Dr Tom Payne
BA, MA, PhD,
PGCE PcET,
FRSA, SFHEA.
Sheffield. UK.
Dr. Tom Payne is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA (Hons) Acting and Performance at Sheffield Hallam University, and Director of Moot Works, a creative studio focused on climate, place, and participatory performance. His work explores how performance can function as civic infrastructure — enabling public dialogue, cultural memory, and inclusive environmental engagement.
Tom leads Ark, an award-nominated framework for co-creation, climate literacy, and site-specific performance, developed in partnership with museums, theatres, civic institutions, and community groups — including National Theatre Wales, Sheffield Theatres, and the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission. He also directs Storm-Cloud, an interdisciplinary research strand investigating ecological grief, atmosphere, and the sensory aesthetics of climate anxiety, with partners including Space Hub Yorkshire, Sheffield Museums, and the Guild of St George.
As Co-Founder of the performance collective Doppelgangster, Tom has co-authored over 25 international works that combine satire and hybrid form to interrogate ecological crisis and global systems. These have been presented in theatres, public spaces, digital platforms, and unconventional sites — from Paris’s Grand Palais to the vaults beneath Waterloo Station. Doppelgangster has collaborated with Cape Farewell (ArtCOP21), Chapter Arts, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, and MKA: Theatre of New Writing (Australia), and was selected as the keynote performance at the Standing Conference of University Drama Departments (now DramaHE).
Tom is a Director of the internationally renowned company Forced Entertainment, where he also serves as Environment Champion, supporting low-carbon touring, sustainability strategy, and sector-wide advocacy.
He holds a practice-based PhD from Aberystwyth University and completed postdoctoral research with the AHRC-funded Towards Hydrocitizenship project. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), and a panel member for the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement in Dance, Drama and Performance.
His research and practice advance performance as a tool for civic resilience, interdisciplinary collaboration, and climate justice.
Dr Tom Payne is a UK-based performance maker and researcher working across civic engagement, climate justice, and site-responsive practice. He is Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and Director of Moot Works.