Core Network Members
Picturing Climate Network Lead
Dr. Mark Kasumovic
De Montfort University
Mark Kasumovic is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Photography and Video at De Montfort University, and the lead of the Picturing Climate Network. His practice-based research sits at the intersection of visual arts, environmental science, and climate communication, and has taken him to over 60 sites of scientific research internationally — including CERN, ALMA, and the caves and lake basins of Crete.
He is the Principal Investigator on EASE (Entrepreneurship, Art and Science for Environmental Sustainability), a £1.2 million UKRI-funded interdisciplinary research project awarded in 2026 and led from DMU in consortium with the University of Birmingham, Nottingham Trent University, the University of East London, and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. EASE is the flagship research vehicle of the Picturing Climate Network.
Interdisciplinary Science Lead
Dr. James Bendle
University of Birmingham
James is an organic geochemist specialising in palaeoclimatology. His research develops and uses molecular tools to reconstruct past environmental conditions and addresses two key themes: (1) Developing new quantitative paleoclimate proxies; (2) Holocene and Cenozoic climate evolution. In addition, he has recently begun to cross disciplines into speleology and archaeology, with a focus on ancient civilisations and the nexus of climate, diet and water management (e.g., current work in Crete and S.E. Asia).
Interdisciplinary Design Lead
Dr. Iryna Kuksa
Nottingham Trent University
Dr Iryna Kuksa leads the Design Research Cluster in Nottingham School of Art and Design. She is a cross-disciplinary design researcher with a background in industrial design and specialism in sustainable innovation through ethical AI and human-centred technology. Her work focuses on using design as a tool for addressing pressing societal challenges at the intersection of technology, consumption, and climate change.
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Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurshib & Buisness Lead
Xiao Ma
Nottingham Trent University
Xiao Ma is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at Nottingham Business School, and the Director of the Centre for Business and Industry Transformation – CBIT. As the CBIT Director, Xiao empowers disruptive entrepreneurs through personalised education, builds ventures to transform industries, and conducts world-leading & high-impact research.
Interdisciplinary Arts Lead
Dr. Michael Pinsky
University of East London
Michael Pinsky is a British artist whose international projects challenge the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing. He explores issues which shape and influence the use of our public realm to create ambitious and provocative installations in galleries and public spaces.
Interdiciplinary Curatorial and Sustainability Lead
Dr. Kirsty Robertson
University of Western Ontario
Dr. Kirsty Robertson is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Museums, Art, and Sustainability, as well as Professor and Director of Museum and Curatorial Studies in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. She also directs the Centre for Sustainable Curating (CSC), which supports research on waste, pollution, and the climate crisis, and promotes the development of low-waste, low-carbon exhibitions and artworks. Robertson is a founding member of the Synthetic Collective, a group of artists, scientists, and cultural researchers addressing plastics pollution in the Great Lakes Region and co-lead on A Museum for Future Fossils, an ongoing “vernacular museum” project that responds curatorially to ecological crisis.
Picturing Climate Venture Lead
Georgi Illiev
Centre for Business and Industry Transition (Nottingham Trent University)
Georgi Iliev is a specialist in applied AI and business transformation who focuses on turning new technology into practical results for companies. He is the founder and lead of the "Transforming SMEs with AI" conference, a national hub run with Innovate UK, and leads the Venture Builder at the Centre for Business and Industry Transformation (CBIT), where he has supported over 30 deeptech startups. Georgi’s work in AI adoption includes his role as course leader for AI-driven transformation for C-Suite leaders and his international training programs for the Thailand Ministry of Higher Education.
Picturing Climate Network Member
Dr. Andy Baker
University of New South Wales
Andy Baker is a UNSW Sydney academic and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.
His research aims to generate new knowledge by combining the analysis of cave stalagmites, underground hydrological monitoring, and climate hydrological modelling to identify when this replenishment occurred in the past, present, and future.
Picturing Climate Network Member
Dr. Vasile Ersek
Northumbria University
Dr. Ersek is a palaeoclimatologist and geochemist who studies past climate changes and human-environment interactions. His research spans cave and karst science, atmospheric processes, paleoclimatology, palaeoceanography, and peat geochemistry.
Picturing Climate Network Member
Dr. George Iliopoulos
University of Patras
Dr Iliopoulos' research focuses on the evolution of paleoenvironments and the protection of geological heritage—areas that are central to understanding climate resilience. of EASE. He currently serves as the Scientific Coordinator for the Chelmos-Vouraikos
UNESCO Global Geopark, uniquely positioned to bridge the scientific and educational
objectives of Picturing Climate Network initiatives.
Picturing Climate Network Member
Zeynep Birsel
Waag Futurelab
Zeynep Birsel is a senior researcher at Waag Futurelab. Her practice and research focus on art-science-technology collaborations. She designs, implements, and mentors artistic research residencies and transdisciplinary collaborative projects that interface arts and culture with industry, science, and society. Through these collaborative structures, she explores how artistic and cultural interventions trigger change, promote dialogue across disciplines, individuals, and institutions, and reshape the way we imagine, design, and build technologies.
Picturing Climate Network Member
Laura Cooper
De Montfort University (Research Fellow)
Laura Cooper is a British artist, filmmaker, and researcher. She makes work in photochemical film, moving image and installation. Her practice probes the unknowability of other people and beings, combining the documentary, performative, poetic and mundane. She has exhibited and participated in residencies internationally. She is currently doing an M4C-funded practice-based PhD at Birmingham School of Art. Laura joins the Picturing Climate Network as a Research Fellow on the EASE project (UKRI).
Picturing Climate Network Member
Dr. Victoria Geaney
De Montfort University (Senior Research Fellow)
Dr Victoria Geaney is a fashion- and arts-led researcher, practitioner, and tutor working across artistic praxis, sustainable fashion, materials, and interdisciplinary design. Her practice-based work interrogates collaborative arts, materials, and biological approaches through the lens of feminist new materialisms. Since November 2024, Victoria has been working as a Visiting Researcher in the Tom Ellis Laboratory, Imperial College, investigating the potential of biological glowing proteins (GFP), cellulosic, and algae-based textiles to create biological forms of wearable technology on the LUMINA project. Her practice has featured in a number of national and international exhibitions and publications, including the Design Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wired magazine, Nylon magazine, Higgs magazine and Design Exchange.