7x7 SEED Talks
Description
Now in its third year, 7x7 is a popular feature event of the Nature Festival, proudly supported by Nature Foundation. Hosted by the engaging Jo Laverty from ABC Radio Adelaide, seven entertaining expert speakers will each present a succinct seven-minute talk connected to the festival’s theme of SEED, with themes dipping into science, arts and culture.
We are serious about the time allowed. It will be a race for those competing to get their story across in the most effective way in just seven minutes. You will have the opportunity to express your response to the speakers via the audience “clapathon” rating scale, with the “winner” gaining bragging rights, and everyone enjoying a fun and fast afternoon activity to kick off the Nature Festival fortnight.
Join us at the rear of the Art Gallery of South Australia, just outside of the Radford Auditorium, from 12:30 pm for a complimentary drink on arrival, with the presentation commencing at 1:00 pm sharp.
We have gathered a diverse speaker line-up and look forward to seeing how they interpret the brief!
Mitchell Livingston – Seed Bank Manager, Trees for Life and one of Nature Festival's 2026 Seed Stewards
Janine Mackintosh – Kangaroo Island-based assemblage artist, conservationist and Nature Foundation member
Quahli Newchurch – A proud Kaurna, Narungga and Kokatha woman working as a Cultural Fire Practitioner and Ecological Monitoring Manager with Kaurna Kardla, Nature Festival 2026 Cultural Ambassador and Seed Steward
Flavio Perez – Adelaide-based musician, horticulturalist, and Capoeira practitioner known for his "Musical Plants"
Jason Tyndall – Nature Play SA CEO, conservation professional, author, poet, illustrator, bush carer, bird watcher and dreamer
Professor Michelle Waycott – Chief Botanist, State Herbarium of South Australia and the H.B.S. Womersley Chair in Systematic Botany at the University of Adelaide Seed Conservation Centre
Final speaker to be announced!
The Nature Festival programs this event in partnership with Nature Foundation.
Lineup
Mitchell Livingston
Mitchell Livingston is the Seed Bank Manager at Trees For Life, where he plays a key role in collecting, preserving and managing native South Australian seed. Passionate about native plants, conservation and the landscapes they call home, Mitchell enjoys the hands-on nature of his work and the opportunity to contribute to the protection and restoration of South Australia’s unique biodiversity. He is particularly inspired by the idea that the seeds collected today can help shape healthier, more resilient landscapes for generations to come. Mitchell is one of the 2026 Nature Festival Seed Stewards.
Janine McIntosh
Janine Mackintosh is an assemblage artist and a caretaker of a large Heritage property on the wild south coast of Kangaroo Island. Her partner Richard Glatz is an entomologist (an insect scientist) and they use art and science to communicate the urgent need to protect and restore our unique native ecological systems. They have bequested their property to the Nature Foundation and work with the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre to grow local threatened plants, including the endangered Kangaroo Island Spider Orchid. Janine’s art practice sprang from the study of the plants on the property. She uses traditional herbarium techniques to distil and draw attention to the details that she finds in the landscape, she sees it as a collaboration with Nature. Materials are identified, collected, pressed, dried, sorted and assembled, by gluing and then stitching them to canvas, they’re then framed behind glass. She sees them as windows onto the natural world, and hopes to ignite a sense of wonder, invite sustained contemplation and inspire conservation.
Quahli Newchurch
Quahli Newchurch is a proud Kaurna, Narungga, Kokatha woman living on Kaurna Yarta. Quahli has a background in environmental management, cultural education and volunteer support services. She currently works as the Integrated Fire and Ecological Monitoring Manager within Kaurna Kardla, a Kaurna environmental management team working to bring cultural fire back to the landscape. Quahli is a member of Warpulai Kumangka, a Kaurna environmental advisory committee to the Green Adelaide Landscape Board, and provides cultural and environmental advice and perspective into various environmental projects within the Kaurna footprint. Quahli is passionate about healing Country and restoring native food systems through traditional land management methods, for the benefit of future generations.
Flavio Perez
Flavio Perez has been a Horticulturist at the Adelaide Botanic Garden for the past 14 years. He is from Argentina. He is a lifelong plant enthusiast with a passion for making and collecting instruments from nature. Flavio also teaches Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian cultural expression that uses traditional instruments made from plant material. Flavio is a percussionist in the bands Sambatuka, Brazil Nuts Orchestra and other drumming ensembles.
Professor Michelle Waycott
Michelle is the Chief Botanist at the State Herbarium of South Australia and is the H.B.S. Womersley Chair in Systematic Botany at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Michelle’s research has a focus on how plants (and animals) have become adapted to survive in relatively extreme environments and the evolutionary implications of their adopted strategies. Michelle is a member of the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, within the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Jason Tyndall
Jason has been integral to Nature Play SA since its inception, driving the nature play movement in South Australia. He has a background in conservation management, community development and education and he is dedicated to fostering relationships between communities and the natural environment to support wellbeing. In 2021 Jason was awarded a certificate of commendation for education and engagement as part of the inaugral Pelzer Prize. Jason is a storyteller, and loves listening to the stories and wisdom of Aboriginal peoples as he connects with Country. He is passionate about conservation, spending time outdoors with his two girls and finding rare and precious plants and animals.
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