Climate Change & Sustainability: curriculum, Careers, Community & CPD

Cemil Cihan Ozalevli

Co-founder and chief content officer of Twin Science & Robotics and has been focusing on a double-winged approach in education. With two wings, children can fly: One wing represents strong competence in STEM+A areas with highly developed 21st century skills. The second wing denotes a strong sense of human values and social responsibility to apply these knowledge and skills. Cihan has been leading the Twin Science content team to cultivate confident individuals since 2018. Prior to Twin, Cihan founded a solar energy start-up where he focused on developing hybrid renewable energy systems for 5 years. He was elected as one of MIT Innovators Under 35 in 2014 with the World’s First Hybrid Geothermal-Solar Thermal system. Turkey’s first floating solar power plant put him in the Forbes 30Under30 list in 2015. He has been volunteering in YGA to support the World Science Movement project that aims to deliver state-of-the-art STEM education in most disadvantaged echelons of the society.

Emma Knights OBEü

As NGA’s Chief Executive, since 2010, Emma leads the charity to fulfil its aim of improving 

the educational standards and wellbeing of young people. Emma leads the organisation under the direction of NGA’s board of trustees. From September 2023, Emma is sharing the chief executive role with Emma Balchin, each working three days a week.

Emma promotes the interests of the school governance community and represents the voice of NGA’s members at a national level with legislators, policy makers and education sector organisations and in the media. She is also a keen campaigner for greener governance, and she is involved in wider discussions on how best  to protect the environment and integrate this within schools and trusts. Emma also actively encourages NGA staff to think about how they can reduce their carbon footprint.

Nicholas Mort

Nick originally trained as a secondary History & Politics teacher in mainstream 11-18 schools. He has worked as a Middle and Senior Leader in a diverse range of schools, including several inner city 11-18 mainstream schools, gaining the National Professional Qualification for Headship in the process.  Nick currently works as Director of Futures Teaching Alliance, and works in strategic school improvement within The Futures Trust, a MAT of eight schools in Coventry, Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Futures Teaching Alliance leads work with teachers, leaders and education professionals across Warwickshire, West Midlands, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire to provide teachers with the ‘Golden Thread’ of teacher professional development.  Futures Teaching Alliance is also a Teach First National SCITT Regional Delivery Partner. Nick is a member of the MAT Central Team, Best Practice Network National Advisory Board  and sits on the MAT Headteacher Board and Curriculum Leads Steering Group.

Claire Pritchardul

CEO at Broadleaf Partnership Trust

Dr Paul Vare

Paul is Chair- elect of the National Association for Environmental Education, serves on the Adult Advisory Board of youth-led Teach the Future and is Academic Advisor to the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Steering Committee on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) having co-authored the UNECE ESD Strategy in 2005. Formerly, Paul was executive director of an international NGO, worked on community-based projects in sub-Saharan Africa and ran a regional ESD coalition in South-west England where he first worked as a secondary school teacher. Today, Paul leads the Doctor of Education programme at the University of Gloucestershire where he was Principal Investigator of A Rounder Sense of Purpose, an award-winning international research programme that developed a competence framework for sustainability educators.