Simon McDonagh

Communications and Creative Manager

he/him | Based in the Netherlands | Joined in 2019

• LinkedIn

Simon is a designer and ecologist who leads how the work at Asylum Access is shared with our supporters and the wider public. He enjoys the challenge of translating and visualizing the complex aspects of our work into something that everyone can understand and get on board with. He is motivated by the tenacity of the rest of the Asylum Access team and our collective dedication to bettering how we as a society respond to forced displacement. 

Before joining the team, Simon lived and worked in Japan for four years. There, he helped one of Japan’s largest homegrown NGOs, Ashinaga, to internationalize their brand and establish an international fellowship program for young African leaders. 

Simon holds a BA in Human Sciences from Oxford University and a Diploma in Editorial Design and Digital Publications from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is currently studying for an MSc in Forest and Nature Conservation at Wageningen University and Research.

Simon is based in the Netherlands and, in his free time, enjoys learning languages and cycling through the Dutch forests armed with binoculars and a camera to observe local wildlife.

Narrative matters, which is why I deeply appreciate the time, care, and resources that Asylum Access has dedicated to putting people and equity first in how we talk about forced displacement.

— Simon McDonagh