Gemma Adams

Background

I work on sustainable innovation for service and product-service-system development, with a particular interest in social innovation, people-centred design and behaviour change. I lead collaborative projects in the energy, finance and health systems like Gatecrashing the Energy Sector, Climate Finance, Best Food Forward, i-team and the Fit for the Future Healthcare Programme.

I’ve worked at Forum for six years - starting as an Assistant Strategic Advisor in 2005 – where I’ve built expertise in organisational change, running action-learning programmes and using design and ethnographic research to spur innovation. I have extensive experience of developing corporate leadership and embedding sustainability in the policy, strategy, operations, supply chains, design and delivery of public services – in organisations like Advantage West Midlands, The Cabinet Office, Cornwall Council, Kirklees Council, Bristol PCT and the East of England Health Authority.

I came to Forum from a community organisation in Cardiff where I jointly helped to convene and manage a sustainability network with the City Council. Before this, I worked for a tailor-made travel company, constructing, coordinating and selling round-the-world adventures, and as Head English Teacher at a school in Taiwan where I taught children aged from 4 to 14 years old.

The real spur for me to work in sustainability came from a lecturer on my Human Geography degree at the University of Hull. For my dissertation, he inspired me to create a three-month research opportunity in a remote part of The Philippines to assess the sustainability of development programmes in the area. I returned incredulous that sustainable development theories were utterly unrecognisable on the ground. They overlooked the well-tuned relationship between villagers and their rice terrace eco-systems and failed to appreciate what local people could contribute.

What brings me to Forum is a drive to help people take action for sustainability by finding paths through the confusing and contradictory realities we operate in. And with first-hand experience of different consumer cultures, I’m convinced a version of consumerism that’s high on value and low on resources is possible - and I want to get cracking to make it happen.

What floats my boat outside work? I’m a passionate explorer of different cultures, amateur harmonica player and community volunteer. I worked and travelled the world independently for three years after graduation - holding all sorts of positions from cattle rancher, to sheep farmer, to ski school advisor, to guest house manager. And now my search for novelty and hidden gems continues in London.