Biographies
Naysan Adlparvar
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Following an undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology at Durham University Naysan Adlparvar studied an MSc in Applied Development Studies at Reading University. He worked in 2005 in Lucknow, India - supported by a TAAF award - developing agriculturally-focussed curriculum for primary schools - with a number of small NGOs - before moving to Afghanistan to work with the Rasa Advocacy and Skill-building Agency (RASA) a gender-focussed Afghan NGO. From 2006 to 2007 with RASA he undertook a series of consultancies with NGOs, the University of Cambridge and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). From 2007 to 2008 he worked with the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) as the Team Leader of the Afghanistan Pilot Participatory Poverty Assessment (APPPA). He is currently a DPhil candidate studying Power, Participation and Social Change at IDS, University of Sussex. |
Antony Ellman (Chairman)
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Antony Ellman is a tropical agriculturalist trained in agriculture and social anthropology. He has some 40 years experience of small farmer development schemes in Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and many other countries of Africa, Asia, South Pacific, Caribbean and Central America. He has worked for FAO, UNHCR, DFID, NRI, CDC, Commonwealth Secretariat, Tanzania Government, Oxfam and several other NGOs. He was agricultural adviser to Sir Bob Geldof following the Band Aid/Live Aid concerts. In 1990 he served on a TAA committee investigating future prospects for UK tropical agriculturalists. Since 1996 he has been a freelance consultant working mainly on access of small farmers to fair trade markets |
Daniella Hawkins
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After an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Durham University (2000) and working in PR consultancy, Daniella did an MA in Environment and Development from Kings College London (2004). She has a variety of fieldwork experience gained in Zambia: working as a biodiversity research assistant in Kafue National Park, carrying out a feasibility study into setting up a community based tourism project outside Kasanka National Park, and receiving a TAAF award in support of a year spent setting up a beekeeping cooperative with a small local NGO in the Copperbelt. She has worked for the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), City University, and currently works for a grant-making charitable foundation in London. |
Margaret Pasquini (Finance Committee)
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Having gained a BSc in Ecology at the University of York (1999), Margaret Pasquini went on to do a PhD in Geography at the University of Durham (completed in 2002). She was a recipient of a TAAF award in 2000 which supported her fieldwork in Nigeria investigating the use and impacts of urban waste ash as a fertiliser in urban agriculture. She has a keen interest for topics which lie at the interface between agriculture and environment, and her research integrates methodologies from both natural and the social sciences. More recently her work has focused on the promotion, cultivation and conservation of indigenous vegetables, particularly in urban agricultural systems, in sub-Saharan Africa. She is currently working as a research officer at CAZS Natural Resources, Bangor University. |
Laurence Sewell
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Laurence Sewell has over thirty years experience in international development. He has worked in project management and natural resources planning (including land use planning and participatory rural appraisal techniques for environmental management and resource assessment) in Africa and South Asia; as a strategic planner and institutional development advisor in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Near East; and has wide experience in advising on development in post-conflict situations. He has particular expertise in designing monitoring systems and in the conduct of evaluation studies for bilateral and multilateral donors |
Jim Watson (Secretary)
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Jim Watson is an independent consultant in Tropical Agriculture (with 40 years experience) specialising in cotton, oilseeds and general crops research. He has worked mainly in Africa and Asia spending 16 years in Tanzania and Swaziland on cotton breeding and agronomy, followed by three years in Indonesia and Thailand on crop development. Since the 1980s he has mainly been involved in short term consultancy on tropical agronomy, working for companies and international agencies in more than 30 countries. |
Jane Wilkinson
Jane is Course Director for a Masters programme in Leadership for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Charity, Forum for the Future. She is also a Sustainability Adviser, working in partnership with public sector organisations in the UK. Recent work has included running a capacity building programme for international sustainable development partnerships, (set up as a result of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002). She has 20 years experience of managing training, 10 of which were with VSO as Head of Training and Training Advisor. She has experience of working in Thailand, the Solomon Islands and on projects in Bosnia and Tanzania. Until recently she was on the board of Bristol University Careers Service.
Jonathan Stern
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After studying Economics and Politics at Edinburgh University, Jonathan gained a TAAF award in 2008 to work with the Small Producers’
Association of Talamanca in Costa Rica where he gained experience as abusiness advisor and financial analyst. Following this he acquired further work as a consultant for small producer cooperatives and associations in Panama and Belize in sustainable agriculture and forestry initiatives. Jonathan currently works as a climate change policy analyst with the Committee on Climate Change in London. |