SAG MEMBERS

Cornell is an environmental and climate justice specialist with experience in the public, private and third sectors. He has a background in environmental and climate science and has worked previously in policy and as an environmental consultant. He is experienced in community development and currently works for the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, leading the rights awareness and outreach programme.

Gayatri Vijay Kale is a sustainability and net zero consultant, ethical storyteller, and founder of With Intent Partners Ltd and the Global South Voices Project. Based in Glasgow and rooted in her maternal village of Malvan in Western India, she works at the intersection of climate justice, Indigenous knowledge, and lived experience.

Through With Intent Partners Ltd, Gayatri supports SMEs, public organisations, and community groups across Scotland with Scope 1–3 baselining, net zero strategy, circular economy training, and behaviour centred climate education. Her consultancy blends technical rigour with cultural and organisational insight, helping teams translate climate commitments into credible, practical action.

She also leads the Global South Voices Project, a global initiative she founded to amplify community held knowledge and challenge extractive research norms. Her documentation of practices such as Rapan fishing highlights Global South climate intelligence and reframes storytelling as a tool for justice.
Gayatri contributes to Scotland’s climate ecosystem through volunteering with the 2050 Climate Group Leaders Network and advisory work with CEMVO Scotland, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, and Changeworks, ensuring youth and ethnic minority voices are included in climate decision making and capacity building.

Guanyu Jason Ran is a university lecturer and researcher in ethnic and migration studies. His current research addresses gaps in understanding, practical strategies, and interventions for promoting ethnic minorities’ public engagement in Scotland’s Net Zero transition.

Dr. Neighbourhoods’he Head of Social and Urban Policy and Professor at the University of Glasgow (effective 1st August 2026). He is an expert in racial justice in data and AI. He has developed anti-racism and participatory research to challenge power, injustice, and discrimination in technology and AI. He has published widely on amplifying lived expertise of adversely racialised communities in AI development and governance and has developed innovative participatory AI auditing tools and co-design frameworks to counter AI-enabled racism. He has also co-created the digital game SEvEN: Seven Voices, One Future, with the Ethnic Minority Environmental Network, to amplify traditional ecological knowledge and climate actions led by adversely racialised communities in Scotland.

Mark has served in several advisory committees in Public Health Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Scottish Government, including as Co-Chair of the Design Advisory Group for the Anti-Racism Observatory of Scotland (appointed by Scottish Ministers). He is in the leadership team of the Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies (PHAWM) project (2024-28) and a co-founder of the Our AI Collective CIC.

His work on AI and anti-racism features regularly in media, e.g., BBC news, BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland, The Sunday Times, The Herald. He holds a PhD in Social Policy (University of Edinburgh).

Rima Said is an intercultural community development practitioner with over 20 years' experience working with refugees, people seeking asylum, migrants and diverse communities internationally and in Scotland. Her work focuses on improving inclusion and intercultural practice, strengthening partnerships, supporting community participation and helping organisations create more inclusive, welcoming and connected communities.

She is currently the Facilitator for the Integration Network Renfrewshire (IN-Ren) at Engage Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire's Third Sector Interface (TSI). In this role, she works with grassroots organisations, public services and local communities to strengthen collaboration and create opportunities for people from all backgrounds to connect, participate and belong.

Co-Director, Women’s Environmental Network | Climate Justice Activist | PhD Researcher, University of Manchester

Zarina Ahmad is a climate justice activist, researcher and environmental leader working at the intersection of climate, gender, race, food justice and social change. She is Co-Director of the national organisation Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) and a PhD researcher at the University of Manchester, where her research explores questions of justice, participation and sustainable food systems.

Recognised as one of the “Mighty Women” on BBC Woman’s Hour’s 2020 Our Planet Power List, Zarina is also a recipient of the prestigious Emma Goldman Award, recognising her work at the intersection of gender, race and climate justice. Her work is rooted in a commitment to challenging structural inequalities and creating pathways for communities who have historically been under-represented in environmentalism, academia and decision-making.
Zarina has played a significant role in strengthening the participation and leadership of racialised and marginalised communities within the environmental movement. She founded the Ethnic Minority Environmental Network (EMEN), creating a platform to increase the visibility, participation and influence of ethnic minority communities within Scotland’s environmental sector. During her time at CEMVO Scotland, she supported the development of more than 150 community-led projects engaging communities with climate change and sustainability.

Alongside her organisational and campaigning work, Zarina is involved in a number of research and practice-based initiatives focused on sustainable food systems, food justice and community-led climate action, including work with the Just FACT programme, Nourish Scotland, the University of Glasgow and her PhD research at the University of Manchester. Her work brings together academic research, community knowledge and practical action, with a particular interest in how environmental and food systems can be transformed in ways that are socially just and inclusive.

A central theme of Zarina’s work is shifting the narrative around racialised and marginalised communities — from deficit-based approaches to recognising communities as holders of knowledge, expertise, assets and solutions. She advocates for systemic change across civil society, academia and policy, and works to create more inclusive learning and leadership spaces through climate leadership, anti-racism and environmental justice training.
Zarina is also a passionate advocate for women's participation in sport and is a Trustee of Kabaddi Scotland. She is currently supporting the development of a Scottish Women’s Kabaddi team, with the ambition of creating opportunities for women to represent Scotland at international level.

Across her work, Zarina brings together research, activism, community development and leadership, with a focus on creating a fairer environmental movement and ensuring that those most affected by social and environmental inequalities are recognised not simply as beneficiaries of change, but as leaders, knowledge holders and agents of change.