Dr. Katy Fox

Katy founded Mycelium, the ecosocial design agency in 2019. Her aim is to focus her livelihood on permaculture design, regenerative living and community resilience capacity-building for the benefit of all – for the time beyond our self-terminating civilisation.

 

Biosketch

Dr. Katy Fox is a social anthropologist, community organiser, teacher and ecosocial designer. She is passionate about social and cultural transformation.

Her doctoral research concerned the impacts of EU agriculture policy on the lives of subsistence farmers in Romania (2006-2010). Her follow-up research in Romania (2009) brought to the fore environmental questions and she has since worked with permaculturists and new types of environmental grassroots movements.

While her earlier interests were focused around the economy and power relations, her current work is concerned with systemic, deliberative paths for desired social change and the interconnections between ecosystems and social systems.

You may copy this biosketch in its integrity, but if you change it, please run it by me before publication.

After living in Scotland and Romania for a decade, she moved back to her native Luxembourg (Beckerich) in 2010 and founded CELL, the Centre for Ecological Learning Luxembourg, a non-profit organisation that serves as a laboratory for sustainable living, which she led until 2018.

Katy has been supporting the Äerdschëff project, which she co-founded in 2014, and has been serving on the board of TERRA, a cooperative CSA for regenerative agriculture, since 2014. She lives on a deep adaptation inspired community farm in Arlon, the Ferme du bout du monde.

 

Languages

  • Professional written and spoken proficiency
    Luxembourgish, English, French, German
  • Fluent spoken proficiency
    Romanian
  • Basic proficiency
    Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch

Research Interests

  • human resourcefulness, resilience, hope
  • power, ethics, political economy, value, inequality
  • cultural transformation and transition to low-impact living
  • overshoot and collapse
  • extinction risks
  • deep democracy
  • socio-ecological change
  • regenerative living
  • permaculture design
  • education for change
  • regenerative agriculture and food practices
  • Romania and Europe, EU integration
  • social theory, epistemology and systemic thinking
  • drawing and alternative methods of knowledge-making
  • gender and sexuality

    Katy Fox at TEDx

    What are the links between courage and connection? If the trees of a forest are all connected into one big organism underground, could the same image not be applied to us humans? Katy will take you on a journey to shepherds of the Carpathian Mountains with whom she lived and to eco-villagers and citizens who are part of the permaculture movement she now passionately adheres to. Watch the Video.

    Publications

    Books

    2011 
    Peasants Into European Farmers? EU Integration in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Freiburger Sozial-anthropologische Studien/Freiburg Studies in Social Anthropology/ Etudes d’Anthropologie Sociale de l’Universite de Fribourg. Lit Verlag.
    Bd. 33, 360 S., 34.90 EUR, br., ISBN 978-3-643-80107-4, Also available from Amazon.de

    General Publications

    2021
    (contributor) Les jardins communautaires du Luxembourg, 2021, ISBN 9789995906146.

    2018 
    Sustainability and Social Cohesion in Luxembourg: By Design or Disaster. Caritas Sozialalmanach, edited by Robert Urbé, 237-250.

    2017
    (with Rodrigo Vergara & Marc Schmitz): Indoor Air Quality in Earthships: A Study.

    2016
    ‘Kleine Ethnographie der Ökonomie des kooperativen Lebens’ forum 358 : 31-34.

    2014
    Fictional Book Review ‘The Making of Regenerative Culture’ forum 342 : 13-15.

    2012
    Achieving Sustainable Living Spaces and Post-Fossil Neighbourhoods in Luxembourg? Caritas Sozialmanach Logement, edited by Robert Urbé, 313-324.

    (with Norry Schneider) ‘Resilienz und Hoffnung’ forum 320: 54-55.

    2011
    ‘Vom Taumeln zum Tanzen der Verhältnisse: Décroissance als willkommener Paradigmenwechsel für eine lebenswerte Zukunft. Forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg (March edition).

    2010-2014
    collaboration with Queesch magazine.

    2009-2013
    ongoing collaboration with IUEOA asbl, featuring a regular column to their magazine on learning and practising sustainability and occasional topical articles.

    2010
    ‘Permakultur: Die Kunst des Möglichen’ Forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg (June edition).

    2008
    ‘Society, Sexuality and Gender Relations: A Perspective from Social Anthropology’ Forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg.

    Book Reviews

    2017
    Henfrey, T. & G. Maschowski (eds.) 2015. Resilience, Community Action and Social Transformation. Lisbon: FFCUL and Transition Research Network.

    2011
    Amit Desai and Evan Killick (2010) (eds) The Ways of Friendship: Anthropological Perspectives. Oxford: Berghahn. Anthropological Notebooks.

    The Turbulence Collective (2010) ‘What would it mean to win?’ http://turbulence.org.uk/turbulence-book/ in Queesch 14.

    2010
    Christina Grasseni (2009) Developing Skill, Developing Vision: Practices of Locality in the Italian Alps. Oxford: Berghahn. Social Anthropology.

    2009
    Chris Hann (2006) Not the Horse We Wanted: Postsocialism, Neoliberalism and Eurasia. Münster: Lit Verlag. Sibirica.

    2008
    Parkins, Wendy & Geoffrey Craig (2006) Slow Living. Oxford: Berg. Anthropological Notebooks, XIII (2): 153-155.

    Wilson, Thomas M. (ed) (2006) Food, Drink and Identity in Europe. Amsterdam and New York: Editions Rodopi. Social Anthropology, 15(3): 409-411.

    2007
    Inda, Jonathan Xavier (ed) (2005) Anthropologies of Modernity: Foucault, Governmentality and Life Politics. Oxford: Blackwell. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13: 235-236.

    2006
    (with Andrew Whitehouse) ‘Sound and Anthropology: Body, Environment and Human Sound Making – Conference hosted by the University of St Andrews 19th-21st June 2006’ Anthropology Today 22 (6): 25-26.

     

    Scientific Contributions

    2021
    (contributor) Luxembourg 2050: Prospects for a Regenerative City–Landscape – Report Phase 2. PDF Download

    2016
    ‘A Portrait of a Chaord: A Breathing, Living Organisation’ Designing the World We Want: Permaculture Perspectives 2015 Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Occasional Series, forthcoming… hopefully… one day…

    2015 
    (contributor) Permaculture and Climate Change Adaptation: Inspiring Ecological, Social, Economic and Cultural Responses for Resilience and Transformation. Thomas Henfrey and Gil Penha-Lopes. Permanent Publications. 

    ‘Putting Permaculture Principles to Work: Progress, Hope and Commons Thinking’ in: Joshua Lockyer and James Veteto (editors) Localizing Environmental Anthropology: Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillage Design for a Sustainable Future. Oxford: Berghahn.

    2011
    ‘Commentaries on Drengson’s Shifting Paradigms’ Anthropology of Consciousness 22(1): 37 38.  Link to text.

    2010
    ‘The Mailat Case and Being European’ Slovo 22(1):  5-20.

    2009
    ‘Despre autopoiesis si angrenajul structural’ (‘Autopoiesis and Structural Machinery’) in: Stelu Serban (ed) Teme in antropologia sociala din Europa din Sud-Est. Bucharest: Paideia, 21-44.

    ‘The Principle of Hope: Relating to the European Union in Rural Romania’ in Janette McDonald and Andrea Stephenson The Resilience of Hope. Oxford: Rodopi.

    ‘Confusion, Secrecy and Power: Direct Payments and European Integration in Romania’ Annuaire Roumain d’Anthropologie, 46, special issue edited by Thomas Sikor and Stefan Dorondel.

    2007

    ‘Mind the Gaps! Power, Politics and a Space for Anthropology’ Antropologija 3: 22-39.

    ‘Belonging to the EU from the Perspective of Smallholder Farmers and Food Producers in Romania: How to Conceptualise the EU, Power and Agency’ Journal for Studies in Ethnology and Anthropology / Caiete de Etnologie si Antropologie 2006: 53-69.

    Lyrics

    I write lyrics with my brother, the drummer and composer Paul Fox.
    You can find the tracks on the following albums:
    2019 Marly Marques Quintet Sea Change
    2016 Marly Marques Quintet Encounter
    2014 Marly Marques Quintet Só ar ser

    MYCELIUM DESIGN ASBL

    This is the website of the non-profit organisation Mycelium Design asbl (F12520), registered in Luxembourg. Through this association, we organise permaculture courses and graphic recording sessions. We pay our facilitators and cover our costs, and we donate any surplus to regenerative agriculture projects in the Greater Luxembourg region to do our part towards preparing collapse and mitigating, as much as still possible, the effects of climate and biodiversity breakdown. There are no permanent staff employed and all administrative work is voluntary.

     

    What Other People Say

    Katy is a visionary thinker and gifted practitioner who effortlessly commands a breathtaking range of skills, knowledge and insights. Industrious, capable, diligent and inspirational, she has consistently worked wonders in our many collaborations, and is a strong asset to any project fortunate enough to benefit from her involvement.

    ~Dr Thomas Henfrey, Research Coordinator, ECOLISE

    Katy is highly skilled in terms of facilitating groups and steering group dynamics, knowing exactly when and how to intervene in terms of the group’s energy, responding to conflicts or misunderstandings, lightening up the energy through games, and empowering people in the process to take responsibility for their participation. The social design of the PDC was excellent, as people were involved with different roles (practicals assistant, timekeeper, heartkeeper, etc.), inspired by sociocracy.

    ~Marianne, Course participant

    Katy has been a force of inspiration all along. Her dedication to the transition movement and her capacity to support the growth of numerous initiatives in Luxembourg is phenomenal and convinced me that taking action is worthwhile. Katy has embraced Fashion Revolution Luxembourg and gave us visibility by giving us space in the Transition magazine locally. She supported us in our funding application, and I am convinced that her poignant advice improved our chances to succeed.

    ~Styliani Parascha, Fashion Revolution Luxembourg

    I first met Katy when she applied for a job at the innovation department when she joined us to collaborate in the field of “education for sustainable development”. Now Katy is the perfect example of why you shouldn’t judge on first sight. She appears very discrete (quite different from the outgoing entrepreneurial geeks that you meet in this domain), not imposing herself, very respectful to her counterpart and yet her strength is to be found in the serenity that she conveys and also in the deep knowledge of the subjects she excels in. Katy strengths lies as well in the mediation role between antithetical positions as in a facilitator position where she makes people move in her own specific, engaging manner.

    ~Jos Bertemes, Director of SCRIPT, Innovation Department at Ministry of Education (MENJE), 2009-2015

    Katy has a vast knowledge of permaculture and ecology, she applies her teaching background in group dynamics implementing elements of sociocracy and non-violent communication. She is dedicated to living and embodying permaculture values in all their facets.

    ~Rodrigo Vergara, Colleague at CELL Äerdschëff Project

    Katy Fox is an inspiring facilitator that never ceases to amaze me with the depth and breadth of her knowledge. She gracefully blends theoretical and abstract concepts with practical, tangible experiences and skillfully manages to steer groups of any size towards an enriching collective learning process. What I admire the most is her sensitivity to people’s learning needs and her ability to spontaneously adapt and respond to the group dynamic, both in the classroom environment as well as out in the field. Her academic background in anthropology coupled with many years of teaching and her practical land-based experience, have granted Katy a complete and balanced skill-set ideal for teaching Permaculture.

    ~Marko Anyfandakis, Co-founder of TERRA & co-facilitator

    I highly recommend Katy Fox as a permaculture design trainer as she knows how to share her vast knowledge in a digestible and interactive manner. Working as a high school teacher, Katy has brought the best teaching techniques into her non-formal classes. I always think back to her courses as equally balancing theory, practice and fun.

    ~Daniel Waxweiler, Course participant & co-facilitator

    Katy was my PDC teacher. At first, I thought she was a bit tough, but I realised during the course that this was the reflection of her being truly committed to making the group move forward. I learned about true benevolence with her and about the systems of governance that does not leave out people. She is deeply wise, has an enormous knowledge and a great confidence which lead to a great ability to teach.

    ~Géraldine Berre, PDC student, 2016-2017

    Katy was both the facilitator at my PDC and then my mentor during my volunteer year at CELL. Katy is a very versatile person and her knowledge embraces very diverse areas. I love the way she manages teams, as she is always focused on bringing out team members’ interests, qualities and strengths.

    ~Gaia Buratti, European Volunteer for CELL, 2016-2017

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