Ian McChesney is a leading expert in technology assessment and business development for energy systems from sustainable fuels.

After graduating from Imperial College as a Chemical Engineer, Ian volunteered in Ethiopia with the United Nations. He later returned to the UK and worked as a technical advisor for ITIS on projects in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh before returning to the region to lead projects in Sudan. Ian later joined Practical Action (formerly knows as ITDG) as the programme manager for sugar and biomass energy programmes in South Asia and East Africa.

Ian became the Head of Engineering for a major commercial agricultural investment in Indonesia before returning to the UK to found Energy for Sustainable Development, now a leading sustainable energy consultancy with offices in Bulgaria, Kenya, South Africa and China.

More recently, Ian has been driving numerous cogeneration and biomass power projects in the UK, Europe and Africa. He has advised European governments and the UK Carbon Trust on renewable energy strategy, new markets, technologies and processes.

Heather worked as a civil engineer for ten years before joining the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering as a Research Assistant. She is one of the founding members of the department's Centre for Sustainable Development and has been involved in preparation of teaching material for a number of undergraduate and graduate engineering courses.

Heather graduated from Bolton Institute of Higher Education with a degree in civil engineering in 1996, and with an Earth Sciences degree from the Open University in 1997. In 2004 she completed a PhD, entitled "Embedding the Concepts of Sustainable Development into Practical Civil Engineering" after winning the Mott McDonald Charitable Trust PhD Scholarship in 2000.

In 2003 Heather worked for Irish aid agency Concern in Afghanistan, and has also experienced working in Nepal, Albania, South Africa and Mongolia. In 2005 she helped victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia as part of the international relief programme. Heather has previously given seminars at the EWB-UK training course at Clare Farm.

Jo da Silva

Jo da Silva is an Associate Director at Arup, where she has worked since studying engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge University. She has combined a career at Arup, focussed on building design, urban re-generation and sustainable development with active involvement in the humanitarian sector, and leads Arup International Development (AID).

She has been a RedR Member since 1991, and has provided expertise to assist NGOs in post-disaster situations including building refugee camps following the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and as Senior Shelter Co-ordinator for UNHCR in Sri Lanka post-tsunami last year. She is currently working with humanitarian partners on re-construction projects in Aceh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Beirut and Biloxi, Mississippi.

In 1995, da Silva became Chair of RedR (Engineers for Disaster Relief) and subsequently co-founded RedR International. She is currently a Trustee of Engineers without Borders UK, and holds a visiting research post at the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University.

 

Sacha Grodzinski

Sacha Grodzinski studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham, he was a founding member of the Nottingham Branch and was part of the 2005 Project Team in Nepal. Project manager for projects in Nepal and the current year long project with SIBAT in the in the Philippines.

He now works for FKI Plc.

 

Tom Newby

Tom Newby is a founder member of EWB-UK and for the first two years of EWB-UK’s existence was responsible for fundraising and establishing EWB-UK as a registered charity.  He became Chief Executive in 2003 and in 2004 took on the role of Company Secretary and worked with Mark Miller to ensure that EWB-UK built a strong structure, establishing the Board of Trustees and mechanisms to keep EWB-UK’s work in line with its member’s values and the needs of the developing world, including overseeing the re-defining of EWB-UK’s mission and aims.

Tom is heading up a working group examining a large awareness raising event for late 2008. Tom is also actively involved in EWB-UK as a volunteer, providing support to Bath Branch, the fundraising team and EWB-UK’s project in South Africa.

 

Caroline Windsor

Caroline is a chartered accountant. She graduated from Oxford University in 2002 with a master’s degree in Chemistry, after which she taught English in China for 10 month. In 2003 she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor of accounts in the public sector, predominantly for charities and local authorities

On the Board of Trustees Caroline is be working with the National Executive to ensure that EWB-UK’s accounts are transparent and meet with regulatory requirements both now and as EWB-UK’s activities grow to meet the increasing demand for its services.

 

Louise Bloom 

Louise Graduated from a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Cambridge in 2007. Louise first got involved with EWB-UK at the Cambridge branch as Training Co-ordinator in 2004. From 2005-2007 she was an active member of the National Executive for EWB-UK’s Training programme.

Louise now works as a Research Assistant in the Institute for Manufacturing in Cambridge, working with the sustainability group.

 

Chris Foster

Chris is currently taking a Masters in ICT for Development at the Institute for Development Policy Management at Manchester University.

Previously, he completed a degree in Electrical Engineering at Imperial College. He has also worked in IT for five years; in Research and Development at British Telecom, in Educational Technology at the University of Arts and as a freelance software developer.

Chris started volunteering with EWB-UK in 2005, and he has been closely involved in the development and success of the IT systems since then. Most recently, he was the lead developer in the construction of the new EWB-UK website.

 

Rob Cottrell

Rob Cottrell is a final year Mechanical Engineering student at Bristol University. He has been involved with in the Bristol Branch through out his time at University and was president for 2005/2006 academic year.

Rob has been involved with EWB-UK at all levels these include: a variety of roles in the Bristol branch, receiving and EWB-UK bursary to Spain in 2005, leading a research team that submitted a proposal for the Mondialogo Engineering Award and being a member of the EWB-UK strategy task force.

Rob is one of the founding members of PiTAD, a link founded between Bristol University and Cujae (the technical university in Havana, Cuba). PiTAD aims to contribute to achieving global sustainable development by building relationships between universities and serving as a platform to support student activity, academic exchange with developing countries, and incubate technological development for sustainability.