A unique programme inspired by nature, for the good of nature

The Bio-Leadership Fellowship, whose core programme closes in 2026, has been an extraordinary journey of connecting people across the world to explore and create new possibilities for nature-centred progress.

Sparked as the Bio-Leadership Project, it grew into a living community, stewarded by a remarkable team and now carried forward by fellows across the planet.

Learning from life, transforming how we lead

Founded on the belief that dominant stories of progress, rooted in extraction, maximisation and separation, lie at the heart of many of the challenges we face, the Fellowship set out to connect people, share knowledge and grow new stories of progress that work for life.

Its nine-month core programme brought together learning on new paradigms of leadership, cultures and structures of progress, and life-centred models and stories. Alongside this, fellows explored the deeper qualities needed to navigate complexity, power and polarisation — combining inner development with practical action and change.

From the outset, we wanted the Fellowship to work less like a conventional learning programme and more like a living network: a human mycelium of relationships, mutual support, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Personal inquiry, peer-led workspaces, shared learning and self-guided practices in nature helped make the journey as much an inner exploration as a call to transform the world around us.

The results have been deeply meaningful: life-changing experiences, ventures transformed, countless connections and collaborations, and a global community that continues to grow and evolve.

A living legacy

As the core programme and team step back in 2026, we have worked closely with fellows to nurture the community's continued, self-organising life.

A new Co-operative has emerged, creating structures to connect and catalyse nature-centred enterprises. Life System Studio will continue to champion the community, participate in the Co-operative and share stories of nature-centred progress.

What made it special — and what we learned

The Fellowship was designed to work like nature, with nature and for the good of nature. At its heart was a simple conviction: meaningful change calls for more than technical knowledge. It asks us to explore power, beliefs, culture and our relationship with life — and to bring creativity, joy and love into the work.

This spirit was made possible by an extraordinary core team: Ella Wiles, Din van Helden, Sharmishtha Dattagupta, Christina Williams and Javi Gras.

The journey also taught us about the importance of sustainable funding, longer-term governance and resourcing the people who hold a community together.

We are delighted that the spirit of Bio-Leadership is so alive in the world. The core programme may be closing, but the wisdom, relationships and love it helped grow continue to ripple out — and new possibilities are already taking root.