The Playful Green Planet Advisory Committee brings together practitioners, academics, impact entrepreneurs, and policy experts in nature-based creative play to provide strategic oversight, support decision-making, and connections to partners and stakeholders for Playful Green Planet.
The committee is chaired by Joanna Choukeir, Director of Innovation and Design at the RSA, with support from:
Catherine Pineo, RSA’s Head of Regenerative Learning and Design
Sascha Taylor, RSA’s Chief Operating Officer
Representatives from Bath Spa University and The Eden Project
Meet the advisory committee members
Andrew is a Landscape Architect whose work explores the connection between people and nature. He formed Grant Associates in 1997 to test the creative possibilities of sustainable landscape architecture and ecological placemaking. In 2012 he was awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in recognition of his pioneering global work in landscape architecture. He is a Visiting Professor for the Department of Landscape, Sheffield University, and an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA reflecting his work on key architectural projects such as the 2008 Stirling Prize winning Accordia.
Andrew led the multi-disciplinary design team Gardens by the Bay project at Bay South in Singapore. This 54 hectare public park has won multiple international design awards and featured in David Attenborough’s Planet Earth 2. He is a member of the UK’s NISTA Design Group, a member of the Bath World Heritage Site Advisory Board, co-founder of the Forest of Imagination project in Bath and Chair of the Bathscape Landscape Partnership. In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Bath Spa University in recognition of his outstanding work as a landscape architect and his passion and approach to nature, creativity and imagination.
Learning through Landscapes (LtL) is the UK’s school grounds charity. For over 35 years, they’ve supported schools with nature based curriculum-linked resources, CPD, and projects. They are a delivery partner for the National Education Nature Park, and co-lead he Global Outdoor Learning working group with UNESCO alongside sitting on several advisory groups. They recently secured over £500,000 to study climate education’s in schools.
LtL’s Outdoor Classroom Day is a global campaign for play and outdoor learning, reaching over 12 million children (3 million UK). As a grant-maker, LtL has invested more than £35 million in UK schools and has been part of national strategies, including Scotland’s Learning for Sustainability plan, the Welsh’ Play Review, and the Section 77 Committee.
Carley is passionate about creating opportunities for children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. She serves as lead safeguarding governor at a SEMH special school and regularly contributes to educational publications including contributing to LtL no 1 best selling book ‘Teaching the Primary Curriculum Outdoors’.. She has spoken at events including COP28, the Wellington Festival of Education, and The Education Summit on nature connection and play. Before joining LtL, Carley worked in a large academy chain and spent 15 years as a television producer.
Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a charitable Professional Body that seeks to empower a knowledgeable and respected teaching profession through membership and accreditation. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career to date has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles. She is an Honorary Fellow of Queens’ College Cambridge, Hughes Hall Cambridge and UCL, a Visiting Professor of Glyndŵr University and a trustee for Big Change, the Helen Hamlyn Trust and an adviser to the Institute for Educational & Social Equity. She is a Director of the Edge Foundation and has honorary degrees from the University of Brighton and University of Bath Spa. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Hertfordshire. Her research is published in a series of books about Learning without Limits offering an alternative approach to inclusive school improvement.
Dr Alexia Barrable is a Lecturer in the Psychology, Sociology and Education Division. She has a background in early childhood education. She entered academia with a passion for research and research communication. Her work straddles psychology and education, as she has been exploring child-nature interactions and the human-nature relationship as it develops through the lifespan, and as it pertains to human and planetary health and wellbeing.
Dr Saira Ali FLI is an award winning Landscape Architect and Team Leader of Landscape Design and Conservation at Bradford Council. Saira is known for turning vision into action, delivering major placemaking infrastructure projects, unlocking growth, and reshaping places through bold, collaborative partnerships. With over 28 years’ experience across both the private and public sectors, she leads transformational, landscape led projects that reconnect communities and deliver meaningful change through inclusive, co-designed public spaces.
A Fellow of the Landscape Institute and the RSA, Saira is a nationally recognised leader in climate resilient placemaking, health-led greening, and heritage-led regeneration. Her work integrates blue-green infrastructure, active travel, and child-friendly urban design to create places that promote wellbeing, equity, and long-term environmental and social resilience. Saira is passionate about civic innovation and place-based systems change that empowers underrepresented communities. She has delivered pioneering early years initiatives that support healthy child development through access to nature, play, and active urban environments. Her leadership has helped shape national policy, secured significant investment, and demonstrated how people centred, environmentally just design can address complex urban challenges. As an RSA Fellow, she takes a joined up approach to urban regeneration, focusing on sustainability, listening to communities, and creating inclusive, long-term solutions.
Hilary McGrady is the Director General of the National Trust, a charity that cares for historic places and green spaces in the UK. She has been Director-General since 2018.
She first joined in 2006 as Regional Director for Northern Ireland. She later became Regional Director for Wales and the London and the South East region and in 2014 was appointed Chief Operating Officer, leading the Operations and Consultancy teams.
Originally trained in graphic design, Hilary’s career path started in the drinks industry in brand and marketing. In 1998 she moved to Director of a national arts charity and was seconded in 2002 to the role of CEO for Belfast’s bid to become European Capital of Culture. Hilary was born in Northern Ireland where she still resides to this day. She is married with three children and her interests include the arts, gardening and hillwalking.
Jane Davidson is the Chair of Wales Net Zero 2035 and the author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country – and passionate about living lightly. She is Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Vice -President at Garden Organic and Patron of the UK Chartered Institute of Ecologists and Environmental Managers. From 2000 – 2011, she was Cabinet Minister for Education, then Environment and Sustainability in Wales where she proposed legislation to make sustainability the central organising principle of government: the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act came into law in 2015. She is a RSA Fellow and occasionally guest faculty on the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership programme at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Lasse Leponiemi (MBA) is a global education leader with a deep commitment to shaping the future of learning with impactful solutions. As co-founder and current chair of the HundrED Foundation, Lasse brings over a decade of supporting education innovations in more than 110 countries. Today, Lasse is focused on leading a new philanthropic support model of the HundrED Foundation, designed to help scalable, evidence-informed solutions to scale and meet real-world needs. His work draws on long-standing partnerships with foundations, development banks, and public institutions, always with an emphasis on practical results. Known for his calm, trust-based approach and an extensive global network, Lasse works to bridge the gap between committed capital with those best placed to bring lasting change in education.
Owen Swift is Head of Climate & Active Environments at Derby City Council. He is responsible for a range of services including lifestyle behaviour health, physical activity, parks, green spaces, biodiversity, and climate change.
His career background is in physical activity and sport development, policy and community development and this has given him wide experiences particularly working systemically and tackling inequalities. He’s passionate about creating healthier, more sustainable communities through integrated, cross-sectoral approaches. Grounded in a whole systems mindset, he champion policies, programs and collaboration that address the interconnectedness of health, environment, and equity this includes leading and facilitating initiatives that enhance access to green spaces, promote active lifestyles, and improve biodiversity, while embedding climate resilience across local strategies.
Owen an advocate for inclusive policy design, nature-based solutions, and sustainable urban development, and seek to inspire teams to think long-term, act boldly, and build together for a greener, healthier future.
Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE is a South African-born British social entrepreneur best known as the founder of Parkrun, a global network of free, weekly, timed 5k runs in local parks. Launched in 2004 with just 13 runners in London’s Bushy Park, Parkrun has grown into a worldwide movement with millions of participants across dozens of countries. Sinton-Hewitt’s vision was rooted in community, inclusivity, and physical wellbeing, making fitness accessible to all regardless of ability. In recognition of his contributions to public health and community development, he was awarded a CBE in 2014.
