ABOUT

Permaculture Education

Permaculture Education is an international Non-Profit Education Association.

We are a leading global provider for professional education in Permaculture Design. Our mission is to provide training and consulting services for Permaculture Design, self-reliance, ethical business and livelihoods, local economic and community revitalization, and pathways to re-orient our lives to be more in tune with Nature and each other.

Applying the Ethics and Principles of Permaculture Design to everything we do provides a new vision of higher education, training leaders in creating new models and livelihoods that represent the emerging regenerative future. We uphold the high teaching and consulting standards established by the founders, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. As a result, we attract students who wish to learn from professionals in the field and go on to start their own teaching, consulting, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Permaculture Education is an international non-profit education association, with a global network of partner demonstration sites, farms, organizations, and instructors. We are the leading provider of the official internationally-recognized Permaculture Design Certificate Course (PDC), and other advanced courses related to Permaculture Design and Ecological Design.

Permaculture Education sponsors the Global Permaculture Professionals Directory, an Affiliate Teacher program, and the Global Permaculture Ambassador program.

All proceeds go to support Permaculture education, scholarships, demonstration sites, ecological restoration, and aid projects worldwide.

Alan Enzo, Ph.D., M.B.A. – Founder

Alan Enzo (known as “Enzo”) is an Ecologist, Economist, Management Consultant, and Permaculture Designer. He graduated from Ohio State University and holds a Ph.D. in Management, specializing in Ecological Economics, an M.B.A., specializing in Sustainable Business, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Accounting.

Enzo began his career as an Emergency Management Officer, leading and directing first responders on oil spills, train wrecks, chemical disasters, natural disasters, and environmental remediation projects around the US. He leads courses and consults on projects involving ecological design, permaculture design, ecological economics, ecological restoration, disaster preparation and mitigation, survival skills, off-grid systems design, local economic revitalization, and intentional community design.

Enzo received his Permaculture Design Certificate and advanced training from the Mollison Permaculture Research Institute (the original Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) in Australia founded by Bill Mollison). In 2007, he gathered a core group of first-generation Permaculture Design teachers and consultants to form Permaculture Education as an international, non-profit educational association.

He has over 25 years of experience in teaching and consulting, and is passionate about helping students and clients design properties, increasing their levels of self-reliance, and in starting their own livelihoods and business ventures.

Steve Cran

Lead Faculty Member and Instructor

Steve Cran is a Permaculture Aid veteran, teacher, consultant, climate adaptation and resilience specialist, and a handy guy to have around after a natural disaster, with a 30-year career in Permaculture Design.

With a 30-year career in Permaculture Design, Steve has directed the design of effective and regenerative recovery solutions for communities affected by natural disasters, war, or long-term poverty.

Steve has developed Permaculture projects in war zones, post-disaster zones, poverty zones, and many difficult areas on this troubled planet where most people would not dare go. He worked directly with Bill Mollison and traveled with him for many years.

He became the world’s first “Permaculture Aid Officer,” training aboriginal and impoverished communities in Australia to solve their problems. He has established Permaculture Training Field Schools and trained local leaders in several countries, including Timor Leste, Indonesia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the USA. Steve also works as an advisor to create adaptation and resilience strategies for communities facing climate change.

Steve continues consulting and conducting training throughout Southeast Asia on Permaculture Aid field skills and Train-the-Trainer and youth programs.

Steve is a lead faculty member and Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Saniya Malhotra

Lead Faculty Member, Instructor and Researcher

Saniya Malhotra is an Architect, Permaculture Designer, Illustrator, low-waste practitioner, and educator with a Bachelor’s in Architecture.

She completed her Bachelor’s in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture (India) and her PDC from the International Permaculture Education Center. Various short courses and internships have honed her interests in traditional/vernacular architecture, sustainable/regenerative development, renewable energy, and social media marketing.

She has been working on ecologically sound architecture projects spread across Himalayan villages, trying to imbibe as much local wisdom as she can. She educates India’s youth about carbon footprint, low-impact lifestyle, and overall sustainable living through university webinars, high school workshops, and her Instagram account- @didyousaykabaad.

Saniya aims to combine her knowledge of architecture and Permaculture to give wholesome solutions to her clients. Shifting into a ‘green building’ without changing your mindset and lifestyle has no impact. She is on an exploratory journey to understand how this can be achieved and propagated.

Saniya is an Instructor and Research Coordinator with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Patricia Rojo, C.E.

Lead Faculty Member and Instructor

Patricia is a Civil Engineer and has a long experience as an international consultant in many different countries.

After many years focusing on the soil “from the inside” at the tunneling and geotechnical projects she worked for, she decided it was time also to view the soil “from the outside” and followed her lifelong passion for agriculture, managing a vineyard in the Andes.

Her desire to live in harmony with nature, taking care of health and the environment, led her to undergo professional training as a Certified Consultant for Holistic Health and Nutrition. Her search for a sustainable way of life and a way of doing agriculture that respects nature conducted her to embrace Permaculture as the concept that finally fulfilled all her expectations. She received her Permaculture Design Certificate from Permaculture Education and also carried out comprehensive practical training in a renowned Permaculture farm in the Austrian Alps. including also other external projects.

She is a Permaculture designer and lives her “Permaculture dream” in her garden in Austria and a farm in South America, where she deepens her interest in regenerative agriculture. She is glad to share her knowledge and experience in design with everyone interested in coming closer to Permaculture.

Patricia is a Lead Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center

Donka Yaneva

Lead Faculty Member and Instructor

Donka holds a Ph.D. in Еcological Economics from the University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria.

She conducted the first national economic research project on permaculture farms in Bulgaria (in the course of her Ph.D. study). The topic of this study was “The economics of the New Alternative Agriculture in Bulgaria. Permaculture“. She is a certified Permaculture Designer and Teacher. She has studied with Robyn Francis (Australia), Albert Bates (The Farm Ecovillage Training Center – USA), and the Applewood Permaculture Centre, UK.

Nowadays, Donka is an independent researcher in permaculture, ecological economics, and alternative and urban agriculture. She is also practicing permaculture design and is running together with her partner a small permaculture farm & demonstration center near the Black Sea in Bulgaria. She is an author of publications, participates in conferences, and is co-authorship of books about permaculture and urban economics, sustainability, and climate change. She has shared many visions for implementing permaculture into sustainability and climate change adaptation.

Our project Organic Gardens Oreshak is a well-known permaculture project in Bulgaria. We are connected to our national formal and informal non-profit organizations and work on developing the local food networks for sustainability in the country. We are a Bulgarian National Permaculture Association member and are also connected to the European Permaculture Network and the International Permaculture Education Network. We are honored to be part of the Permaculture International College (PermacultureEducation.org) and gain much knowledge from them.

One of Donka’s visions is to popularize Permaculture Design philosophy into the “mainstream world,” including schools and university systems.
Donka is a lead faculty member and Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Bood Hickson

Lead Faculty Member and Instructor

Daniel G.B. Hickson, better known as “Bood”, grew up on a 14,000-hectare cattle station in Queensland, Australia.

He studied Computer Science at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and worked in software development and sales for several years. He returned to the family cattle station and started a local Land Care group, later becoming the first elected member of the Queensland Landcare Council. He used information technology for mapping and monitoring soil conservation initiatives, later creating LandNet, which helped create a network and movement around these land management systems and techniques.
In 1994, he received a Churchill Fellowship to research the appropriate use of information technology to protect and enhance cultural and biological diversity.

He studied Holistic Management with Alan Savory and went on to study with MIT’s Sloane School and Wageningen Agricultural University in Holland. He also visited and learned from the indigenous Suomi people living in remote communities in Scandinavia, actively pursuing cultural and environmental sustainability. He continues this work today with indigenous communities across Australia. In 1996, he received a Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership award for his environmental advocacy and action.

Bood has advanced training in conservation, regenerative agriculture, fire management, weed control, biodynamics, permaculture design, radionics, personal development, team building, information technology, business skills, governance, group facilitation, staff and volunteer management, and project management. He is also a skilled researcher and consultant in Cosmology. He promotes spiritual development to raise global consciousness, believing we can reinstate “Heaven on Earth.”

Bood is a lead faculty member and Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Hanh Lien

Lead Instructor

Hahn is a Permaculture designer and educator working and living in Vietnam, receiving her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2019.

She also holds a Master’s degree in English Language Teaching. She has many years of experience providing training consultancy and working for non-governmental projects in agricultural and rural development. She successfully introduced and applied Farmer Field School (FFS) to thousands of classes for farmers in Vietnam.

Hahn has now a great desire to communicate and educate Permaculture throughout Vietnam and the world. She has been developing her own project, “Lac Gia Trang” in Hoa Binh (Vietnam) as the demonstration of Permaculture solutions for urban family gardens. She teaches Permaculture and promotes Permaculture education and communication programs.

Hahn is a Lead Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Arnaud Fáche

Lead Instructor

Arnaud is a Landscape Architect, Permaculture Designer, gardener, arborist, and illustrator and holds a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design.

He holds a graduate degree in languages, literature, and foreign civilizations in Arabic & English (2009 – University of Nantes, France) and graduated from the National School of Higher Studies in Nature and Landscape Architecture (2014 – Blois, France). Passionate about nature since childhood, he received advanced training in several fields related to the vegetal realm: from pruning to grafting in botanical and display gardens, seed propagation and conservation, organic vegetable garden and orchard care, tree climbing, and arboriculture.

After three years of work and ten projects implemented, Arnaud graduated in 2020 from the Permaculture Association Britain and holds a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. His work focused on human design, education, community development, and personal development.

He also received advanced Permaculture Teacher Training training and completed The Work That Reconnects Workshop.

Arnaud now lives in Brittany, where he shares his time between teaching and instructing for public, non-governmental, and private companies and field practice as a Permaculture Designer, Landscape Architect, gardener, and arborist.
Arnaud is a Lead Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Jessica Enzo

Lead Faculty Member and Instructor

Jessica Enzo is a Permaculture Design teacher, consultant, and certified Health Coach specializing in Integrative Nutrition.

She has a B. A. in History from Middle Tennessee State University and is a certified teacher. Jessica taught 6th-grade Ancient History from 2006 to 2010. She completed her Permaculture Design Certificate Course with Zev Friedman and Dylan Ryals-Hamilton in Asheville, NC.

Jessica loves natural landscapes and has an eye for patterns and appropriate design. These skills drove her desire to study Permaculture, and she has developed into a great Permaculture teacher and designer. Her passion and desire are to demonstrate and share her love of Permaculture Design, Healthy Living, and Vegetarian cooking with as many people as possible.

Jessica is a Lead Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Franziska Weissortel

Instructor and Marketing Coordinator

Franziska holds a master’s degree in Environmental Planning and Ecological Engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

She focused on climate change, environmental economics, and international land-use planning during her studies. She started working with NGOs in the field of waste management in Cameroon in 2013. In 2016 she founded the project ‘Toranam’ that aims at helping farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change using sustainable agroforestry and alternative marketing strategies in India.

Franziska has also worked as a carbon and energy analyst in Ireland and is passionate about working with local communities around the world on sustainable solutions that protect the environment while at the same time securing the livelihood of marginalized people.

Franziska is an Instructor and Marketing Coordinator with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Sina Robra

Instructor and Marketing Coordinator

Sina holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Planning and Ecological Engineering from the Technical University Munich (TUM).

Her major fields of study were climate change and environmental economics. She completed her Master’s Thesis in Tanzania, examining the impacts of strong winds and heavy rainfalls on the assets of rural subsistence livelihoods. After her studies, she started working for an NGO in Tanzania dealing with smallholder farmers and their planning for adaptation to climate change. She has also been involved in Franziska’s Toranam Project in South India and founded her project, ‘Eco Maasai Farm and Accommodation’, in Tanzania in 2019. The Tanzania project is focused on sustainable economic design through ecotourism, Permaculture Design, and awareness-building.

Sina is an Instructor and Marketing Coordinator with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Agnes Liu (Fang Liu)

Instructor

Agnes is a Permaculture designer and educator working and living in Taiwan. She received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2019.

She also holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and has many years of experience in accounting, auditing, and financial management.

Agnes has a deep respect for nature and now focuses her work on education and the demonstration of Permaculture solutions. Agnes teaches Permaculture, nature skills, and life skills to elementary school children and promotes food and agriculture education programs for elementary schools. She actively participates in an edible forest project at Libahak Village – an organic farm in Taiwan.

Agnes is an Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Dolphin Yang (Hsiu-fen Yang)

Instructor

Dolphin is a Permaculture designer and educator working and living in Taiwan. She received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2019.

She also holds a Master’s degree in Computer Animation and teaches English.
She is the daughter of a farmer who never received any training in agriculture. Her father relied on his knowledge of nature and the region and coincidentally found that much of his work matched the models and techniques found in Permaculture Design.

Dolphin regards Nature as the best teacher, and she recognizes the importance of allowing younger generations to experience wild places – and learn from them.

Dolphin is an Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Ben Bishop

Instructor

Ben Bishop is a Permaculture designer and educator based out of Nashville TN. Studying nutritional sciences at the University of Connecticut.

Studying nutritional sciences at the University of Connecticut, he gained a deep understanding of the importance of fresh local food in the human diet. He has studied Permaculture Design in Tennessee and with Stephen Brooks and Itai Dolev Hauben at the Punta Mona Permaculture Educational Center in Limon, Costa Rica.

Ben specializes in designing food-producing systems in urban and suburban settings focusing on low-input gardens, food forests, and water catchment.

Cindy Moonrose

Instructor and Consultant

Cindy MoonRose is a Nashville Native and has since 1980 has been stewardess of a hilly, mostly forested 23 acres, fondly called Rabbit Hole Hollow, located 8 miles from the State Capitol, as the crow flies.

Her credentials range from a B.S. in Engineering from Vanderbilt and a 13-year career in energy efficiency analysis to an avocation in the intuitional arts of Reiki, Rebirthing, and Shamanism. Born to a biologist mom, Cindy has been exposed to the study and appreciation of Nature from her beginnings.
She has grown food every year since starting her first garden in 1979. Rabbit Hole Hollow was home to a small-scale farm menagerie during the ’80s and hopes to be again in designed Permaculture systems as a Permaculture demonstration/research/small business incubation center – with the help of Nashville Permaculture.

Since May 2009, Cindy has been nurturing the re-skilling of Nashville around the use of local wild-growing plants for food and medicine and as garden allies. She has been food gardening every month of the year since 2006.

Cindy is an Instructor with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Ambrea Fuller, LMSW

Instructor and Marketing Coordinator

Ambrea holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She also is a Certified Essential Oil Coach through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.

Ambrea received her Permaculture Design Certificate through Midwest Permaculture in 2018.

Ambrea currently works at a hospice company managing volunteers as they provide services to dying patients. She has experience in health coaching and is knowledgeable about different aspects of holistic health. Ambrea has worked with children in mental health as a counselor, adults living with HIV as a case manager, and at a holistic health company coaching others on their health journey.

The holistic health company is where Ambrea learned about Permaculture, sustainable agriculture, and humane farming. She fell in love with everything Permaculture and has been dedicated to educating others.

Ambrea is an Instructor and Marketing Coordinator with the International Permaculture Education Center.

Other Instructors, Designers, & Co-conspirators:

Katey Culver
Lead Designer, Instructor, & Consultant

Howard Switzer
Lead Designer, Instructor, & Consultant

Paul Freeman
Lead Designer & Consultant

Patricia Allison
Designer, Instructor, & Consultant

Adam & Sue Turtle
Designers, Instructors, & Consultants

Fred and Mary Beth Tanner
Designers, Instructors, and Consultants

Art Freeman
Lead Designer, Instructor, & Consultant

More
to Come

Our Projects

Starting a New Small-Scale Permaculture Design Project

Project, Franziska Weissoertel

See the project details ➞

Green Warrior
Eco Farm

Project, Steve Cran

See the project details ➞

Toranam
Project

Project, Franziska Weissoertel

See the project details ➞

If you are a Permaculture Designer with a PDC Certificate and significant experience
and would like to teach with Permaculture Education, please email us.

Permaculture Education