Across the editions of the Harmony Online Journal and the Global Youth Council on Science, Law and Sustainability, dozens of young writers, editors, mentors and contributors have shaped our work. This page brings their bios together in one place.
Tip: jump straight to a contributor by clicking a letter below, or use your browser’s search (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) to find any name, school or interest in the bios.
A C E J K N P R S T V WA
Adelyn “Addy” Sophie Newman-Ting
Junior Editor — 2021 Team
Adelyn “Addy” Sophie Newman-Ting is a junior editor and a student of St Michael’s University School in Victoria, British Columbia. She is a gold award-winning Indigenous Child Author of ‘Finding the Language’ in the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative. On her father’s side, she is Kwakwaka’wakw and Coast Salish indigenous, as well as English, Irish and Scottish; on her mother’s side, she is Chinese from Taiwan. Her Indigenous name is Kesugilakw meaning leader of people, and her Chinese name is Ting Li-Wen meaning pretty flower cloud. Addy enjoys dancing, baking, jump roping and singing, and she is an avid reader, writer and artist who loves to spend time with her puppy Harriet. Addy hopes that her books will raise awareness for the climate, and the importance of saving Indigenous languages and cultures.
Anisa Daniel-Oniko
Senior Editor — 2024 Team / Journalist — 2021 Team
Anisa Daniel-Oniko is a writer, editor, and Voices of Future Generations child ambassador from Delta and Edo States, Nigeria. She grew up in Lagos but currently lives in Dubai, UAE, with her family. At the age of ten, she wrote her debut book, “Double ‘A’ For Adventure” which follows twin girls who find themselves on a semi-fantastical adventure. It went on to make the long list for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, the largest literature prize in Africa. Her second book, Further in Florien, was released in August 2021. Anisa is intensely dedicated to the SDGs, especially life on land, life underwater, and gender equality.
Annabel Koven
Mentor — 2025 Team
Annabel Koven, BSc Enviro Sci Cand (Brown), is an Ambassador for the US Coalition on Sustainability, Engagement Officer for the Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice programme at the University of Cambridge, and President of Brown Sustainable Business Society hosting lecture series, consulting projects and competitions. Previously, she worked with the Billion Oyster Project, an educational nonprofit based in New York City, leading a camp to educate children on Long Island Sound ecosystem challenges. She has been awarded an undergraduate visiting scholarship at the University of Cambridge, and interned with the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Collaboratory at the Kennedy School, Harvard University, and has coordinated events and fundraising for the National Rowing Foundation.
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Carla Kotter
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
Carla Kotter is a student at The Perse School in Cambridge, passionate about the intersection of science and sustainability. Studying biology, chemistry, maths and German at A-levels, with a passion for medicine or natural sciences to advance sustainable and equitable healthcare systems and climate resilience (SDGs 3, 13). As a Chemistry Ambassador for her school, and active member of the Biology, Chemistry and Medicine Societies and Charity Committee, she joins many science competitions. With The Knowledge Society (TKS), she explored global innovation and sustainability challenges, and to promote social sustainability she co-leads a student project to provide 200 free heart scans to young athletes and students. She also volunteered at King’s Hedges School, teaching children about equity, diversity and inclusion, and has taken part in environmental and climate initiatives locally. Fluent in English and German and (almost) French, Carla is a violinist, singer and keen hockey and golf player.
Carlos Andrés Olivera Caballero
Senior Editor — 2024 Team
Carlos Andrés Olivera Caballero is a law student and youth leader from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, focused on indigenous rights, sustainable development, and global education. He is the founder of Bookcubers and Gengo Academy, initiatives that provide education to underprivileged communities. Carlos also serves as Deputy Director of the Legal Area at the Departmental Youth Council of Santa Cruz.
Catherine Grammond
Senior Editor — 2021 Team
Catherine Grammond is a Pearson College alumna. Since her young age, she has been a dedicated member of several groups at her schools and in her province to fight climate change. She has notably been a young minister of environment in Quebec. She is especially passionate about mycoremediation (the use of mushrooms to decontaminate different types of soils), which has led her to pursue her course of studies in agricultural and environmental sciences at McGill.
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Eliana Ituarte Strömberg
Contributor — Issue 3
Author of “Is Scandinavia Really So Green Inside and Out?” (Harmony Journal, Issue 3). From Mexico and Sweden, with interests in collaboration between Scandinavian countries and developing countries on clean energy and sustainability. Full bio in preparation.
Ella Lovat
Junior Editor — 2021 Team
Ella Lovat is a junior editor, attending primary school in Glasgow. She has written for the Harmony Journal on environmental initiatives in her school, including efforts to reduce pollution and adopt environmentally friendly practices in her classroom.
Emma Yanakieva
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
Emma Yanakieva is a sixth form student at The Perse School in Cambridge, UK. She focuses on chemistry, physics, maths and further maths for A-levels, and is a keen member of the Chemistry, Maths and Physics Society looking to study chemical engineering at Cambridge university. Her independent research project explores how the energy consumption of AI can be optimised through the adoption of renewable energy sources. She has competed in the national finals of the UK Space Design Competition, earning commendations on her teamwork and innovative designs. To promote sustainability and nature protection, she volunteers at her local animal rescue centre and does litter picking. She is also passionate about social sustainability, volunteering as a coach and umpire in local youth sports clubs as part of a gold Duke of Edinburgh award programme, and serving in her school’s charity committee. She speaks fluent Bulgarian and English, and enjoys hockey and cricket, as well as debating and public speaking.
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James Bonsall
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
James Bonsall is a keen geographer and biologist as well as an academic scholar in year 11 at Winchester College. With a keen passion for biodiversity, nature conservation and restoration, he has worked with the Chiltern Rangers caring for ancient woodland and on local projects restoring endangered chalk grassland as well as wetland and chalk stream habitats around Winchester. Inside school, he is an enthusiastic member of the school natural history society and an avid gardener who runs the College gardening society. He loves being outdoors: hiking, photographing and enjoying the natural environment. He has a particular love for the rare temperate Atlantic rainforest and its lichens and bryophytes.
Jona Cordonier Gehring
Senior Editor — 2021 Team
Jona David Cordonier Gehring is senior editor, and a student at Winchester College in the UK where he is active in the maths, science and sustainability societies. He is an award-winning North American and European Child Author of four books with the United Nations and Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative. He has won several awards for maths, science, debating and the model UN, and his young writers’ contest stories are also published by Lune Spark. He was a founder of the Cambridge School Eco Council and the King’s College School Eco-Society and co-led a network of youth stranded by the global COVID-19 pandemic to host a series of online tutorials on Science, Law and Sustainability reaching over 800 youth worldwide. He enjoys reading science fiction, rowing and canoeing, travelling, plays the flute, and is fascinated by obscure mathematics, chemistry, physics and protecting our planet.
Joseph Baek
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
Joseph Baek is a student at Perse School Cambridge with a strong focus on physics and chemistry for sustainable energy and environmental engineering. As part of his school’s Green Team, he participated in the Cambridge Schools Sustainability Conference. He also serves as CEO of Young Enterprise, a student-led nonprofit organisation at school dedicated to raising funds for charitable causes. Joseph supported the Paddle to the Sea to raise awareness about climate change and lectured in the University of Cambridge DemEd Global course on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a Councillor for the Global Youth Council for Science, Law, and Sustainability, he contributes to global projects to protect wetlands and strengthen future generations’ voices in decision-making. Joseph enjoys playing piano, rugby and CAD/CAM modelling.
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Katie Hensman
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
Katie is a student at the Perse Upper in Cambridge, with a particular interest in Physics, Philosophy and ethics. Katie is passionate about the interplay between science and ethics leading to policy decisions. Katie has therefore attended various legal talks and programmes, which have given her an insight into this area. At school Katie is a member of a science partnership programme, where she teams up with local primary schools and helps teach young students about the scientific problems of today’s world. This summer Katie is looking forward to being part of a programme led by Diamond Light Source, learning about how synchrotrons can be used in cutting-edge research, including in fields such as environmental science. Aside from academics, Katie enjoys playing the flute but the majority of her extracurricular time is spent playing hockey, and Katie is currently in discussions with US college coaches about potential scholarships.
Kourosh Moghadam
Junior Editor — 2025 Team
Kourosh Moghadam is a student at Winchester College with a strong passion for geography, economics, and German. He has actively contributed to sustainability initiatives, including a rewilding project where he planted wildflower meadows and trees. He has worked at Worthy Earth, a regenerative farm in Hampshire, and at LiveEO, a company leveraging satellite imagery and AI for real-time infrastructure monitoring to enhance safety and climate resilience. Beyond academics, Kourosh volunteers weekly with the Alsama Project, teaching English to Syrian refugees in Lebanon. As Social Media Manager of the Sustainability Society, he initiated and manages the podcast Between a Rock and a Green Place. He also co-developed the School Sustainability Ranking (SSR) to help schools measure and reduce their environmental impact. Additionally, he is a member of the UN C&O Association, contributing to a youth statement on climate resilience. He focuses on developing strategies to create ecosystems within urban environments to enhance biodiversity and sustainability.
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Natalia Obloj
Senior Editor — 2025 Team
Natalia Obloj is a student at St Paul’s Girls’ School (SPGS) in London with a keen interest in the science and policy of sustainability. At SPGS, she runs the Chemistry and Sustainability Club and is an engaged SPEAC member. Natalia co-leads the SPGS team competing in the Davidson Inventors Challenge at the University of Cambridge, designing a sustainable paint that can remove emissions from the air. She is a Councillor of the Global Youth Council for Science, Law and Sustainability, has been involved with The Children’s Board (a San Francisco-based consultancy) advising senior executives at major energy companies on the next generation’s views on energy transition, and worked in a bioengineering lab on climate-resistant and disease-resistant banana crops. With the support of Whitley Fund for Nature, Natalia has started collaborating with a prominent Colombian conservationist and indigenous youth, sharing perspectives on nature and climate change.
Nico Roman Cordonier Gehring
Senior Editor — 2025 Team / Junior Editor — 2024 & 2021 Teams
Nico Roman is a young historian, geographer and sustainability advocate, also a scholar at Winchester College UK. As a United Nations Child Ambassador for the SDGs and Children’s Rights, he is working to help protect nature and the rights of future generations locally and globally. He is an active member of his college’s Sustainability Council and Natural History Society. Nico also serves as co-chair of the Global Youth Council on Science, Law & Sustainability, where he helps edit Harmony. He is an award-winning young author whose stories are published in the Luna Spark anthologies (winning first place in the world for 2022), edits the blog nicosnaturalworld.org with thousands of impressions annually, and edits Futures, an anthology of stories by young authors worldwide. Nico co-published a submission for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child General Comment 26 on climate justice, and as a founding co-chair of Cambridge Schools Eco-Council, he is also laureate of the National Rotary Young Environmentalist Awards (UK), the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal (BC, Canada) and the Inspirational YoungStars Award for the Environment (Cambridge, UK). He enjoys kayaking, bass clarinet, drama, dance and sailing with Ocean Youth Trust.
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Phoebe McElligott
Mentor — 2025 Team / Senior Editor — 2024 Team
Phoebe McElligott, BA&Sc Sustainability, Science, and Society (McGill University), MPhil Environmental Policy (Cantab) is a youth mentor from Toronto with a passion for tackling plastic pollution. She was awarded the Dean’s Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research list for her research on the health impacts of microplastics. She currently works as an International Account Manager at the leading environmental compliance company in the UK. She also volunteers as a Research, Engagement, and Programme Assistant for the Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice programme at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
Portia Garnons-Williams
Senior Editor — 2021 Team
Portia Garnons-Williams is a senior editor, and a student at Ottawa-Carleton Virtual Secondary School. She is a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights, having partnered with I Love First Peoples charity to raise awareness from and raise funds for Indigenous children living in Northern Canada. With her passion for sustainability and her strong Indigenous identity, Portia blends Indigenous knowledge and culture with sustainable practices. Through her academic research and volunteerism, Portia brings to light concerns about climate change and injustice against Indigenous peoples. Portia’s other interests include musical theatre, tennis, and videography.
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Rehema Kibugi
Senior Editor — 2025 & 2024 Teams / Junior Editor — 2021 Team
Rehema Kibugi is a gold award-winning Child Author in the UN Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative. Her story ‘The Children Who Saved the Mangroves’ speaks about the importance of mangrove forests and how they protect shorelines from damaging storms and winds, waves and floods, and provide income to local people. In her story, as well as her advocacy and writing, Rehema hopes to inspire other children in Kenya, Africa, and further to speak about important matters through stories for even more children to read and enjoy. Rehema is passionate about writing, and enjoys playing piano and learning about history. She lives with her family in Nairobi, Kenya. She is also head of the Journalism Club at her school and a strong debater.
Ryan Hill
Junior Editor — 2024 Team
Ryan is a gold medal award-winning North American Child Author, a Goals Project 2024 Youth Ambassador, and an ambassador for Save Pangolins, who wants to use his voice to positively influence conservation efforts. As a young actor, his work has included performing in the Lil D’Bunk series, which is focused on addressing the challenges associated with climate change. He also did an interview with Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News Kids Edition for his work on Pangolin conservation. When he is not working or being an animal activist, he is either dancing, singing, drumming or doing martial arts.
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Saira Thomas
Junior Editor — 2024 Team
Saira Thomas is a fourteen-year-old author and sustainability advocate from Cambridge International School, Dubai. Her major works include The Green Warrior (First place, VOFG Story Writing Competition), The Adventures of Alko Batterio (Environmental Excellence School Award 2021), and Fruit of Endurance (Lune Spark Anthology). Elected Youth Ambassador for the Goals Project 2024, she is a passionate vegetarian and lover of nature and animals.
Stella
Internship Programme Alumna
Listed in the Internship Programme alumni roll. Full bio in preparation.
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Taanvir Sood
Contributor — First Issue
Author of “The Importance of the Conservation of Peat Landscapes” (Harmony Journal, First Issue). Full bio in preparation.
Thomas Langford
Junior Editor — 2025 & 2021 Teams
Thomas Langford is a student at King’s College School Cambridge, UK. Having lived in France until the age of 8, Thomas is bilingual and has greatly benefitted from both the French and English culture, giving him an openness of spirit and a tolerance, acceptance and fascination for different cultures. Thomas is a councillor of the Cambridge Schools Eco-Council and a passionate advocate for the conservation of our planet. He was a member of the Heron team, national winners of the Rotary Club Young Environmentalist Competition in 2021 and was a guest speaker at an online Eco-Seminar mini-series about the SDGs. Thomas attends Cambridge’s climate-strikes to raise awareness about the climate emergency and is a founding member of the environmental action group in his village. He loves photography, languages, swimming, reading (especially mythology), baking, monopoly and walking his ever-increasing pack of dogs.
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Varnessa Kayen Varlyngton
Senior Editor & Outreach Coordinator — 2024 Team
Varnessa Kayen Varlyngton is a UNICEF Nigeria Young Influencer and creative artivist from Rivers State, Nigeria. As the founder of Egalitarianism for Earth, she raises awareness about environmental justice and child environmental rights whilst spearheading the Children4Climate Initiative. She is the 3rd prize winner for her piece ‘Looking Down At Us’ at the global Climate Creatives Challenge fifth edition.
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Wezi Chilubanama
Junior Editor — 2024 Team
Wezi Emmanuel Chilubanama is a fourteen-year-old in his tenth grade at St. Ignatius College, Lusaka, Zambia. Winner of a global Eco-Challenge award judged by Dame Fiona Reynolds and Rev. Roman Williams, he is an outstanding member of his school’s Book Club and works closely with the Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative as a Child Ambassador for SDGs, Africa.
Harmony Online Journal - Youth Voices on Science, Law and Sustainability 