30 January, 2022
Built by Nature team welcomes Programme coordinator for Accelerator Fund
Built by Nature team welcomes Programme coordinator for Accelerator Fund
Built by Nature has appointed Julien Vincelot as its Programme Coordinator for Accelerator Fund. The fund is established to further Built by Nature’s vision and mission – making grants to the teams and solutions that can increase the uptake of sustainable timber in construction and improve its climate impact, overcoming some of the most challenging barriers. It offers grants of between €50,000-€250,000 per initiative.
Julien joins the team having worked as Partnership and Learning Manager at BYCS, a Dutch not-for-profit whose mission is to accelerate the global transition towards sustainable mobility by promoting cycling through behaviour and culture change.
Prior to this, he was the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Programme Coordinator for Urban95, the world’s first initiative linking early childhood development and urban planning, policy and design. In this role, Julien managed Urban95’s growth across 8 countries by coordinating grants to advise implementation, build capacity, lead knowledge production and advocacy, and coordinate network-strengthening activities for city governments and their partners.
Of his appointment, Julien says, “The importance of Built by Nature lies in the large-scale potential of shifting the built-environment from a net CO2 emitter to a carbon sink through the use of timber in construction. This requires a strategic and balanced relationship between construction and forest management.
The success of this project requires deep alignment and collaboration with like-minded organisations across the industry and a collaborative effort to tackle the technical, behavioural and policy challenges. Leveraging funding through the Accelerator Fund is critical and I’m excited to make use of my international experience in urban policy change and grant management to create an impact with Built by Nature.”
Julien Vincelot
Julien studied Political Science with a major in Economics from SciencesPo’s Europe-Asia Programme, through which he also completed a year as an exchange student at Tsinghua University’s Chinese Language and Literature and Architecture Departments in Beijing. He also obtained a dual Master of Science with distinction in Urban Policy from SciencePo, Paris’ Urban School and the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Geography Department.
Throughout his studies, Julien interned at the Institute of Urbanology in Mumbai, Sinapolis’ urban research agency in Beijing, and Mexico City’s Urban Innovation Lab. Since completing his higher education, Julien has remained involved in research through work and his position as a research fellow at the Centre for Conscious Design and has been published in Cities & Health and Landscape Architecture Frontiers, among others.