About the Team

James Chitty is a designer, maker, carpenter, and artist based in Moray James trained in Furniture Design at Edinburgh College of Art and Rhode Island School of Design and has spent the last 20 years working on all kinds of projects, mostly in Scotland. Having always had in interest in materials, structures and making as well as people he has pursued these interests in various ways through furniture design, making, drawing and printing, traditional timber framing and various collaborative construction projects facilitating community groups and volunteers to work together building timber structures, a community rowing skiff and furniture. “I love making things and even more helping other people make things. I’m inspired by the satisfaction that people of all ages can derive from making things. I also know from my own experience the importance of engaging in a physical activity that, with practice, can give us an important break from our busy minds. If we can do this together, and outside, then all the better.”

Kate has a long-standing interest in working with young people dating right back to her school days when she volunteered as a gymnastics coach and yoga helper. She spent 6 months working as a volunteer English teacher in a rural school in North East India and following university, worked as an au-pair in Spain. She is a qualified yoga teacher and has spent time living and working in small communities in Algeria (southern Spain) and on the Isle of Gigha. She will be commencing the PGDE primary education course in 2023 and hopes to ultimately train as a forest school teacher. “The Shieling Project aligns my interests of working with kids, off-grid sustainable living, community and spending time outside sharing the benefits of nature with others. I hope the young people attending the camp are able to switch off from stresses of normal life - reconnect with each other and take time to slow down and appreciate the beautiful surroundings of the Shieling Project! I hope everyone has fun and spends as much time outside as possible!!!”

Laura first worked with children whilst living in India at a research centre where she ran creative workshops for the kids who lived in the nearby village. She then went to Australia and studied permaculture, which lead to her working in the local primary school food forests. Following this, she decided to pursue working with children and young people teaching sustainability and land and social regeneration within a health and well-being context. She completed a postgrad diploma in primary teaching in 2021 and has been working with the Highland Good Food Partnership since. Alongside this she also has experience teaching English to adults and Yoga. “I love what's happening at the Sheiling Project, it's a special and unique place, and it aligns perfectly with my own ideas about what education should be about and how and what I want to teach. I hope the kids and families coming to the camps in the summer enjoy themselves, get a chance to properly unwind and leave with new skills, experiences and friends. I think the Sheiling Project is one of those places that can change how we see life and positively influence what we value. I would like the children to gain confidence in themselves and their relationship to the land, and to have lots of fun”!

Abel is excited about facilitating people to connect with, enjoy and care for the natural world through outdoor education, guiding and landscape architecture. He splits his time between working with a wide range of people in the outdoors, and as a Landscape Architect and Ecologist. In both roles, Abel facilitates interpreting the natural world in a way that allows people to connect with it in a meaningful way - a way that hopefully inspires respect for the world around us. Abel moved up the Highlands as soon he graduated and since then has taken every opportunity to get out in the hills, whether it be hill running, climbing, mountain biking, or just going for a wander in the natural world. Abel an active member of Torridon Mountain Rescue Team, covering one of the most rugged landscapes in the Scottish North West. You'll often find him pottering about the lesser known corners of this special part of the world - and he'd love to show you around!

Jamie is an environmental and rural land lawyer based in Forres, Moray where he is a partner of R & R Urquhart. He was Morehead-Cain Scholar to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a BA Hons in modern languages, before completing an LLB in law at the University of Edinburgh and where he has taught environmental and renewable energy law to graduate students since 2007. He gained an MSc with distinction in human ecology at the Centre for Human Ecology, and turned his thesis on the watershed of the River Findhorn into a book, ‘White River’. He first met Sam Harrison in 2000 when they both volunteered on The Ladakh Project in India. He lives with his wife, children and cairn terrier near Hopeman where Jamie runs the local Cub Scout pack. Passionate about the outdoors and conservation, he is mad keen skier, canoeist and surfer.

Col Gordon is a farmer’s son, researcher and baker who’s based on his family’s farm in the Scottish Highlands. He has worked with heritage grains as a seed researcher, grower and baker for over a decade and hopes to one day to spend his summers milking his cattle in the hills and help revive the shieling system as a productive, viable and appropriate agroecological system for the Gàidhealtachd. In 2021 he narrated and co-produced Farmerama’s well received podcast series “Landed,” which investigated the past, present and future of the family farm model through the lens of colonialism.

Robbie is a Professor of Place-Based Education at the University of Edinburgh where he is a teacher, researcher and residential education campaigner. His life motivation comes from the realisation that human activities are fundamentally altering the planet’s ability to sustain all species including the human race. As an educator he believe that the outdoors provide places where individuals can rediscover their direct dependence on the planet through embodied experiences. In his teaching and research Robbie is constantly experimenting with creative ways to engage students with places and landscapes that can help transform the global ecological crises into meaningful everyday actions that promote sustainability, as well as personal health and well-being. Robbie advocates the need for integrating outdoor, indoor and online teaching to promote a variety of learning opportunities for contemporary human beings of all ages. This means not just reimagining green and blue outdoor spaces, but also reimagining our cities where most people live. Robbie is often found in the streets of Edinburgh challenging his students to love the city’s concrete and built up places in the way they have come to love green and blue spaces. Robbie is co-author of Outdoor Learning Across the Curriculum: Theory and Guidelines for Practice (2023).

Jane is currently a Secondary school Teacher but has worked widely in Museum Education and Arts Administration since 1994. She has wide experience of creating placed-based content for the secondary curriculum and has encouraged schools to engage more widely through partner organisations to deliver more enriched educational experiences. Her education work with the Forestry Commission and Archaeology partners has been nominated for a British Archaeology Award. Jane has been involved with the Shieling Project since she completed a Professional Recognition in Learning For Sustainability with Sam Harrison. She has been on the board since 2019. Other interests included hill-walking, local food, music and Border Terriers.

Ben is a passionate educator and researcher, who enjoys working with a range of groups on sustainability and social-justice issues. After completing a Research Masters in Human Geography, Ben has worked on a number of environmental and education research projects. He recently finished a role at Children’s Neighborhoods Scotland, a place-based participatory action-research project working with communities living in areas of multiple deprivation across Glasgow. Outside of work, Ben is an avid hill runner and also loves spending time cycling, hiking or gardening.

Kat Lee is a former paediatric nurse and FE lecturer in health and social care. She grew up on the West Coast, near Balmacara; went to Hull University to do nurse training and then moved back to the Highlands with her husband and children in 2013. After a few house moves they settled into the amazing community of Rogart in Sutherland, In 2021 an unexpected injury and change in family circumstances led to a change of pace and direction. "I knew of the Shieling Project in Struy as I lived in Drumnadrochit for a time after we relocated back home, so when Sam began work at the Helmsdale site I was keen to offer some time. I am passionate about the project for several reasons, including the sharing and nurturing of traditional skills and the grounding the project in Scottish history. I am incredibly passionate about health and education (as my career bio suggests) and I feel that the project feeds into both of these areas through the sharing of stories, teaching of skills and the provision of social opportunity. Another central tenet for me is also the growing, harvesting and preparing of own food - I am very motivated in relation to promoting the holistic physical and psychosocial health benefits of the concept of growing, preparing, cooking eating and sharing local produce and the fact that the project provides opportunity for education on all of the above is incredibly exciting to me".

Rosanna has an MSc in Environment & Development from the University of Edinburgh, and has worked for the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and Keep Scotland Beautiful. She is passionate about sustainable and equitable food systems and access to the outdoors. Alongside her work Rosanna has volunteered with various community gardens and initiatives, including the Glasgow-based group Boots and Beards. She also is the co-founder of Embra Collective, an online collective aiming to platform diverse voices in the environmental movement. In addition to working on the Shieling Project, Rosanna is a Research Assistant at the University of Strathclyde, and a Resources Development Officer for SEDA Land.