INTRODUCTION
Roland joined Julie’s Bicycle in April 2026 as a Climate Change and Sustainability Specialist, working across the Creative Green and Creative Climate Partnerships programme and JB’s Arts Council England decarbonisation programme, Transforming Energy. He works with cultural organisations, networks and funders to embed environmental sustainability, develop pathways to net zero and support a just transition, managing and delivering partnership projects across the sector. He is also a researcher and policy consultant specialising in climate risk, migration and resilience.
Roland holds a PhD from the University of East Anglia and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, undertaken as part of the Critical Decade for Climate Change programme. It examined human migration in the context of climate change, drawing evidence from coastal Bangladesh. He is also a Research Associate at UEA, co-leading a project on cyclone impacts and migration in Madagascar. Alongside his academic work he has advised on climate risk and mobility across Africa, South Asia and the Pacific, for clients including the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank and UK government departments. His research has been published in academic outlets and submitted as written evidence to the UK Parliament, and he holds an MSc in Climate Change, Development and Policy (Distinction) from the University of Sussex and the Institute of Development Studies.
Roland came to climate research after a career in the arts. As co-founder and joint chief executive of Theatre Deli from 2012 to 2019, he scaled a national arts organisation that converted vacant commercial buildings into cultural hubs, raising around £1.3 million in annual sponsorship and Arts Council funding and managing more than thirty staff across ten sites in London and Sheffield.
Throughout his career he has been an outspoken advocate for new models of cultural space, reclaiming empty buildings for artists, writing bylined articles for outlets such as Time Out, The Guardian and Arts Professional, and giving interviews to national media including The Economist, BBC Front Row, The Stage, Channel 4 News and the Daily Telegraph.