About us

Let's

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Hello there! Great to meet you

In a few words, we want teachers to have the best quality material at their fingertips, while promoting stories from communities from all around the world. Will you join us? 

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filiming Touchable Earth in Kenya

Real People

Touchable Earth was founded in 2012 by New Zealand cousins Tudor Clee and Tom Clarkson. The primary goal of creating Touchable Earth is to promote tolerance in gender, culture, and identity.

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a classroom in rural Mongolia

Teachers First

We created the first app where kids teach kids about the world. The four pillars of Touchable Earth are:

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Taught by kids
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Aged 8-11 years old
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An equal representation of girls
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Inclusive of all identities
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little girl showing us her family and bedroom in Brazil

Global look! 

Touchable Earth increases what children know about the world. More importantly it improves how they understand it. The program develops critical thinking skills essential for a lifetime of learning.

Normalizing diversity: The definition of ‘diversity’ is challenged and presented as a part of ‘us’ rather than ‘them’. Children learn to value a message based on it’s merits not the identity of the presenter.

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Timeline

From our inception to now... Touchable Earth took a lot of twists and turns to becoming a web-app that can be used by teachers around the world in and out of the classroom! 

2011
Inception of Touchable Earth - one simple question in mind...

What if every child could open a book and see what life is like for other children around the world... what would they say to each other? 
Tudor flming in South Africa
2018
United Nations Award for promoting Global Citizenship Education in line with 4.7 Sustainable Development Goals
a child in Mongolia playing a traditional instrument
2020
Teacher interviews and web application development.

A huge surge in traffic with classrooms embrassing the digital age... Teachers asking for better tools! 
girl in Iraqi Kurdistan
2024
Team of learning designers, developers and teachers comes togethter to create an integrated solution for the modern classroom! 
view of the web app today!
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Touchable Earth is a non-profit providing resources to over 100,000 teachers and students around the world.

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Our team

Nick Yeung
Software Developer
Heather Swift Hunt
Nick Yeung
Software Developer

I like creating things and coding allows me to see the app come to life as I code into the machine! I came from a wide ranging career, started off as business development specialist at Ubisoft to coordinating marketing events throughout China for international brands, and even partaking in a comedy cultural experience with a youtube channel in China “Mamahuhu”

Lily Judge
Learning Designer
Heather Swift Hunt
Lily Judge
Learning Designer

Lily is an educator who is passionate about global experiences and connections. She’s taught and travelled in different countries around the world and wants to share these opportunities with others. As an educator she’s excited about the opportunity to create an engaging app made by teachers for teachers!

Karina Mirkhaidarova
Learning Designer
Heather Swift Hunt
Karina Mirkhaidarova
Learning Designer

I’m a human-centric learning enthusiast who loves to create and curate engaging peer-to-peer content. I worked in corporate education, ESL teaching and impact business accelerators in several countries and now enjoy sunny Lisbon. Passionate about all things global, I believe in the power of the internet to connect people across the planet and I'm super happy to contribute to Touchable Earth’s journey towards just that.

Giota Kalogirou
Director
Heather Swift Hunt
Giota Kalogirou
Director

Blending my love for travel, education, and science, I am creating an education technology app that inspires children to explore, learn, and grow - while helping teachers thrive in the modern flipped classroom. science geek (BSc Hons Pharmacology) turned digital content strategist, I am a curious generalist who will find something new to learn from anyone. In 2021, I took on the most important role... motherhood. Traveling to over 35 countries with my baby I documented all the lessons learned on YouTube (@everycountrybaby) - including a 2-month-long trip crossing the length of Europe with nothing but a baby, a backpack, and a whole lot of enthusiasm. Whether traveling to remote islands off the coast of Nicaragua, or to tiny villages at the edge of the Arctic Circle I learned that motherhood (and all its beautiful challenges) is an incredible glue that binds humanity together. Goals: reach every indigenous community in the world for Touchable Earth, the first web application for kids where they learn directly from kids their own age.

Mac Beamish
Software Developer
Heather Swift Hunt
Mac Beamish
Software Developer

Mac is a dynamic young developer who loves to solve new and exciting problems. He is an adventure and travel enthusiast with a background in outdoor education, instruction, and guiding. He grew up in New Zealand, but home now is wherever the WiFi connects. His adventures gave him a deep appreciation of natural environments and he is passionate about protecting and restoring natural landscapes. He believes that transforming the way people relate to each other and see the world we all share, is a key step towards regrowing a global culture of planetary stewardship.

Ed Gragert
Senior Advisor
Heather Swift Hunt
Ed Gragert
Senior Advisor

Based in New York and Washington DC Ed has assisted Touchable Earth since day one. He provides leadership in content development and partnerships globally. Ed served as the Director of iEARN for over 20 years. Under the motto 'learning with the world not just about it' he lead the expansion from 2 to 140 participating countries. This created the largest primary and secondary educational on-line network in the world.

Tudor Clee
Founder and Producer
Heather Swift Hunt
Tudor Clee
Founder and Producer

Tudor is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and fashion designer. Tudor founded Touchable Earth to share his positive experiences traveling the world in over 180 countries. Tudor is interested in international development particularly around gender equality.

Dima Dodon
Product Designer
Heather Swift Hunt
Dima Dodon
Product Designer

Hi, I'm Dima. I'm a product designer with 12 years of experience. I've got a proven track record in both graphic design and product design, and I'm really passionate about creating suitable, simple and proven solutions in order to adapt the desires of companу to the needs of users. I believe in the power of user-centered design and I'm always looking for new challenges.

David Yu
Brand Manager
Heather Swift Hunt
David Yu
Brand Manager

David is an Auckland based company director with 20 years experience in the retail industry. David is the winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2023, and ranked #12 in Deloitte’s Fast 50 Company rankings. David holds interests in numerous e-commerce and gaming projects internationally. His latest venture VeVe has revolutionised the digital collectibes space.

Meabh Walsh
Media Producer
Heather Swift Hunt
Meabh Walsh
Media Producer

Coming from an educational background in Media, I am the media generalist of the team, working on the social media and the learning design team. I have a wide range of skills and love learning more wherever I can. I grew up in Ireland and have always been passionate about fostering a sense of global community through media and storytelling, believing in the power of connection and shared experiences.

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Touchable Earth is the first app where kids teach kids about the world. Taught entirely by school age children in short videos, Touchable Earth promotes tolerance for gender, culture, and identity.

Journey to the world...

Discover lessons, original videos, activities, games and resources to engage every student!

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