Teaching Team

Dr Rebecca L Farnum, LLM

Becca is an environmental geographer currently serving as Assistant Director for Teaching and Learning at Syracuse University London. A few of her active research partnerships examine marine conservation and coral science in the Gulf with the Kuwait Dive Team; fog harvesting and water engineering in Morocco with Dar Si Hmad; and agroforestry for sustainable land management in Rwanda with We Do Green.

Past projects have involved testifying at the United Nations on the environmental impacts of war; running an energy science educational exchange between Norway and Norfolk; and leading a delegation to The Hague for the 2014 whaling case decision. 

Becca’s teaching focuses on transformative learning, partnering with students to understand and purposefully impact global change in pursuit of sustainable justice. Learn more about Becca’s work in this Syracuse Story about learning opportunities during the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and explore more in her Virtual Office.

Kirsty Boardman

In 2008, Kirsty Liddon Boardman was selected as a Lockerbie Scholar and spent a year at the Syracuse home campus in New York. Today, she teaches secondary geography at Lockerbie Academy.

Kirsty grew up on the North Yorkshire Moors, where her mum was a vet and her father was a forester. She credits this upbringing for her deep fascination with the natural world. Her academic career explored how society and the environment interact, with a focus on how past changes can help us predict future changes resulting from this relationship. She is an advocate for holistic land management incorporating social beliefs backed up by strong scientific evidence.

Kirsty holds a BS in Environmental Geoscience and an MSc in Ecosystem Services from the University of Edinburgh. She has previously served as field staff for Syracuse Abroad’s Sustainability on Trial Signature Seminar and assisted with the course design of Green Britain?

George Clarke

George Clarke is a science communicator with a strong interest in reaching marginalised groups through informal education and live science. He currently lives in the Bahamas as a teacher of marine ecology at The Island School, but previously worked as a Schools Officer for the Ocean Conservation Trust, using the resources of the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth to engage young people in environmental justice.

George had a successful career in physiotherapy before completing his master’s degree in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth. Today, he is one of a very few Black British environmental professionals. George has been increasingly discovering and reflecting on his deep interest for diversity, inclusivity and accessibility through environmental social science.

George helps Green Britain? students consider how local and global decisions about marine management interact to form (in)equitable outcomes.

Dr Chris Cleal

Chris Cleal spent over thirty years as a paleobotanist at Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum Wales, before his current role as a Research Associate at the University of Bristol. He also serves on the Fossil Plant Committee of the International Association of Plant Taxonomy (IAPT).

Chris holds a BSc in Geology and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on Carboniferous palaeobotany, with a particular interest in how the palaeotropical wetlands of Europe and the Canadian Maritimes are connected to palaeoclimates and landscape change.

Green Britain? students will learn about controversies over coal and climate change in Wales from Chris. 300 million years ago, South Wales was covered in ancient rainforests, which produced thick peat deposits that turned into coal. The historic burial of this carbon in the land had a profound effect on the planet’s climate; so too has its reintroduction into the atmosphere as a result of the Welsh coal mining industry.

Emma Long

Emma Long is a “local history geek” and mother-of-three from Abergavenny, Wales. She recently became Big Pit’s first-ever female guide.

Part of National Museum Wales, Big Pit is the site of a working coal mine that has now become an educational centre featuring underground tours. Emma first applied as an apprentice, undertaking a three-year vocational training period to learn how to maintain the mine. As part of her job, she serves as a museum guide and is part of the local mines rescue team.

Emma provides underground tours for the Green Britain? course with a focus on how gender roles, animal rights, and economic policies affected the lives of miners and their communities in 20th-century Wales.

Jenny Simpson

Jenny Simpson is manager at Padstow Sealife Safaris, a locally owned business specialising in marine ecotourism and education in Cornwall. As a wildlife guide for the safaris, Jenny teaches visitors to the region about its unique ecosystem and animal species.

Originally from Scotland, Jenny moved to Cornwall in 2010 to study zoological conservation. She is an active member of the Cornwall Seal Group, a citizen science initiative that identifies and tracks seals by their markings to study animal behaviour and support ecosystem health. In her spare time she also volunteers for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, helping to rescue marine life around the Cornish coast. She has a particular expertise in whale disentanglement.

Jenny joins Green Britain? to consider Cornish biology, marine regulation, and ecotourism ethics...and frequently helps the class spot dolphins on a high-speed boat ride!

David Thompson

David Thompson is Head Ranger at the National Trust for Scotland, where he oversees a 100-year land management project in Threave. A dog lover, ferreter, and keeper of fowl, David is passionate about the Scottish countryside, its flora and fauna, and the people who live and work within it. Personally and professionally, David’s goal is to help people stay connected to the Land, share skills, and collaborate for long-term environmental equity.

David works with students on the Green Britain? course to consider holistic land management, using the Threave project as a case study for ecosystem restoration and healthy human-habitat interactions. Students will frequently find him behind a capture capturing photos of Threave’s adorable Belted Galloway calves.