{"id":114359,"date":"2026-02-17T16:05:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondconference.org\/?page_id=114359"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:05:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:05:05","slug":"zoe-rasbash","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/beyondconference.org\/b25\/innovators\/zoe-rasbash\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Rasbash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Emerging Innovators<\/h3><\/div><\/div> \n\n
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Biography<\/h3>

Zoe Rasbash is an action researcher, writer and producer working to mobilise culture for a post-growth, regenerative society. In her role at Watershed and as a freelance researcher, she collaborates with cultural organisations, workers and networks across the UK to explore the role of culture in achieving a just transition.<\/p>\n

As editor and podcast host at shado, she works with a global community of artists, activists and organisers using grassroots media as a tool for social justice and collective liberation. Her work focuses on cities and grassroots movements driving socio-ecological transformation through culture, narrative, infrastructure and participation.<\/p>\n

Zoe\u2019s interdisciplinary approach connects climate justice, cultural policy and collective imagination, rethinking how creative ecosystems can nurture equitable futures grounded in care, collaboration and community resilience.<\/p><\/div>

Zoe Rasbash<\/h1>

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Innovation is a complicated word. It has been co-opted by economic systems that prize constant growth, often at the expense of planetary and social wellbeing. For me, true innovation is about reorganisation: re-rooting societies in ecological balance, reimagining value beyond profit, and reorienting technology and culture toward collective liberation.<\/p>\n

I am interested in how the Global North can live within planetary boundaries while investing in cultural transformation\u2014one that values participation, shared infrastructure and community resilience. Drawing on Kate Raworth\u2019s Doughnut Economics, I see the ecological ceiling and social foundations as the boundaries within which meaningful innovation must exist.<\/p>\n

My work is inspired by frugal and convivial technologies\u2014tools designed, built and governed by the communities who use them. I explore how these systems can be regenerative, democratic and participatory.<\/p>\n

Currently, I\u2019m researching the role of culture in enabling a post-growth society: how grassroots media supports ecosystems of change, how technology can serve social and climate justice movements, and what a post-growth cultural sector could look like in the UK.<\/p>\n

I want to move beyond \u201cinnovation\u201d as a measure of economic expansion, towards transformation as a measure of shared wellbeing. The task is to nurture the seeds of alternative futures already sprouting within communities\u2014innovating not for growth, but for connection, regeneration and collective thriving.<\/p>\n\t\t

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Zoe Rasbash is a researcher, writer and producer working at the intersection of creative industries and climate justice. As Climate Action Researcher at Watershed, she has co-designed practical frameworks for cultural organisations, including the widely adopted Creative Climate Action Toolkit. Through projects like Alternative Technologies: A Just Transition, Zoe has redefined how cultural policy can centre rest, equity and care, making her a vital emerging voice in sustainable innovation.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t

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Furaha Asani<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t
Watershed<\/h5>\n\t\t\t<\/a> \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\nCommunity Research<\/a>Culture & Heritage<\/a>Social Impact<\/a>Sustainability<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>

View all innovators<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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Gallery<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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