Introducing the 2023 Post Growth Fellows

Influential researchers, thought leaders, activists, artists, and entrepreneurs from a range of backgrounds, fields, and cultures.

Running from February through October 2023, the Post Growth Fellowship engages researchers, thought leaders, activists, artists, and entrepreneurs from a range of backgrounds, cultures, histories, and geographies—united by their work in post-capitalist fields and alternative approaches beyond economic growth.

The vision is to open up and broaden the conversation around post-growth ideas, information, and inspiration, in recognition that many alternative approaches are emerging from, and continue to be stewarded in, the Global South and historically marginalized communities across the world.

After an initial year of deep learnings and inspiration, we’re thrilled to introduce the next cohort of Post Growth Fellows:

• Alanna Irving explores bossless leadership, open source organization development, cooperative governance, participatory technology, impact entrepreneurship, and collaborating with money — for a radically optimistic future. She is COO of Open Collective. Alana is originally from the US and is based long-term in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

• Andre Gonzales Andin is a relational artist, mountaineer, and climber. As a member of the Ecoversities network, she works with global communities on cultural, social, and educational regeneration. She is a student of the Escuelita del Amor, where the teacher is Ayahuasca. Andrea is from, and based in, the Ecuadorian Andes.
• Andrew Sage is a writer, artist, and YouTuber. An ardent anarchist and firm believer in power to the people, he incorporates post-growth ideas in his work to invigorate imaginations and encourage people to create a better world in the shell of the old. Andrew was born, raised, and is currently residing in Trinidad & Tobago.

• Arpita Bisht is a researcher, critical social scientist and a scholar-activist whose research focuses on environmental injustices and ecological distribution conflicts. She is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Arpita is from India and currently based in the Netherlands.
• Elena Hofferberth is a visiting researcher at the University of Lausanne, where she explores alternative futures that take place in the present as a way to live and envision the ‘prefigurative concrete utopias’ emerging beyond the growth myth. Elena is from Switzerland, where she is currently based.
• Emilio Velis’s work focuses on the intersection of innovation, design, and technology with social impact. He is the executive director of the Appropedia Foundation, an organization that promotes access to knowledge on sustainability and poverty reduction. Emilio is from El Salvador, where he is currently based.
• Erinch Sahan works on transforming the deep design of businesses, and is passionate about social enterprise and collective ownership. He is the business and enterprise lead at Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), and a board member of Social Enterprise World Forum. Enrich is Turkish-Australian and is currently based in the UK.

• Farzin Farzad is an Organizational Justice practitioner with degrees in international affairs and diplomacy. He’s the founder of Critical Equity Consulting, which helps organizations rebuild with a primary focus on creating equitable outcomes and seeking justice. Farzin was born in Urmia, Iran, and is currently based in the US.
• Franco Augusto is a social activist and currently co-coordinates the Global Tapestry of Alternatives. He also leads the research-action Acervus Project, and is involved in various thematic projects, such as REEVO; the Ecoversities Alliance; and the Enlivened Cooperative. Franco is nomadic and currently based in Argentina.
• Intissar Kherigi is a lawyer, educator and researcher on inclusive and participatory local development and territorial inequalities. She is the founder of the Jasmine Foundation, which designs and facilitates participatory planning processes across eight regions of Tunisia — where she is from and currently based.
• Jessica Mason is a strategist, entrepreneur, and educator whose work is centered on post-growth economics and creating equity, justice, and prosperity for those most marginalized by U.S. policies and systems. She is the Executive Director of Start.coop and founder of Island Eats. Jessica was raised in Australia and is currently based in the US.

• Joey Ayoub is a writer, researcher, scholar, and editor — and runs a podcast, The Fire These Times, which explores how to tackle climate change and imagine a post-capitalist world. He’s also an editor at Shado Magazine and on the board of the Domestic Workers Advocacy Network. Joey grew up in Mount Lebanon and currently lives between the Arve and Rhône rivers in Switzerland.

• Katherine Trebeck is writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh and the Centre for Policy Development. She co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and WEAll Scotland. Her most recent book (with Jeremy Williams) is The Economics of Arrival. Katherine is from Australia, where she is currently based.

What Will the Economy Be When It Grows Up?

• Mariana Villegas is an attorney working in the fields of energy and climate change. She recently completed a Master’s in Energy and Sustainability. Mariana is currently based in Bogota, Colombia, where she is from.
• Nariman Moustafa is an educator and community organiser who aspires to a world where communities are rooted in local traditions with trans-national solidarities. She is a Senior Analyst and researcher with the Edtech Hub and Open Development and Education, and a germinator for the Ecoversities Alliance. Nariman is from Cairo, Egypt, where she is currently based.
• Pierce Gordon, Ph.D. is an innovation catalyst, researcher, facilitator, and evaluator, impassioned by the space between transformation and liberation He’s director of the equity innovation studio at Think Rubix, a Black-led social innovation consultancy. Pierce is an American citizen and currently lives in Botswana.
• Pratik Raghu is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management Program at the New School in New York City, where he coordinates a range of academic and co-curricular initiatives pertinent to post-growth research and organizing. Pratik is from India and currently based in the US.
• Sheeza Shah is co-founder and MD of UpEffect, a crowdfunding platform shaping a benevolent economy inspired by justice and ethics. She launched the Zebra Solidarity Fund and is currently stewarding the Islamic Finance Collective alongside leading global partnerships at Zebras Unite. Sheeza in currently based in the UK.

• Sonia Tesfaye is a social justice advocatepassionate about women’s rights, intersectionalism, African feminism, and ecofeminism. Originally from Ethiopia, she is currently doing her second Master’s— in Slavery, Asymmetrical Dependencies, and Decolonial Studies—at the University of Bonn, Germany, where she is based.
• Thobile Chittenden is a community builder and nonprofit leader with a passionate interest in Social & Creative Entrepreneurship. She is currently the network co-lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, and part of nonprofit, community organisation, Makers Valley Partnership. Thobile is in South Africa, where she is currently based.

• Tonny Nowshin is an economist by training, development sector specialist by profession, and degrowth and climate justice activist by passion. She currently works with the international NGO the Sunrise Project as a Global Finance Campaigner. Tonny is from Bangladesh and currently based in Germany.
• Turquoise Sound is an online innovation expert and Regenerative Governance Board Member of the Integral Leadership Review, co-stewarding the intergenerational transition of their 20-year-old academic journal. Based in the US, she is also a touring musician and cultural artivist.

• Xinlin Song is an educator, writer, and community activator for the ongoing ecological transition. She is the program director at Yunhe Centre, which offers learning experiences in the communities bordering ecological preservation zones in China’s western mountains. Xinlin is currently based between China’s western mountains and the US.

Story of Yunhe Centre_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

It’s also wonderful to welcome our Affiliate Fellows—members of the initial cohort who will continue to support our community of practice, engage with current Fellows, and collaborate with us in all kinds of ways.

Find out more about the Post Growth Fellows here, follow them all on this Twitter list, and watch out for their stories — which are published regularly here on Post Growth Perspectives.

Find out more about the Post Growth Institute on our website.