Virginia Newton-Lewis

Senior Policy Analyst, Water Security at WaterAid

Virginia Newton-Lewis is the Senior Policy Analyst for Water Security in WaterAid’s Global Policy Team. Prior to joining WaterAid Virginia was a Water Policy Analyst at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations working on food security, irrigation modernisation and water resources.

Virginia has also worked on flood risk management, sewerage, and the environmental accounting of water resources. She holds a PhD from the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford and an MSci in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Ian Bamford

Commercial Director in Centre for Industrial Sustainability at University of Cambridge

Ian has over 35 years of industry experience and has worked at a senior level in multinational companies such as Dell, Philips and Groupe Bull, as well as setting up and running small and mid-sized technology and consulting businesses in the USA and the UK. At Cambridge University, he was a Founding Director of the Centre for Industrial Sustainability and is instrumental in ensuring that leading edge research created can be effectively deployed to transform business performance to meet the sustainable needs of the future.

Paul Fishpool

Commercial Agriculture Manager, ABF Sugar

Paul is an experienced agriculture manager with over 20 years’ experience in the sugar industry; and has spent his professional career working alongside and in support of sugar beet farmers. He has held a variety of roles from crop production, to agriculture operations and logistics management; and has worked in factories across the UK and in China. He has spent time studying how to maximise efficiency of the UK sugar beet supply chain and is a Nuffield Farming Scholar.

Bruce Lankford

Professor of Water and Irrigation Policy, School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK

Bruce has over 35 years’ academic, practical and consultancy experience in agriculture, irrigation and water management, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a co-founder of the UEA Water Security Research Centre, and during his career has also worked for two major organisations – the Commonwealth Development Corporation and Hunting Technical Services Ltd (now DAI). His interests cover irrigation management; large-scale irrigation systems; the use of role-playing games in resource management; resource use efficiency; river basin management; and water allocation.

Steve Evans

Director of Research in Industrial Strategy at University of Cambridge

Steve has over 20 years of academic experience which includes working with leading industrial and academic institutions from around the globe and supervising over 120 PhD and MSc students at Cranfield University. His research seeks a deep understanding of how industry develop solutions that move us towards a sustainable future. He has led or co-led the first UK Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) projects in the fields of Concurrent Engineering, Co-development and Eco-design and is the Director of the new EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability; as well as the Director of the Centre of Industrial Sustainability at the IfM.

Jim McClelland MA

Sustainable Futurist & Founder of SustMeme

Jim is a sustainable futurist with extensive experience in media and events and is ranked among Top three media influencers in Sustainability worldwide. As a journalist and media commentator, he has had work featured in supplements for The Times and Sunday Times newspapers, specialising in sustainability matters and writing on topics ranging from ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Business Risk’ to ‘Food & Agriculture’ plus the ‘Future of Water’. Also, the founder of the SustMeme publishing house and media brand, he has created content for the likes of Guardian Sustainable Business, Business Reporter (The Daily Telegraph), and many more titles as well as high street retailers and global clothing brands, utilities and real estate firms.
 

Matthew Trinder

Group Transport Excellence Manager, Illovo Sugar Africa

Matthew is an experienced logistics manager with over 12 years’ experience in the FMCG industry; and has spent his professional career working with multiple FMCG businesses to deliver world class customer service in a cost-effective manner. He has held a variety of roles from Route to Consumer specialist, market expansion and logistics management; and has worked in businesses across South Africa, Africa and the UK. He has spent time studying how the logistics supply chain can aid the sales offering to end customer so that it delivers competitive advantage and he is a Millennial Board Member of the Illovo Sugar Africa group. Personally, and professionally, he is passionate about sustainability and has worked on a number of sustainable development initiatives to lower the carbon footprint of industry and households.

Darran Boote

Group Agricultural Engineer, Illovo Sugar Africa

Darran has nearly 10 years’ experience within the African sugar cane industry in a range of agricultural engineering and research roles. His professional career started at the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) focusing on energy use and carbon footprint of sugar cane production systems. During this time, he completed an MSc (Eng) in agricultural energy use. Other roles have included working for a consulting company specialising in sugar cane estate planning and design, as well as irrigation and pump station design. Since joining Illovo Sugar Africa, Darran’s focus is providing technical support to the Irrigation Services Team across all sites.