New colleague Hannah Wu joined ELS per June 2024

I am also an IB certified teacher and co-founder of an outdoor education start-up situated in Chengdu, China. After studying music education, ethnomusicology, and tourism anthropology, I worked as a music, Mandarin, and bilingual teacher in secondary and high schools in China and primary schools in the United Kingdom.Since 2019, I've been engaged in informal outdoor study traveland nature learning design.

My prospective research topic is the localized practices of Chinese nature-based educators. Despite having more experience in educational practice than inacademic educationalresearch, I've always considered myself a participative observer. As a result, I address numerous educational research themes, such as student-centered, inquiry-based learning, assessment, agency, sustainability, and so on, with more direct concepts and methods. My own experience and observations have led me to think that nature-based educators have a significant role in achieving sustainable development goals. I alsoobserved that many others share the same vision and challenge. Education for sustainable development requires not just the sustainability of the external biological environment, but also the sustainability of all participants' interior environments.

Through literature review, case studies, in-depth participatory observation and interviews with nature-based educators at associations and organizations in different regions, the following will be examined in this research: The development of China's natural education in exchange and integration; The basis of practice: philosophical and cultural foundations of nature-based practicein China and the possibility of a comparative study with Western countries; Nature education as a form of nostalgia: life history and identity of nature-based educators; Place-based practices in different regions of China and the role of nature-based education in promoting the SDG goals such as educational equity.

Contact: hannah.wu@wur.nl