Meet the Team

Sophie is Manager of Interpretation and Placemaking at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney – encompassing the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah. She has worked in education, interpretation and placemaking for over thirty years in cultural and scientific organisations including the Powerhouse Museum and Taronga Conservation Society.

For Sophie, the collaborative and creative process of design and development is the most enjoyable part of any project. She loves working with scientists, horticulturists, First Nations communities, artists and other collaborators to create engaging and transformative experiences; deepening garden visitors’ emotional connections to plants and the natural environment, and strengthening a shared understanding of our place in the world. 

A storyteller at heart, Scott has developed several award-winning experiences and knows the importance of the initial experience brief. It can be the hardest part of experience design, and it’s the most important! An inspiring and well-articulated brief provides a launchpad for creative and inspired design.

Scott’s deep dive into experience design began over 35 years ago. Today he’s still driven by his passion for visitor experiences and thrives on helping organisations engage their community through designing meaningful, engaging and memorable experiences, anchored to purpose. In recent years, Scott has gained extensive experience in creating engaging and effective experiences that facilitate environmentally friendly behaviours using Community-based Social Marketing tools. 

As the programs manager for Coffs Harbour Libraries, Claire designs programs that respond to the social, literary, and cultural needs of the local community. Previously, she has collaborated on exhibition development and strategic planning with a range of organisations, including the National Wool Museum and the CLAN Association, and spent several years working in schools in sport and outdoor education. Claire holds a Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, a Master of World Heritage, and an Honours degree in Interior Architecture.

Claire’s love for interpretation began with a childhood visit to Port Arthur, where she discovered that learning could be dynamic, fun, and take place outside classroom. This spark grew through her love of slow travel and experience design, ultimately drawing her to cultural services. These experiences continue to inspire her work in creating story-driven experiences that foster connections between culture, community, and place.