Blog
Meet the Training Team: Introducing Izi Robe and Mary Collacott
We’re delighted to introduce two new faces in the Verture training team – Izi Robe, our Project Support Officer, and Mary Collacott, our new Training Programme Manager. Together, they bring a brilliant mix of creativity, experience, and people-centred practice that will shape the future of Verture’s training programme.
Below, Izi and Mary introduce themselves in their own words.
Izi Robe (she/her), Project Support Officer
I’m Izi, and I’m supporting lots of Verture’s projects and programmes across the charity, with a particular focus on our Becoming Climate Resilient training.
I’m really looking forward to helping everyone who joins our training feel prepared for a climate-impacted Scotland and confident about what we can do about it. I’m especially excited about making climate adaptation social: creating activities that centre people, fairness, and justice in creative and fun ways.
Before joining Verture, I developed nationally recognised climate change training programmes delivered online for small and medium-sized businesses across Scotland. This focused on helping organisations calculate their carbon footprint in-house and develop practical climate action plans. I love supporting people to break long-term goals into manageable steps and build a strong “business case” for climate resilience through collaboration.
I’ve also spent a lot of time working with teenagers and young adults, which has shaped my strong interest in supporting people with lived experience and those who are marginalised from decision-making. Climate change affects everyone, everywhere – and building a climate-resilient future means making space for all voices.
My goal is to make all training – whether online or in person – engaging, purposeful, and memorable. I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone with a smile and a lot of enthusiasm.
Outside work, I love singing in my community choir. I’m a firm believer that music, creativity, and shared spaces play a powerful role in building the future we want to see. Could a climate-resilient singing workshop be in Verture’s future?
Mary Collacott (she/her), Training Programme Manager
I’m Mary, and I’m thrilled to have joined Verture as Training Programme Manager. Already, Izi and I are brimming with ideas about how we can continue to develop and grow the training programme. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of such a strong, creative, and dynamic team, and I’m excited to bring wider team expertise and experience into everything we build.
Over the next few months, my focus is on strengthening and shaping our training offer. Longer term, my vision is for Verture to be firmly established as Scotland’s leading provider of adaptation training – recognised for innovative, fun, and action-focused learning that leads to real, positive change for organisations and communities. What excites me most is the opportunity to create training that genuinely resonates with people, so they leave feeling confident, capable, and ready to take action.
I’ve worked in sustainability education for over ten years, supporting people to engage with complex, frustrating, and often emotionally challenging topics. I bring a creative, learner-centred approach to ensure that training spaces feel collaborative, supportive, and empowering.
I also have a background in developing participatory and interactive online training – from long-term professional development programmes to one-off hybrid escape rooms. We’ll be exploring more of this innovative digital learning at Verture soon, so do keep an eye out.
My journey into this field grew from a love of outdoor learning and connection to nature, and this continues to shape both my life and my work. I’m deeply interested in how we come to know things in different ways, and in the importance of connection – to place, to people, and to the ‘more-than-human’ world. When I’m not working, you’ll most likely find me out exploring Scotland’s beautiful landscapes or catching up with friends and family over a bowl of soup.
We’re so excited to have Izi and Mary on board and can’t wait to share what they’ll be developing over the coming months. If you’re as curious as we are about what’s next for Verture’s training, stay tuned.
Find out more about our training here: https://verture.org.uk/what-we-do/training/
