Samiya Selim is the Project Coordinator of SHEBEEN. For the past two years she has been working with BME communities in Sheffield and getting them involved in environmental activities. Prior to that, she worked in local and international environmental projects on water resource management, sustainable development and environmental education. She worked three years on a DFID project with textile industries in Bangladesh and helped them to adopt good environmental practices in their production processes. She has also done awareness raising work with local communities on environment and health.
Samiya has obtained her Masters in Sustainable Development at the University of Leeds and has worked in Surrey and London on climate change issues. She has a keen interest in conservation work and has volunteered for several conservation projects including the Bangladesh Cetacean Diversity Project, Common Sense for Animals, USA and the RSPB. Currently, she is interested in reaching out to wider audiences on environmental issues and helping to promote sustainable communities.
Jenny Patient is secretary of Sheffield Campaign against Climate Change, which was formed to lobby and raise awareness on dangerous climate change. She is also a founder member of Transition Sheffield, an organisation supporting grassroots community responses to climate change and peak oil. She works as a Community Sustainability Consultant, delivering projects including: Whatever the Weather, community outreach for Weston Park Museum; Climate Justice day schools for the WEA; the development of a Low Carbon Network for Sheffield’s Voluntary, Community and Faith sector; and active citizenship training.
Following a first career in IT, Jenny qualified in adult education and worked in South Yorkshire’s community sector. She has recently completed an MSc in Human Ecology by researching the use of ecological footprints to communicate about climate change. Her current work in Sheffield includes publishing the monthly ‘Live the Cool Life’ newsletter and co-organising SCACC’s Green New Deal conference in February 2009.