Profile
I am an academic, practice-led researcher, filmmaker and development communication facilitator. I originally studied art and design in the UK and then lived in Nepal for 5 years working in development communication, producing various media like posters, flip charts, films, radio programmes and street drama to support development programmes focused on health, education, agriculture and engineering.
Increasingly uncomfortable with top-down approaches, and influenced by Paulo Freire, I focused my work on participatory methods where communication is a core activity and not an add-on. I completed my PhD in Participatory Development Communication, facilitating inner city youth in Nepal to use community television and street drama to affect positive change in their lives.
Now, my practice-led research focuses on social and environmental issues. I seek to support grassroots marginalised and disadvantaged people, animals and the environment to have a stronger voice in the discussion of issues that directly affect them. I have engaged with various communities in about 20 countries around the world.
I also facilitate relevant workshops, utilising participatory methods that allow stakeholders to share experiences, explore issues, and produce recommendations to enhance sustainable development practice and policy.
Profile
I am an academic, practice-led researcher, filmmaker and development communication facilitator. I originally studied art and design in the UK and then lived in Nepal for 5 years working in development communication, producing various media like posters, flip charts, films, radio programmes and street drama to support development programmes focused on health, education, agriculture and engineering.
Increasingly uncomfortable with top-down approaches, and influenced by Paulo Freire, I focused my work on participatory methods where communication is a core activity and not an add-on. I completed my PhD in Participatory Development Communication, facilitating inner city youth in Nepal to use community television and street drama to affect positive change in their lives.
Now, my practice-led research focuses on social and environmental issues. I seek to support grassroots marginalised and disadvantaged people, animals and the environment to have a stronger voice in the discussion of issues that directly affect them. I have engaged with various communities in about 20 countries around the world.
I also facilitate relevant workshops, utilising participatory methods that allow stakeholders to share experiences, explore issues, and produce recommendations to enhance sustainable development practice and policy.
Profile
Profile
Previous Research
Previous Research
Previous Research
Michael Brown PhD, MA, BA(Hons), PGCert, FHEA
Carbon Offset
To reduce my carbon footprint I have created my own woodland, purchasing 5 acres of land and planting 3000 trees. Located in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, the woodland is primarily a mix of indigenous broadleaf trees, native to the island of Ireland, including oak, birch, alder, hazel, rowan, ash, holly, and Scots pine.
Planted as thin slips in 2009, the trees have captured carbon from the atmosphere as they have grown, offsetting the carbon emissions produced by my own life and work. I have calculated my annual carbon emission is about 10.3 tonnes, meaning I need to maintain a minimum of about 666 trees to offset my carbon emissions.
After 12 years the trees are now mature, creating a biodiverse woodland habitat rich in flora and fauna. Woodland management includes coppicing the trees - cutting a few feet from the ground, allowing the tree to grow back from its existing root system. Sustainably harvesting the trees in rotation in this way produces wood as a carbon-neutral fuel source; on burning the trees release the same amount of carbon that they captured when growing.
