Anna Card is a Health Improvement Specialist within East Sussex County Council’s Public Health team, she is a registered UK Public Health Practitioner and specialises in the following areas; physical activity, healthy eating and food, healthy weight, and promoting and utilising whole system approaches to create change.   

Clarissa Bromelle is head of Social Imagination at Human Nature. Clarissa comes from a multidisciplinary background leadership in Film, Food and Experiential Events working with global brands. Clarissa is delivering the program of Social Imagination across The Phoenix Project in Lewes, East Sussex, a project that focuses on the sustainability, health, community wealth and the well-being of people and nature at the very heart of the project, and beyond. Clarissa’s understanding of food and food systems began in 2011 when she founded a farm to table supper club in Norwich which worked directly with farmers serving food at events in London and Norfolk. Clarissa has been developing the Phoenix Food Strategy for Human Nature in partnership with The Food Foundation

Emily O’Brien is a Green Party Councillor and Cabinet Member for Climate, Nature & Food Systems at Lewes District Council. She is also the Green Party’s spokesperson on Food, Agriculture & Rural Welfare, Deputy Chair of the Local Government Association’s People & Places Board (for non-metropolitan areas). She has worked for many years supporting food partnerships and food systems approaches including on the national Sustainable Food Places programme.

Gemma McFarlane is the chair of Sharing Skills CIC in Seaford. She worked as a chef and gardener and feels it’s important for everyone to know how to grow and cook good food.

Jane Perry uses her background in social research to support a range of organisations, big and small, to imagine, enact and reflect on new responses to poverty and welfare in the UK. She is also involved in practical activism, as a founding trustee of a local community response to food insecurity in Lewes.

Kathy Martin is a Principal Lecturer in Nutrition at the School of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Brighton.

Lucie Simon from Eat Fresh and Feel Good, is a BANT registered nutritional therapist, retreat chef and recipe developer. Lucie champions fresh, local, seasonal, plant-focused food, and runs nutrition and cooking workshops for various groups within the community.

Miemie Neethling-Taylor is the director of Higher Education at Plumpton College. She is involved in sustainability and community initiatives at the College and uses her research on belongingness to inform higher education practices.  

Nir Halfon is assistant curriculum manager for horticulture at Plumpton College. Previous to working at Plumpton College, Nir was a grower and farm director at Old Plawhatch Farm, a community owned farm near Sharpthorne in Sussex. He holds a master’s degree in environmental and energy studies and a diploma in Permaculture design. He is passionate about local, agroecological food systems. 

Ronald Ranta is an academic, food scholar and former chef. His research focuses on food insecurity and the intersection between food and politics, society, and culture. This research is informed by his experience of working as a chef, being a trustee of a community food support project, and volunteering with community food support groups for the past several years. 

Ronald’s trustee and volunteering work have given him first-hand exposure to the issues and challenges facing community food support projects, and the scale and gravity of the food insecurity crisis faced by many in our society.

Shadia Snelling – is a Sustainability Specialist for grants and projects for Lewes District Council and supports the delivery of Lewes District Council Climate and Nature Strategy and Action Plan.

Topsy Jewell is a director of Common Cause Co-operative and has been working on farming, food and the economic benefits of local food economies for over 25 years. She is currently involved in the running of Lewes Farmers Market and Lewes Mosaic, a project linking wellbeing and wildlife through growing projects.g