens of gardening. It is a book for garden witches, interdisciplinary / compost feminists, and gardeners who also love books.
I also write both scientific and public articles based on original research into practical interventions that gardeners can apply to improve ecological health and human well-being, and do occasional grant and journal reviewing. My emotions work has been published and cited by the BBC and iai News, in academic journals, and I’ve performed my research at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Bradford Literature Festival, and internationally.
Why not join me?
Collaboration between subjects and within communities is a central part of my research and teaching activity, and contributes vitally to the intellectual compost heap! I am always keen to chat with anyone at all interested in the kinds of topics and questions this site documents, and love collaborating on educational, ecological, and policy projects. Get in touch!
