Leonie is a Senior Researcher within The Young Foundation’s Sustainability and Just Transition team, where she specialises in community engagement and participatory methods across built and social infrastructure programmes. With an academic background in participatory governance, she is driven by a commitment to creating the conditions in which communities, particularly those least heard and most vulnerable, can influence meaningful and lasting change. She brings strong analytical capabilities and deep experience in real-time evaluation, drawing insights from diverse local contexts to support evidence-based decision making. Her work routinely bridges research, policy and practice, ensuring that lived experience and community expertise shape programme design and implementation.
Within the Centre for Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST), Leonie is supporting the impact strand led by The Young Foundation. She leads a UK-wide network of practitioners engaged in climate and social action to foster collaborative practice that cuts across traditional silos in the low-carbon living agenda. Through the Practice Builders’ Network, Leonie works to surface bold ideas, strengthen collective capacity and shape the Centre’s research, campaigns and policy asks. Her work supports the development of innovative, joined-up approaches that accelerate transformative change for people and the planet.