Dave is a chartered engineer with extensive experience in the quarrying, mining, and civil engineering industries here in Ireland, the UK and in the USA. Now working in the water and environmental sector as Sustainability Lead. Dave is a certified Water Steward and has been trained by Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader. Dave is chair of the Blackrock CleanUp Group and chair of Engineers Ireland’s Water and Environment Society. Dave is passionate about water, specifically water pollution and marine litter. Dave likes to spend time on his paddleboard around Cork Harbour and further afield removing litter out of the aquatic environment.

Ellie has served on the board of The Environmental Forum since 2020. She is the current Secretary and previously held the role of Treasurer. Ellie is passionate aboutsustainable and inclusive food systems that support biodiversity. She is the Social Farming and Community Garden Coordinator with IRD Duhallow, a community based integrated rural development company. Ellie believes everyone should have access to fresh, locally grown produce and particularly enjoys feeding people, soil and pollinators. She is a Committee Member of Community Gardens Ireland, a voluntary, independent group working to support community growing initiatives across the island of Ireland.

Gerard is native of Galway and holds both Bachelor and Doctoral degrees in Chemistry from the University of Galway, NUI. He is married to Marguerite and they have four daughters. Having worked in both Dublin and Cork he is a retired pharmaceutical professional with extensive experience in technical and operational areas of the industry. He was previously a Company Director for Upjohn Manufacturing Ireland. He has a keen interest in all aspects of the natural world and is an avid birdwatcher.

Isabelle is a horticultural therapist, flower farmer re-wilding advocate. She works with people with disabilities through Social Farming to help them engage with nature, growing food and gardening. She is a graduate of MTU in Wildlife Conservation and Interpretation and previously worked as a lawyer for 20 years and also worked with EmployAbility supporting people with disabilities to find work. Isabelle is very involved coordinating local campaigns around Cork to protect our natural environment and volunteering with Wildlife Rescue Charities.

Dúigí Mercer has an extensive professional background working in environmental education, sustainable horticulture, research, and advocacy. His work is driven by a commitment to promoting meaningful and inclusive responses to the environmental crisis, particularly where issues of human rights, social justice, and sustainable development intersect. Dúigí is currently further developing his expertise in environmental law, policy, and governance through an LLM in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at University College Cork.

Dylan (Dolly) Krug is a climate action researcher, cyclist, and poet. They have a particular interest in disaster risk reduction, with their masters dissertation focusing on flood risk management policy and governance structures in Ireland, using Cork City as a case study. Outside of work they spend time creating spaces for people to connect with nature, both as a steward for the Cork Queer Nature Collective and Secretary for Queer Bike Rides. As a poet they draw on their ecological knowledge as they attempt to capture personal emotion and queer experience through the language of the more-than-human world.

Theo is our Project Development Officer in The Environmental Forum, his role involves identifying new opportunities for the Forum’s development, fundraising, creating new partnerships and coordinating our communication campaigns and our flagship circular economy project ReStyle Ireland, a sustainable fashion expo roadshow that aims to show the people of Ireland the real alternatives to fast fashion and promote conscious consumption. Theo previously worked as a fundraising and feasibility consultant for the nonprofit and community sectors as well as being a qualified sailing instructor. He is especially motivated by wildlife conservation and low impact living and supports several initiatives to protect west cork’s wildlife, areas of natural heritage and promote sustainable skills sharing.

Bernie Connolly has been Coordinator of the environmental forum (and formerly cork environmental forum) for over 15 years, previously working in the community development and private sectors. Her role involves overseeing the projects and staff of the forum and day to day management of the organisation. She has a special passion for marine conservation and is one of the Coastwatch regional coordinators for Cork. She is also on the board of Community Resources Network of Ireland as well as representing the forum on Coalition 2030, the Cork City and West Cork Local Community Development Committees, to name but a few. Bernie has been a lifelong advocate for sustainable community driven development and has grown the forum from no staff members now to six as well as spearheading our transition from a local charity to a national NGO.

Dr Darren McAdam O'Connell is currently coordinator of the Transport and Mobility Forum, now active in Cork, Limerick and Waterford. He has over 15-year’s experience in facilitating community engagement with transport and spatial planning, having served as, chairof the Cork Environmental Forum, a member of Cork City strategic planning SPC, Joint Policing Committee, vice chair of cyclist.ie, and coordinator of the Cork city Public Participation Network. In these roles he was able to develop an expertise in working with planners and writing submissions on the development of local and national spatial and transport plans as well as on local projects. He believes transport is key to achieving sustainability and hopes to bring to the discussion of transport, an environmental perspective and a broad overview of the holistic change required to achieve national climate goals, the high-level objectives of the RSES and more liveable communities for all.