Our Team

Roar Bjonnes

Research Director and Editorial Lead

Roar Bjonnes is the co-founder of Systems Change Alliance, a long-time environmental activist and a writer on ecology and alternative economics, which he terms eco-economics. He was the editor of the American Common Future magazine in the mid-90s, a magazine which featured some of the first articles taking a critical look at the so-called sustainable development model. He is the co-author of the book Growing a New Economy, which outlines the macro-economic framework for an eco-economy and which world-renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben calls “a hopeful account of the possibilities contained in our current crisis.”

Tiago Freitas

Digital Lead, Portugal Lead

Tiago is passionate about socio-economic systems that can improve the way we live and grow together.

He has been working as an IT and business consultant. Currently focused on the non-profit sector, he helps like-minded organizations thrive.

With a background in computer engineering, he is pursuing an MSc in Co-operative and Social Enterprises.

Roshnii Rose

Creative Arts and Communications Lead

With a background in languages and alternative education, Roshnii is a mother, writer, doula and mentor who left the city to live off-grid, closer to the land.
She finds expression through art, music and generating personal or community projects, and is constantly inspired by our innate creativity, evolution and connectedness to the web of life.

Carolina Carvalho

Eco-Networker and Administrations Officer

Carolina Carvalho is a network ecologist from Portugal who researches the interconnectedness of living beings and how we might apply this knowledge to help the human species live harmoniously within the web of life. She has a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Management and Conservation and works as a researcher at the University of Lisbon’s Higher Institute of Agronomy. She is also part of an association for transition, Live with Earth, working for the spread of knowledge about sustainable alternatives in Portugal. Her areas of interest include permaculture, programming, languages and eastern philosophies.

Alexander McDonell

Flow Facilitator

Alexander McDonell has been engaging in community facilitation activities for over 20 years, ranging from being the president of several community organisations, to neighbourhood participatory development, he was the cofounder of the Phoenix Pond suburban community project in Perth, Australia, and is now founding a rural intentional community in Portugal. He has come to believe in the necessity of applying these facilitation techniques to dealing with larger issues such as economics, and the environment, and is now facilitating the success of community projects and social enterprises. He also believes in the necessity of personal development and leadership, and supports people to develop themselves, and step up as gentle leaders and guides. When not working as a facilitator he is generally found playing the violin, or meditating on the mysteries of the cosmos.

Francisco Dinis

Lead, Beira Interior Region Portugal.

Francisco is rationally passionate about the following concepts: Economic Democracy, Resilient Local Economies / Communities, Cooperatives and Regional Self-Reliance.

In 2007, he visited the network of Mondragon Cooperatives, in the Basque Country, Spain. There he saw for himself how the concepts mentioned above could be applied succesfully, which has served as an inspiration for carrying out this work in Central Portugal.

Francisco is involved in several projects and associations aligned with these ideas such as: Ananda Valley (Ecological Community), Bioeco (Organic Agriculture and Agro Ecological Association) and PRIP (Prout Research Institute of Portugal).

João Domingos

Social Media Team

João Domingos is a young Portuguese activist. He recently finished his university degree in computer engineering and, during his time there, he co-founded the academic movement for the protection of the environment (MAPA in Portuguese). The movement organized several talks, trash picking walks, a reforestation action, ecological cinema sessions, and two climate strikes with a relevant local impact.

João is now living in an intentional community near the beautiful natural park of Serra da Estrela, where he continues his work on social and systems change. He also loves to meditate and sing.

Liila Hass

Managing Director and Events Lead

Liila Hass is a co-founder of the Systems Change Alliance, a Climate Change presenter with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, a collaborator for systems change initiatives and an advocate for social and environmental justice. She has presented on topics ranging from water policy and conservation, the art and science of social change and the neuroscience of collaboration. She is a recipient of the 2012 Sensis Award, “Australians Creating a Better Future” and Melbourne University’s Jan Lee Martin Fellowship, Futures Thinking and Strategy Development.