Joy first studied permaculture before going to spend time working with a local organisation in Cameroon that was practicing permaculture in urban and rural settings there. She realised the value of taking time to observe and interact with our surroundings before jumping in with ideas. Subsequent experiences in Cameroon prompted her to work on supporting the people and relationships in land-based projects and other initiatives that involve people working passionately together.

She has worked for the last few years with community climate action groups across Leeds, as well as providing facilitation, mediation and training to multiple Leeds-based co-operatives and co-housing projects. She currently lives at Hockerton Housing Project in Nottinghamshire and works as a mediator, facilitator and celebrant.

Andy has been thinking about and practising permaculture design since his first design course in 1993. He has used permaculture in many different contexts and with lots of different groups. After training he helped with permaculture projects in Leeds, community projects and private home/garden projects, and national projects as a volunteer with the Permaculture Association. Andy has been the CEO of the Permaculture Association since 1999, and his main body of permaculture design work in recent years has focused on the design of the Association itself.

He has a wealth of facilitation experience, and has been teaching permaculture courses since 1995. He has contributed to many books and magazines and was the editor of ‘Permaculture – a teacher’s guide’.

He lives in a Victorian terraced house which he has been retro-fitting since 2000, and is just about finished. He cycles to work and enjoys time off working his allotment.

Luke grew up in a co-housing community called Hockerton Housing Project which is founded on permaculture design principles. From these early years of experience and inspiration Luke has had a strong conviction in the potential of sustainable design to meet our needs. He found permaculture in 2014 and has been crafting a permaculture livelihood ever since. Initially he applied design to; several community gardens, living in a housing co-operative, volunteering with Green Action Society and working for Hyde Park Source delivering community activities/designing new projects. This led him into urban agriculture and he was a market gardener at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm for 5 years. He has now returned to Hockerton Housing Project and works on a variety of community, agriculture and renewables projects. Alongside the practical application of permaculture he is passionate about sharing skills and knowledge with people on their own learning journey.