Ground up: Speakers

Sinéad Roche is the Campaigns Coordinator at Oxfam Ireland, where she has successfully led the implementation of two EU CERV funded projects involving youth climate activists. With a strong background in youth engagement, she was elected onto UCC Students Union as Deputy President from 2021 - 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Sociology, equipping her with a strong foundation in social and political dynamics. Passionate about advocacy and youth empowerment, she brings a strategic and impactful approach to her work in campaigning and social change.

Sinéad Roche is the Campaigns Coordinator at Oxfam Ireland, where she has successfully led the implementation of two EU CERV funded projects involving youth climate activists. With a strong background in youth engagement, she was elected onto UCC Students Union as Deputy President from 2021 - 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Sociology, equipping her with a strong foundation in social and political dynamics. Passionate about advocacy and youth empowerment, she brings a strategic and impactful approach to her work in campaigning and social change.

Cian Walsh is a youth advocate for climate justice from West Cork and a Government and Political Science student at University College Cork (UCC). As the Environmental and Sustainability Representative at UCC Students’ Union and Co-Chairperson of the UCC Green Campus Committee, he actively promotes sustainability and climate action at the university. Nationally, Cian collaborates with several NGOs and has been involved in grassroots campaigns focused on sustainable agriculture. He has served as a Youth Delegate to both COP28 with ECO-UNESCO and COP29 with UCC, continuing his work on climate action. Cian was also a delegate at the 2024 World Food Forum with the Department of Agriculture. Additionally, he is a member of the Organising Committee for World Food Forum Ireland and serves as a Public Participation Network Representative to the Strategic Policy Committee on the Environment, Water, and Amenity of Cork City Council.

Cian Walsh is a youth advocate for climate justice from West Cork and a Government and Political Science student at University College Cork (UCC). As the Environmental and Sustainability Representative at UCC Students’ Union and Co-Chairperson of the UCC Green Campus Committee, he actively promotes sustainability and climate action at the university. Nationally, Cian collaborates with several NGOs and has been involved in grassroots campaigns focused on sustainable agriculture. He has served as a Youth Delegate to both COP28 with ECO-UNESCO and COP29 with UCC, continuing his work on climate action. Cian was also a delegate at the 2024 World Food Forum with the Department of Agriculture. Additionally, he is a member of the Organising Committee for World Food Forum Ireland and serves as a Public Participation Network Representative to the Strategic Policy Committee on the Environment, Water, and Amenity of Cork City Council.

Jennie C. Stephens is a feminist, climate justice scholar-activist focused on transformation toward a more just, healthy, and stable future for all. She is Professor of Climate Justice at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and on the coordinating team of the Climate Justice Universities Union. She is a fellow at the Global Center for Climate Justice, Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Northeastern University in Boston and was a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard-Radcliffe (2023-2024). Her most recent book Climate Justice and the University: Shaping a Hopeful Future For All (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024) proposes a paradigm shift toward climate justice universities, reimagined and restructured higher education systems to facilitate transformative social change toward ecological health and climate justice.

Jennie C. Stephens is a feminist, climate justice scholar-activist focused on transformation toward a more just, healthy, and stable future for all. She is Professor of Climate Justice at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and on the coordinating team of the Climate Justice Universities Union. She is a fellow at the Global Center for Climate Justice, Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Northeastern University in Boston and was a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard-Radcliffe (2023-2024). Her most recent book Climate Justice and the University: Shaping a Hopeful Future For All (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024) proposes a paradigm shift toward climate justice universities, reimagined and restructured higher education systems to facilitate transformative social change toward ecological health and climate justice.

Vanessa Conroy is the Project Officer of ‘Feminist Communities for Climate Justice’, a joint project between the National Women’s Council and Community Work Ireland aiming to put a gendered, feminist and community work lens on climate justice. She has worked as an occasional lecturer and academic tutor in Maynooth University’s Department of Applied Social Studies, teaching on environmental policy, climate justice, intersectional environmentalism and the connection between gender and the climate crisis. Her MA research in Social Science (Rights and Social Policy) was a feminist policy analysis of the then-current Climate Action Plan (2021).

Vanessa Conroy is the Project Officer of ‘Feminist Communities for Climate Justice’, a joint project between the National Women’s Council and Community Work Ireland aiming to put a gendered, feminist and community work lens on climate justice. She has worked as an occasional lecturer and academic tutor in Maynooth University’s Department of Applied Social Studies, teaching on environmental policy, climate justice, intersectional environmentalism and the connection between gender and the climate crisis. Her MA research in Social Science (Rights and Social Policy) was a feminist policy analysis of the then-current Climate Action Plan (2021).

Erin is an activist in the area of human rights, slow fashion, climate and gender justice and graduated from law in UCC in 2024. Erin is passionate about holding businesses to account for their human rights and climate abuses, particularly in the garment industry where women and girls are disproportionately affected. Erin has a strong commitment to fostering community, and believes it is essential for longevity in activism and preventing burnout.
Erin and Sheenagh both sit on Plan International Ireland’s Youth Advisory Panel and were Plan Ireland’s Youth Climate Delegates for COP29 in Azerbaijan, where they focused on gender finance and learning for global citizenship education initiatives.

Erin is an activist in the area of human rights, slow fashion, climate and gender justice and graduated from law in UCC in 2024. Erin is passionate about holding businesses to account for their human rights and climate abuses, particularly in the garment industry where women and girls are disproportionately affected. Erin has a strong commitment to fostering community, and believes it is essential for longevity in activism and preventing burnout.
Erin and Sheenagh both sit on Plan International Ireland’s Youth Advisory Panel and were Plan Ireland’s Youth Climate Delegates for COP29 in Azerbaijan, where they focused on gender finance and learning for global citizenship education initiatives.

Emma River-Roberts is the Founder and Co-Director of the Working Class Climate Alliance, a UK-based, international non-profit that aims to increase the presence of working class voices in the climate movement, and help working class communities and trade unions campaign for progressive change. Emma is also a PhD Researcher at Goldsmiths University, specialising in working class environmentalism. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Emma River-Roberts is the Founder and Co-Director of the Working Class Climate Alliance, a UK-based, international non-profit that aims to increase the presence of working class voices in the climate movement, and help working class communities and trade unions campaign for progressive change. Emma is also a PhD Researcher at Goldsmiths University, specialising in working class environmentalism. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

V'cenza Cirefice is a researcher, organiser and artist from the Mournes. She has worked with NGOs, collectives and movements on themes of environmental and climate justice, gender justice and resistance to extractivism, in Ireland, across Europe and internationally. Her PhD involved participatory action research with communities resisting mining in the Sperrin Mountains. Currently she organises with CAIM (communities against the injustice of mining) a grassroots network of communities across Ireland. She is part of the international solidarity collective Making Relatives.

V'cenza Cirefice is a researcher, organiser and artist from the Mournes. She has worked with NGOs, collectives and movements on themes of environmental and climate justice, gender justice and resistance to extractivism, in Ireland, across Europe and internationally. Her PhD involved participatory action research with communities resisting mining in the Sperrin Mountains. Currently she organises with CAIM (communities against the injustice of mining) a grassroots network of communities across Ireland. She is part of the international solidarity collective Making Relatives.

This theatrical experimentation space brings together professionals from theatre, music, and the performing arts with the aim of improving and reimagining the tools we've used so far, dignifying and professionalizing the work of the artists involved. We ask ourselves how to take the aesthetics of social theatre even further—as a provocative tool for change and revolution—by incorporating digital tools, social media, artificial intelligence, and conceptualizing the theatre of the future, adapted to the speed and virtual nature of our times. We are in constant search and evolution, always training our artists and remaining open to the opportunities that fate may offer.
La Xixa Lab draws inspiration from new social, communal, and individual paradigms, taking a regenerative approach and embracing the desire to face emerging challenges. It is a space where artists from diverse backgrounds and schools of thought come together to create, experiment, and make sense of the historical moment we are living in. Intersectionality, feminisms, climate change, new historical paradigms, and deep democracy are the enigmas our immediate future presents. La Xixa Lab is committed to contributing its perspective to the new poetics of the millennium.
Our goal as a company is to be a Theatrical Laboratory for Scenic Research that, through experimentation, research, and innovation, can open paths to bring us closer to audiences and enable collaborative methodologies that break away from the unidirectional positioning of more conventional theatre. Therefore, it is essential in our creative process to explore how to create spaces for exchange, to incorporate both personal experiences and those of the audience/performer, and to nurture our pieces with the marks left on us by each open rehearsal and every performance.

This theatrical experimentation space brings together professionals from theatre, music, and the performing arts with the aim of improving and reimagining the tools we've used so far, dignifying and professionalizing the work of the artists involved. We ask ourselves how to take the aesthetics of social theatre even further—as a provocative tool for change and revolution—by incorporating digital tools, social media, artificial intelligence, and conceptualizing the theatre of the future, adapted to the speed and virtual nature of our times. We are in constant search and evolution, always training our artists and remaining open to the opportunities that fate may offer.
La Xixa Lab draws inspiration from new social, communal, and individual paradigms, taking a regenerative approach and embracing the desire to face emerging challenges. It is a space where artists from diverse backgrounds and schools of thought come together to create, experiment, and make sense of the historical moment we are living in. Intersectionality, feminisms, climate change, new historical paradigms, and deep democracy are the enigmas our immediate future presents. La Xixa Lab is committed to contributing its perspective to the new poetics of the millennium.
Our goal as a company is to be a Theatrical Laboratory for Scenic Research that, through experimentation, research, and innovation, can open paths to bring us closer to audiences and enable collaborative methodologies that break away from the unidirectional positioning of more conventional theatre. Therefore, it is essential in our creative process to explore how to create spaces for exchange, to incorporate both personal experiences and those of the audience/performer, and to nurture our pieces with the marks left on us by each open rehearsal and every performance.

Georgina joined Community Law & Mediation (CLM) in 2024 as Policy Officer for the Centre for Environmental Justice.

Before joining CLM, Georgina studied a Masters of Science in Environmental Justice at the University of Michigan focusing on community power building and Land Back. She has worked as a research assistant to support Land Back efforts on the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i and as a communications consultant for families fighting against fossil fuel pollution in Southeast Michigan.

Georgina is passionate about community self-determination and participatory decision-making around climate action.

Georgina joined Community Law & Mediation (CLM) in 2024 as Policy Officer for the Centre for Environmental Justice.

Before joining CLM, Georgina studied a Masters of Science in Environmental Justice at the University of Michigan focusing on community power building and Land Back. She has worked as a research assistant to support Land Back efforts on the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i and as a communications consultant for families fighting against fossil fuel pollution in Southeast Michigan.

Georgina is passionate about community self-determination and participatory decision-making around climate action.

Professor Aoife Daly teaches human rights law at the School of Law, University College Cork. She is author of Children, Autonomy and the Courts (Brill, 2018) and has a European Research Council grant to research child/youth climate justice around the world. She also enjoys teaching children about human rights through art.

Professor Aoife Daly teaches human rights law at the School of Law, University College Cork. She is author of Children, Autonomy and the Courts (Brill, 2018) and has a European Research Council grant to research child/youth climate justice around the world. She also enjoys teaching children about human rights through art.

Ali has spent over 15 years working across the public, private, and civil society sectors at both domestic and international levels with a key focus on mobilising diverse societal actors towards ambitious and fair climate action.

In 2024, Ali was appointed Chair of the newly established Just Transition Commission of Ireland. The Commission is tasked with being a public voice and advocate on planning for a just transition, providing the Government with advice to inform policy planning, and supporting the Government and wider societal stakeholders in managing this transition fairly.

She also currently supports the UN High Level Climate Champions and has held a diverse range of climate leadership positions including at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, IKEA, and Bord Bia, as well as previous roles with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, and the Green-Schools programme of An Taisce.

Ali has supported a diverse range of actors and campaigns to develop and implement climate strategies, and has delivered climate education programmes for a range of academic institutions. She holds a MSc in Business Sustainability from UCD, a MSc in Sustainable Development from DCU, and a BSc in Environmental Management from TU Dublin. Ali sits on the EPA’s Advisory Committee, the Advisory Board of the DCU Institute for Climate & Society, and is a board member of the Common Knowledge social enterprise. On a local level, Ali has supported the inception of her local Sustainable Energy Community, and acted as a Public Participation Network rep.

Ali has spent over 15 years working across the public, private, and civil society sectors at both domestic and international levels with a key focus on mobilising diverse societal actors towards ambitious and fair climate action.

In 2024, Ali was appointed Chair of the newly established Just Transition Commission of Ireland. The Commission is tasked with being a public voice and advocate on planning for a just transition, providing the Government with advice to inform policy planning, and supporting the Government and wider societal stakeholders in managing this transition fairly.

She also currently supports the UN High Level Climate Champions and has held a diverse range of climate leadership positions including at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, IKEA, and Bord Bia, as well as previous roles with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, and the Green-Schools programme of An Taisce.

Ali has supported a diverse range of actors and campaigns to develop and implement climate strategies, and has delivered climate education programmes for a range of academic institutions. She holds a MSc in Business Sustainability from UCD, a MSc in Sustainable Development from DCU, and a BSc in Environmental Management from TU Dublin. Ali sits on the EPA’s Advisory Committee, the Advisory Board of the DCU Institute for Climate & Society, and is a board member of the Common Knowledge social enterprise. On a local level, Ali has supported the inception of her local Sustainable Energy Community, and acted as a Public Participation Network rep.