United Kingdom
Dr. Lisa Fenton is co-founder of the Woodsmoke School of Bushcraft and Wilderness Survival and Lecturer in Outdoor and Experiential Learning at the University of Cumbria. Early in her career, Lisa apprenticed with Ray Mears, leading her into 20 years of instructing individuals, groups and organisations in bushcraft. She has travelled to, and led expeditions in, remote environments, where she developed her particular interest in the traditional ecological knowledge and land-based skills of local and Indigenous peoples. The central questions that have driven Lisa’s curiosity and anthropological interest has been ‘how do cultures, both past and present, live at home in various natural ecologies. And, how can that inform our own past, present and personal relationship with the natural world?’ These questions led her to complete both an MSc (Ethnobotany) focused on British wild plant foods, and a PhD (Ethnobiology) exploring the relationship between Bushcraft and Indigenous Knowledge Transmissions. Her specialist professional backgrounds as a skilled bushcraft practitioner and instructor, and a university academic and researcher, provides a unique contribution to the Global Bushcraft Symposium.