The POLLEN Advisory Collective was established to function as POLLEN’s institutional memory and as a go-to resource for the POLLEN secretariat and network nodes for advice, guidance, sharing of experience and other forms of support. POLLEN is a decentralized network without a formal decision-making body, and the role of the Advisory Collective is to exist as a resource for and of the network, not to direct it.
The Advisory Collective meets on an ad-hoc basis and the Collective or its individual members can be called upon by the POLLEN Secretariat and network nodes as needed. The membership of the POLLEN Advisory Collective is voluntary and permanent. Membership is not based on academic credentials, seniority or name recognition. Anyone may become a member, based on experience and engagement within the network (e.g., members of the original informal POLLEN ‘planning group’; past conference organizers; past secretariat members; delegates from regionally active nodes, e.g., ones having organized a regional conference or working group; delegates from active ‘affinity’ organizations and networks, e.g. Entitle, DOPE, PESO, JPE, etc.; other forms of network service).
Any POLLEN node is free to nominate an individual to the Advisory Collective at any time through communication to the POLLEN Secretariat. Following review of the nomination, membership will be invited on a rolling basis by the active POLLEN Secretariat. If the inclusion criteria are ambiguous for a particular person, decisions to invite will be made in consultation with active Advisory Collective members. Any decision to exclude a nominee (e.g., based on ethical challenge, behavior towards others or violation of POLLEN principles) will be based on consensus among current Advisory Collective members. The names and areas of experience of members of the POLLEN Advisory Collective will be visible on the POLLEN homepage.
Members of the POLLEN Advisory Collective (as per January 18, 2021):
Adrian Nel: Coordinator of POLLEN 2022 conference in Durban; POLLEN planning group member; POLLEN advocate in South Africa
Amber Huff: POLLEN planning group member; chair of organizing group for POLLEN 2020 virtual conference; helped to establish the POLLEN Solidarity Fund; can teach you how to make an origami hummingbird
Benjamin Neimark: Hosting POLLEN secretariat 2017-2019; co-initiator of the network; bot in charge of co-curating POLLEN twitter
Bram Büscher: Hosting POLLEN secretariat 2016-2017, chair of the POLLEN16 conference, co-initiator of the network, all-round fan of POLLEN
Brototi Roy: Early-career researcher actively engaged in creating networks on decolonising political ecology and degrowth in the global south.
Connor Joseph Cavanagh: POLLEN network co-initiator 2014-2015; coordinator for the POLLEN18 conference organizing committee in Oslo; POLLEN planning group member
Esther Turnhout: Interested in how knowledge, including political ecology, shapes conservation priorities, practices, and outcomes.
Felipe Milanez: co-coordinator of Latin America “Political ecologies desde el Sur/Abya Yala” working group, chair of the organizing committee of III Latin America Congress of Political Ecology. Former fellow of the European Network of Political Ecology (Entitle).
Gerardo A. Torres Contreras: Early-career researcher; participated in PhD events and organisation of the cluster “Conversations between Political Ecology and Critical Agrarian Studies” for POLLEN20 before the pandemic. Actively engaged in discussions around energy transitions in Latin America.
Giorgos Kallis: ecological economist and political ecologist, Greek in Barcelona, obsessed with degrowth (in a good way).
Hanne Svarstad: Co-initiator of the network, organizing committee member of POLLEN18, engaged in climate justice and political ecologies of education.
Isabelle Anguelovski: Director of Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability, engaged in research on the political ecology of urban development and its ramification for equity and justice.
Jens Friis Lund: Hosting the POLLEN secretariat at the University of Copenhagen and co-walking the POLLEN twitter-tightrope with the amazing Ben Neimark; both for the period 2019-2020.
John Childs: Part of POLLEN secretariat 2017-2019; helped come up (for better or worse) with the ‘POLLEN’ acronym; loving the increasing popularity of political ecology approaches to understanding environmental change.
Josiah Heyman: Political Ecology Society (PESO) email listserv manager; PESO meeting program chair; involved in Eric Wolf award of PESO; advisory board, Journal of Political Ecology; border rat.
Kartik Shanker: Evolutionary ecologist with an interest in the political ecology of conservation in the global South. Editor of Current Conservation. Occasional writer of children’s fiction. Loves to dive and play the drums, but not at the same time.
Nitin Rai: POLLEN Bangalore Node organiser. Avid POLLENista since Oslo18.
Paige West: Keynote POLLEN18 with John Aini. Node organizer in NYC. Prefers gold shoes and unicorn onesies.
Robert Fletcher: Hosting POLLEN secretariat 2016-2017, organizing committee member of POLLEN16 and POLLEN18 conferences, co-initiator of the network
Salvatore Paolo De Rosa: co-initiator of the network; former ENTITLE; co-founder and co-editor of Undisciplined Environments; enjoys direct action but prefers climate justice now.
Stasja Koot: Member of the first POLLEN secretariat team in Wageningen, 2015-2017, and organiser of the first POLLEN conference in 2016. Simply a pollinator!
Tor A. Benjaminsen: Co-initiator of the network; chair of organizing committee for POLLEN18 in Oslo
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