Ecological Citizens Festival in Wales

November 2025 

The end of November saw the Ecological Citizens Festival in Wales take place at Tŷ Pawb, and what a joyous day it was.  

Arranged and hosted by members of the Wrexham University Ecological Citizen(s) Network+ research team: Professor Alec Shepley (Co-Investigator and Wrexham lead), Dr Rebecca Upton, Dr Tracy Simpson & Daniel Knox, the day centred around the theme Reflecting on the present and exploring the future of ecological citizenship in Wales.  The aim was to celebrate what’s working, uncover new ideas, and build tools and relationships to create a legacy to celebrate ecological citizenship in Wales. 

 Dr Rebecca Upton & Dr Tracy Simpson 

Professor Alec Shepley kicked things off with an overview of the Ecological Citizen(s) Network+ (EC) research project that is being run in collaboration with Royal College of Art and the Stockholm Environment Institute at University of York. A “project to make projects” with the aim of nurturing ecological citizenship for positive climate action with the use of technological interventions. Alec shared snippets of some of the inspirational projects funded by EC so far, including Flow. Walk. Drag by Liverpool Hope University, described as “joyful and queer exploration uses drag performance, interactive maps and walking tours to reimagine ecological citizenship through a lens of biodiversity and playful species-crossing.”1 This set the tone nicely for thinking of alternative ways to approach climate action.  

 Professor Alec Shepley providing the welcome and introduction 

Lewis from Incredible Edible Wrexham then took to the stage with a table full of props and there was an actual cheer from the audience when Lewis announced the session would not involve any PowerPoint presentations…just demos of the intriguing looking props! 

Lewis, affectionately known as the ‘gadget guy’ in his local area has a background in Physics and Engineering, and a keen interest in art crafts. He combines his expertise with his passions to reduce waste and promote self-sufficiency in food growing. The presentation was a feast for the imagination with gadgets ranging from ladybird wrangling kits (yes, that is the full official title!), via Monkey Puzzle Tree cross-pollinator tools, through to water pump set-ups that convert cars ‘into fire engines of sorts’ for watering the village plants. Everything Lewis shared was upcycled, salvaged or enhanced to make it fit for purpose, with thought and consideration behind each: 

🐞Ladybird wrangling kit: biological pest control to carefully relocate ladybirds from a residential house to an allotment. Using soft brushes, flexible containers and a lanyard to aid efficiencies of volume, the ladybirds are moved to a new hibernation area where food is plentiful for them.  

🥜Monkey Puzzle Tree cross-pollinator: self-enhanced extendable fruit picking tool used to gather pollen from male trees to then pollenate female trees. The pollen is usually carried by the wind to female trees, however they are often not planted near one another is today’s society. Lewis’ tool enables him to help the pollination process which then yields monkey puzzle nuts which are edible. 

💦Water pump set-up: A group of local volunteers kindly water the plants in the local village which aids community well-being as well as having positive climate action. Some of the volunteers were struggling to carry the water around the village so Lewis created a solution using upcycled pipes, hand pumps, hooks for the car window and disused large volume water containers (so simple when you know how!). Simply pop the empty container in the car, fill with a hose pipe and then drive around the village using the pump out of the window to water the beautiful plants. 

There was such an array of inspirational gadgets that really got the audience thinking about what they could do as ecological citizens. Thank you Lewis! 

Lewis from Incredible Edible 

The afternoon sessions followed with a wide array of workshop and speakers who were all excited to share their skills and experiences of ecological citizens. These included: 

Nim Robins - She has lived, worked and immersed herself in permaculture in a wide variety of settings and contexts. She completed her diploma whilst travelling between permaculture projects around the world, more recently she lives and work from a 7 acre homestead in west wales. This home and project has given her several years of direct experience in restoring degraded land through regenerative agriculture practices such as rapid soil building and through cover cropping, hot, cold and fermented composting, plant ferments and rotational grazing. She also loves to geek out about windbreak designs, coppice and woodland planning, tree management, perennial gardens, food forests, no dig gardening and food preservation. One of her specialisations is in permaculture for educators of children, and through Children in Permaculture she co-facilitates an annual PDC for educators, which attracts educators, parents and home schoolers around the world. She is also passionate about rewilding and redesigning school grounds to support ecoliteracy and encourage a nature based curriculum.  

Criw Compostio Team - they are a non-profit based in Machynlleth, Powys running a full circular economy bio-waste service, taking waste food and biodegradable materials and turning them into soil nourishing compost for local organic food growing. They do: 🚮waste collection from local businesses in the Dyfi valley In-vessel, hot and cold composting, liquid feeds 🪴Training on soil care practices, community composting and bio-waste management systems.  

Andy Schofield  - The Director of Environment Platform Wales. Andy has a career spanning over 30 years, the majority of which was spent in operational, policy and strategic roles for NRW and its predecessor organisations, Andy has extensive experience of the environmental issues throughout Wales and the challenges faced by those seeking to address them. Following a period working on the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon Project, Andy has most recently managed the GW4 Water Security Alliance, facilitating research collaborations across Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities.  

Angela Davies - she is an artist living and working in Wales, interrogating a sense of place and the boundary systems and borders we create. She explores constructed systems of power in relation to fragile systems across natural and psychological landscapes. Angela is interested in making connections between the political and the personal, between the intimate spaces we occupy in the real world but also in our inner worlds and online spaces. Often drawn to using organic materials that come from the earth such as ice, salt, clay, wax and glass to explore ideas of transformation. The futile act of casting with ice, recording ice in its melting state, sculpting with salt, observing the cycles of change are alchemical processes I commit to, before translating them via Augmented Reality, sculpture, film, photography, sound, installation or performance. Her resultant works reflect themes of time and temporality, reflecting and speculating upon processes embodied in nature to help us relate our human experience to it. 

These speakers all took part in a fascinating panel discussion that ranged from considering – how to tackle our complex system crisis - to – what is the most sustainable wrapping paper to use at Christmas, there was so much joy, learning and variety to the day. 

 A lunch time tour of the roof top gardens at Tŷ Pawb 

Overall, it was an invigorating and motivating experience that have inspired the Ecological Citizenship group to start planning the next event and action forming day. Everyone had a fantastic time bringing people together and inspiring change. The Ecological Citizens team hope you can join us for the next one!