Breadcrumbs

2020-21: Daniel Raven-Ellison

We were delighted to have Daniel Raven-Ellison, “guerilla geographer and creative explorer,” as our second Innovator-in-Residence. Daniel worked with our students on projects related to community and the environment.

Daniel led the initiative to have Greater London declared the world's first National Park City in 2019. One vision to inspire a million projects, this new kind of national park recognizes the importance of urban nature and galvanizes actions to improve habitats, health, quality of life and resilience across the city and beyond.

Working with National Geographic Partners, Cisco, Emotiv and ESRI, in 2017 Daniel walked more than a thousand miles across all of the UK’s 15 national parks and 69 cities, looking for insights to make a future National Park City successful. He did so while wearing an EEG that tracked his emotions. In 2018, Raven-Ellison completed a 100-meter nano-expedition for Friends of the Earth to transform how people think about Britain and to make the case for more space being protected for nature.

In addition to these accomplishments, Daniel describes himself as a parent, National Geographic Explorer, Ordnance Survey Get Outside Champion, and a former geography teacher. He says, “My work focuses on challenging myself and others to see the world in new ways. I do this by combining creative exploration, geography and communication to tackle social and environmental challenges.”