Joycelyn Longdon

Joycelyn Longdon is an award-winning environmental justice technologist, writer, and communicator who specialises in designing conservation technologies rooted in ecological and social justice. As a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge, she combines machine learning, bioacoustics, forest ecology, indigenous knowledge, and sociology to develop AI-driven biodiversity monitoring tools through participatory collaboration with communities. Featured in British Vogue's "Forces for Change" and author of Natural Connection, she has consulted for the United Nations, the Design Council, and Greenpeace. Her talks equip audiences with practical strategies for integrating emerging technologies into sustainability efforts whilst addressing climate colonialism, ensuring organisations understand how justice-led innovation can drive meaningful environmental action and systemic change.

Joycelyn Longdon founded Climate in Colour to address a critical gap in environmental education, building an online platform that has grown to engage over thirty thousand learners in accessible climate conversation. As a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge, she developed ecoacoustic technologies through a four-year participatory collaboration with a forest community in Ghana, creating AI-driven biodiversity monitoring tools that function as a form of Shazam for nature. Her work emerged from a determination to challenge the perceived binary between technological advancement and ecological flourishing, proving that conservation technology can be rooted in both social and ecological justice when designed through genuinely deliberative approaches with communities. Featured in British Vogue's "Forces for Change" and a TEDx speaker, she has consulted for organisations including the United Nations, the Design Council, and Greenpeace, whilst serving as climate columnist for gal-dem and regular correspondent on the Sky News Daily Climate Show.

Her radically interdisciplinary research combines machine learning, bioacoustics, forest ecology, indigenous knowledge, and sociology to examine how technology can support conservation without replicating extractive practices. This approach informs her cultural commentary and writing across various publications, consistently linking contemporary social issues to the climate crisis through both scientific rigour and accessible communication. She has been invited to speak on climate justice, climate colonialism, activism, creativity, and systems change by venues including the United Nations Geneva Dialogues, Channel 4, Cheltenham Science Festival, Oxford University, The National Lottery, and The Wellcome Collection. Her book Natural Connection, which celebrated its first anniversary in 2025, explores these themes through a creative process that blends structured academic analysis with poetry and relational conversation, drawing on her diverse experience as researcher, speaker, and facilitator.

Joycelyn's presentations equip audiences with practical strategies for integrating emerging technologies into sustainability efforts whilst confronting uncomfortable truths about climate colonialism and ecological injustice. She demonstrates how climate change disproportionately affects developing nations as a legacy of colonial practices, then offers tangible solutions grounded in her background in design and creativity. Her talks inspire organisations to understand that the fruits of climate action may not appear immediately but will benefit future generations, mirroring the patience and long-term thinking evident in both natural ecosystems and ancestral wisdom. As a host or facilitator, she combines authority and passion with comprehensive knowledge of key figures and debates across technology and sustainability fields, helping audiences recognise that justice-led innovation creates the foundation for meaningful environmental action and lasting systemic change.