Courtney Savie Lawrence is a connector by nature with a focus on systems transition design for climate and social innovation. In the past 15 years she has lived, worked and traveled across more than 70 countries in pursuit of positive impact using design and participatory based approaches. She is the cofounder of The Circular Design Lab based in Bangkok, Thailand, a fellow with the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) and in 2022 you can find her working with the UNDP Chief Digital Office, coleading the Oxford Climate Tech Initiative and consulting for the UNICEF Global Office of Innovation team on climate tech and innovation R+D. She is the coauthor of Inclusive Innovation - Bridging Theory, Policy and Practice, published this year in the Routledge Innovation and Technology Horizons Series and is currently studying at the Oxford Saïd Business School as a recipient of the Executive MBA Director's Award. As a volunteer she serves on the School of International Futures Next Gen Foresight Practitioners Steering Committee. You can catch her on twitter @cocosavie, Medium or LinkedIn.

Other scholarship and honors include selection as a Vital Voices Global Fellow, Cordes Opportunity Collaboration Fellow, The Coaching Fellowship for Women Leaders, Social Entrepreneur Fellow of the Amsterdam based THNK School of Creative Leadership, and Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar. Since 2016 she has also worked with the MIT International Development Design Summits, by co-leading in the Colombia, Thailand and Australia programs. From 2006-2014 she also served on the Executive Committee, the policy and governance oversight arm, to the of the Swiss-based INGO, World YMCA as a global representative of the North America region.

In the past 10 years she has co-founded and led two companies (DSIL Global and Green Loop) and has worked in and among large scale organizations like Ashoka, various other United Nations agencies (UNEP, UNHCR, ILO) as well as academic centers such as MIT's D-lab and Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. You can now find her anchored in Europe, yet for nearly a decade she has been Asia-based working in the climate and social impact sector as practitioner, entrepreneur, consultant and university lecturer.
 
She holds a Masters in Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development from the United Nations University for Peace, in Costa Rica, and a Bachelors in Political Science, International Relations from the College of Charleston; with one year spent abroad in South Africa, at the University of Stellenbosch. 'Ubuntu' is a life guiding philosophy that connects her passion with her purpose.
 
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