About Us

Alice Millbank is a PhD scientist specialising in cultivated meat bioprocessing, alt protein research writer, amateur mycologist, and the co-founder of Vegan Sisters. With a robust blend of research, industry, and hands-on experience, Alice has channelled her career into advocating for ethical and sustainable food systems.

Her work has garnered international recognition, including appearances on BBC News and publications in a variety of outlets, including The National Geographic, Green Queen, and The Biochemist. When she’s not in the lab or typing away at her keyboard, Alice can be found exploring woodland realms in search of fungi or discovering the best vegan cuisine across the world, which she eagerly shares on her website.

Marlana Malerich is a PhD candidate at University of Sussex Business School focused on the Plant-Based Industry in the U.K. and Europe.

Prior to the PhD, she has worked over ten years at the intersection of food and sustainability, and has served as an adjunct assistant professor, focusing on animal agriculture and the future of protein.

At Rooted Research Collective, Marlana leads strategic parternships, fundraising, and drives the development and implementation of strategic programming and stakeholder engagement.

When she’s not talking about food, Marlana enjoys cooking, gardening, reading science fiction, attending theater, and spending time with her 9-year-old English bulldog, Mugsy.

Lucy is an experienced business owner with a strong track record of successfully managing large-scale projects and maintaining lasting client relationships.

With a passion for ethical business practices, Lucy’s background as an advocate for animal rights drives her commitment to running purpose-led businesses.

Having previously founded a vegan digital marketing agency and launched multiple blogs focused on vegan food, lifestyle, and travel, she combines strategic operational leadership with a deep personal dedication to sustainability and global justice.

A lover of travel, Lucy delights in discovering the world’s best vegan cuisines. Back home, she finds joy in nurturing Percy, her cherished sourdough starter.

Luca Trautmann is a PhD candidate at the University of Sussex, School of Informatics, specializing in uncertainty quantification for machine learning-driven inverse problems in low-field and ultra-low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

He holds MSc degrees in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence & Adaptive Systems. Luca has contributed to diverse research projects across labs in the Netherlands and the UK, exploring topics ranging from human performance and flow states to ecoacoustics, and now focusing on developing clinically relevant uncertainty estimation methods in deep learning models for accelerated MRI.

At Rooted Research Collective, he leads data analysis efforts, leveraging his expertise in machine learning and statistical inference.

Outside academia, Luca is passionate about Japanese cooking and culture, science fiction, and political literature.

Steve Simitzis is a partner and lead at Solvable Syndicate, investing in early stage startups to accelerate transformation of our food system. He brings 25+ years experience in Silicon Valley as a founder, technology leader, and data storyteller. He is also a venture studio builder and mentor at accelerators such as Brinc and Big Idea Ventures.

As a multi-time CTO in diverse markets like social media, healthcare, entertainment, and e-commerce, he entered foodtech to apply his experience as a technologist to his 25+ year mission as a plant-based vegan. Most recently he was CTO/CMO at Wild Earth, where he led digital marketing and built the company’s data science team, and launched Wild Earth’s foodtech incubator Cell Valley Labs as a special project.

When he’s not thinking about the animals in our food system, he’s kept busy with mediating the cat/dog sibling rivalry between the animals in his home.