Dr Alex Boyd (Cert Ed, PG Dip, PhD, FRSA) has a passion for developing collaborations based on equity, integrity and mutual benefit. He is the conceiver and cofounder of the Embodied Research Working Group at the IFTR from which he cofounded and is Executive Director of Intercultural Roots. He is a practitioner-scholar who graduated from the University of California at Davis PhD programme with a focus on the fields of Performance Studies and Critical Education. Dr Boyd's dissertation entitled ‘The Sustainability of Traditional Knowledge Systems’ draws on what is now 3 decades of professional work in practising, teaching and appreciating Chinese Daoist embodied culture to benefit communities in the UK, Europe and North America. He is a Research Associate with the University of California at Davis (Theatre & Dance) and a Core Member of Cross Pollination. His research explores how performers can cultivate presence and express this, work that has already benefited many internationally acclaimed dancers, musicians, athletes and even CEO’s. Through his consultancy work Boyd has supported many organisations, universities and community groups world-wide, working across a diverse range of interdisciplinary curricula including practice-as-research in the arts, sport, health, social inclusion and business.  Alex is based in Ilkley, Yorkshire (UK) and enjoys playing the guitar (often too loud), wandering up on the moors, and finding quietude with nature.