Museums for Climate Justice Steering Group

In April 2024, the MA appointed new members to our Museums for Climate Justice steering group.

The purpose of the steering group is to:

1. Share insight on climate action and advocacy and provide advice to MA staff on how to achieve campaign aims
2. Promote the campaign’s aims and work
3. Attend quarterly meetings to oversee the progress of the campaign and provide updates

On the appointment of the working group, Sharon Heal, director of the MA, said: “We are delighted to appoint new members to the Museums for Climate Justice Steering Group to help progress our campaigning work to support museums to be bold and brave in raising awareness, championing change and embedding climate action. The members bring with them a variety of experience and expertise on climate justice and we look forward to working with them.”

Find out more about the steering group members below, and read more about their interests and projects on our dedicated page.

Kinvara is a communications expert specialising in youth, education and climate action. In her role as education director at Project Everyone, she collaborates with global businesses, governments and UN agencies to inspire youth action for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her previous campaigns have engaged people across 135 countries. Currently, she leads one of the world’s largest youth voice programmes exploring the impact of climate education on students.

Vibhati is founder of South Asians for Sustainability and managing consultant in social sustainability at Energise. Coming from British-Indian heritage, she has always felt passionately about diversity, inclusion and equitable representation, particularly highlighting environmental and social injustices caused by systemic and geo-political issues.

Vibhati studied psychology at the University of Southampton and continues to champion consideration of behavioural change and eco-anxiety in sustainability initiatives, particularly among the South Asian diaspora.  

She is driven to help make the sector inclusive and representative for the greatest impact and immediate action. Vibhati also sits on the advisory board for Catalyse Change CIC, London Flood Community Advisory Group and is co-founding partner of the RACE Report, SOS UK. Whenever possible, Vibhati is open to supporting and mentoring those pursuing careers in sustainability.

Aligned in her creative passions and spiritual practice, Vibhati additionally pursues music as lead chorus in the Orchestral Qawwali Project and individual fusion music commissions; expressing both South Asian language and Indian culture alongside her upbringing in the UK.

Isla is senior curator for natural sciences at Bristol Museums. She delivers engagement and research at the intersection of climate and ecological crisis and social justice, including current project Extinction Silences. Isla has worked in natural science curatorial roles in UK-wide regional museums and is co-chair of UK Subject Specialist Network the Natural Sciences Collections Association.

Victoria is part of the museum development team at Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) and has over 15 years’ experience working with the Accreditation scheme. She is passionate about the intersection between climate and diversity, and the potential for museums to support solutions that benefit both the planet and the global majority. She is a member of the Scottish Museums Climate Network and is active in her local community climate groups.

Louisa is learning and engagement manager at Amberley Museum, an independent, open-air industrial museum in rural West Sussex. She chairs the Environmental Committee and is championing nature recovery and biodiversity management at the former chalk quarry and Local Wildlife Site.

Alongside this, she has spent four years spreading the message of climate justice by filming and live-streaming non-violent protest, from Extinction Rebellion activists to Global South and indigenous representatives at the Cop26 climate conference.

Louisa is passionate about communicating with museum visitors about climate change’s past, present and future and is looking forward to working with the steering group’s diverse voices to give colleagues the confidence and skills to do this successfully in their own institutions.

Annika (she/her) is a Canadian-European youth ocean activist currently undertaking her PhD in museum studies at the University of Leicester. She is a storyteller, a creative thinker and an educator.

Forming and fostering connections is how she inspires others to explore their cultural identity and find a sense of belonging through water. Driven to make an impact, Annika incorporates ocean activism into museum ethics through academic research and scholarship.

It is Annika’s dream to eliminate the display of living marine life in museums. Intergenerational healing and traditional knowledge sharing motivates her passion for climate justice.

Nicola is curator at the National Mining Museum Scotland in Newtongrange and Accreditation mentor for the History of Education Centre, Edinburgh.

She began her career in voluntary and front-of-house roles before moving to collections and curatorial and has over ten years’ experience working in the sector. From roles in independent, nationally styled, regimental and ALEO museums, she holds an excellent understanding of a wide range of issues facing the museum sector and is keen to use this experience to work with museums in the sector on climate justice.