Samuel Aldersey-Williams
Sam has just completed an MSc in International Sustainability Management at the ESCP Business School, with a specialisation in post-growth enterprises. His Master’s thesis explored the intersection of micro-and macro-level degrowth research and the role that businesses as economic organisations would play in a degrowth transition. Since then, he has taken part in the R&D Summer School in Catalonia and the EU conference presenting the results of the SPES and ToBe projects, and is currently in the process of honing his thesis for formal publication.
Benita Benny
Benita is an aspiring development practitioner with an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. She currently leads the stakeholder engagement on an industrial decarbonisation project in the West of England, with a focus on the role of the circular economy in reducing waste and emissions through industrial symbiosis. Looking ahead, she hopes to re-engage more deeply with quantitative research, particularly in relation to post-growth economics, unequal exchange, and Global South perspectives within ecological and development economics.
Félix Garnier
Félix is a PhD candidate at Bordeaux School of Economics, Université de Bordeaux in France. His research sits at the intersection between Development Studies and Ecological Economics and tries to solve the good life for all / environmentally sustainable economies conundrum (in particular in developing contexts). Leveraging insights from several different methods (econometrics and quantitative analysis, text and discourse analysis, normative philosophy, systems thinking…) and theoretical traditions (world-systems theory, post-growth theory, post-development theory…), he is interested in studying the ways we can reach devent living standards while also reducing global inequalities and environmental harm.
Inge Schrijver
Inge is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her PhD is part of the WISE Horizons project that aims to develop accounting methods and models for sustainable inclusive wellbeing. Within this, she focusses on the relationships between the environment and wellbeing. Previously, she obtained an MA in Economics for Transition at Schumacher College in the UK, and worked for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment. Currently, she is on a research visit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Sevilla. Fun fact: she also has her own little company with her partner, growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds.
Jan Stalzer
Jan is a PhD student and University Assistant at the Institute for Ecological Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. His research focuses on exploring how degrowth ideas can be translated into practice, using a mixed-methods approach that draws on ecological macroeconomics, environmental sociology, and political ecology. His work is driven by a strong interest in degrowth, ecological macroeconomics, social-ecological transformation, social provisioning, and sustainable wellbeing, with the overarching aim of contributing to pathways toward more just and sustainable societies.
Gemma Young
Gemma is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University. Her research examines how complex systems teach and stabilise behaviour through reinforcement structures, and how these mechanisms can be intentionally redesigned to support socio-ecological wellbeing. Drawing on systems thinking, behavioural science and ecological economics, her work develops a framework for understanding how systemic feedback shapes learning, norms and behaviour. Her research is intentionally interdisciplinary and applied, with a focus on informing policy, institutional design and real-world socio-ecological transformation.