Mel first joined Cultivate as artistic director of Global Green at Electric Picnic, which she’s now been involved in for over 10 years, decorating venues and featuring her installations made from materials reclaimed from landfill sites. 

She is also an award-winning spoken word artist and is known both for performing dynamic poetry at sustainability events, and for bringing social and environmental issues to literary events, in both cases inviting her audience to engage on a personal and emotional level with the subject material. 

Mel works as a project coordinator, as a researcher, and as a facilitator and trainer in transformative learning methods, including Non Violent Communication and Restorative Circles. She was the Living Lab coordinator for the Horizon 2020 research project, DESIRA, and is taking a similar role in the current CODECS project. She also coordinates the North Tipperary Online Farmers Market, co-coordinates the European Solidarity Corps volunteer programme with Aaron, is engaged in the Community Climate Coach programme, and teaches Social Permaculture on the Permaculture Design Course.

Mel is a resident of Cloughjordan EcoVillage, where she’s involved with the Community Farm and the Process group (which is responsible for the collaborative decision-making processes in the EcoVillage). She is constantly trying to find a balance between all the things that are important to her, including creativity, lifelong learning, connecting and collaborating, and trying to do her bit towards making the world more harmonious and fit for future generations.