Alette Willis

Alette Willis, PhD, brings her skills as a storyteller, author and university lecturer to promoting the use of stories for social change in relation to environmental issues. Her novel How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People) won the Kelpies award for children 8-11 and is published by Floris Books in 2011. Dancing with Trees: EcoTales of the British Isles, a collection of traditional tales co-written with Allison Galbraith, was published by The History Press in 2017.

She has been a regular storyteller at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and was storyteller in residence to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland from 2015-2017. She has experience running writing and storytelling events for primary and secondary school pupils. As a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, she teaches students to use stories for science communication, outdoor education and health communication. She routinely runs workshops for university and public sector researchers in fields as diverse as literature, astronomy, sociology, genetics, quantum physics, agriculture and history on integrating storytelling into their communications and public engagement events.

Her university research concerns the role stories play in shifting people's values and identities and in making ethical decisions. (Photo credit: Mike Just)