Eco-philosopher and community activist Per Ingvar Haukeland is the co-author, with Arne Naess, of the Norwegian bestseller Livsfilosofi, (published in English in 2002 with the title “Life’s Philosophy: Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World” ). He works now as an associate professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway in Bø in Telemark in the field of “friluftsliv” (“outdoor life”). At USN he heads the research group: Friluftsliv, community and sustainability. Haukeland collaborated closely with philosopher Arne Naess (founder of deep ecology) from 1990 until Arne’s death in 2009, teaching in tandem with Naess in Norway and abroad. In 2008 they collaborated on the book Deep Joy: Into deep ecology in Norwegian (in process of translation 2019). Together with the co-initiators of Alliance for Wild Ethics, he seeks to further the work of Arne Naess on deep ecology in new directions.

Per Ingvar holds a Masters in the philosophy of education from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in education, combining ecophilosophy, ecopedagogy and eco-entrepreneurship. He has also published a book on Marcello Haugen (1878-1967), a Norwegian healer and clairvoyant, and the book “Heavenearth: That of God in Nature” (2009), also in translation. Per Ingvar is together with his wife, Frøydis, the initiator of the Transition Town in Bø, and his own research and activism is concerned about sources of transition and the importance of re-enchanting our nature-connection, to expand our ecological Self to the more than human world, to renew a sense of the sacred and to revive a nature-friendly culture that combines traditional crafts and storytelling with sustainability.

Stephan coordinated and lectured on the college’s MSc Holistic Science for nearly two decades, teaching on the core models of the programme, as well as on several short courses at the College.  He was born in Venezuela in 1953, and came to England at the age of six.  Since childhood Stephan has had a deep fascination with the natural world which led him to do a degree in Zoology at the University of Durham and then a doctorate on the behavioural ecology of the muntjac deer at Oxford University.  He later returned to Venezuela where he was a field assistant for the Smithsonian Institute, studying mammalian diversity in the rainforest and in the lowland plains. He also spent two years as Visiting Professor in Wildlife Management at the National University in Costa Rica.

In 1990 Stephan was one of the founding members of Schumacher College where he worked closely with James Lovelock, with whom he has maintained a long-lasting friendship and scientific collaboration.  They were jointly appointmed as founding chair holders of the Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo.  At Schumacher College Stephan has taught alongside many of the world’s leading ecological thinkers and activists, including Arne Naess, Fritjof Capra, Brian Goodwin, Vandana Shiva, David Abram, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis.  He is now the Deep Ecology Fellow at Schumacher College.