The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

Alex originates from Northern Ireland, being of mixed Irish/British heritage, he grew up mostly in London. However frequent trips to the south west of Ireland during his childhood where he used to help with work on the farms of his neighbours have left him feeling more at home in the rural environment than in the city. His passion in life for ecology and the natural environment allowed him to excell early on in that area academically and he graduated in Biological Sciences, specialising in Ecology from Oxford University in 2003. Disheartenned with the reductionist approach of the scientific establishment, he turned his back on acedemia immediately following this and spent two years travelling the world, WOOFing, working on farms and learning about cultures and languages. In 2005 he heard about Permaculture through a cousin, and reading more into it, realised it was the paradigm that combined the ecological theory he had once been so fascinated by with the practical action, community involvement and holistic mindset that the academic approach lacked. He went on to develop a plan to establish a project which would promote Permaculture as a means to achieve sustainable development in the third world. The following year he set off on an overland trip to India and took a wrong turn at Turkey, ending up in Ethiopia. Realising this was a land of great ecological wealth and yet very economically poor - even to the point of food insecurity - he resolved that this would be the location for the project. He took his first PDC later that year in Catalunya, Spain. In 2007 he returned to Ethiopia, without much of a clue what he was up to and ended up establishing an Eco Lodge in the South of the country, which went on to become the site for Ethiopia's first model PC farm. Unable to think of a better name for it at the critical time, it ended up being called Strawberry Fields. The model farm has developed with input from various a number of volunteers, interns and PC practitioners, such as Guy Rees, Dan Palmer and Ticafa. working alngside these people Alex has developed and honed his skills as a PC designer and practitioner over the last 3 years. During this time The project has hosted a total of 17 PDCs to date, 2 lead by Rosemary Morrow and 15 by Tichafa. Alex took over the running of the demonstration farm in June and has designed and developed systems such as drip irrigation and terraced vegetable beds, black water, composting and compost powered water heating.