Meet the mentors

With over 12 years of experience building up renewable energy companies into large, scalable businesses across Africa, Europe, and South East Asia, George is working to revolutionise the way we think about climate resilience by creating sustainable and equitable solutions that empower individuals and communities worldwide.

Milly is a chartered civil engineer working in the water sector and cities, with experience ranging from flood risk management projects, master-planning projects, Sustainable Urban Drainage, Water and Sewerage Company asset management and development, and humanitarian projects. Milly is currently interested in regenerative design in an urban environment, adaptation planning and operational resilience.

Chris is a mechanical engineer working for a building services consultancy, mainly on heritage and renewables projects. Chris first got involved with Engineers Without Borders at University, after which he worked in energy access abroad for a short time, then returned to work in bioenergy here in the UK, before shifting into building services. Since 2020, Chris has supported many Engineers Without Borders UK design challenges, either as a reviewer, mentor, or judge.

Ruvan has spent the last 15 years working for scaleup plant-based food companies focused on improving nutrition in a sustainable way. He has worked in various roles within Innocent Drinks, Graze & Infarm, designing and implementing new processes and launching new products, as well as managing day-to-day operations. In his current role as COO of Huel, Ruvan leads the global supply chain, food safety and manufacturing teams, with a major project being the set-up of their first in-house factory.

Formerly a chemical engineer, Linn is now working within sustainable development, climate change adaptation and inclusive infrastructure for underserved neighbourhoods in Kenya and the US with the Kounkuey Design Initiative. She holds a Masters in Engineering from Edinburgh University and a Masters in Science from KTH Stockholm.

Joachim is a trained project manager and civil engineer with a focus on wastewater engineering. He is passionate about collaborative problem-solving and has been active in various engineering-related NGOs since 2014, both in Germany and in the USA. Concurrent to his role at EWB International where he helps the national EWB organisations get to know each other better and learn from one another, Joachim is a project manager in the German infrastructure construction industry. He is based in Berlin, Germany.

Andres is a passionate and value-driven social entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience in marketing & sales and international development. He started his career in Toronto, Canada in experiential marketing and later transitioned into tech sales with Oracle and Salesforce. After returning to Peru in 2012, he co-founded EcoSwell. He leads the organisation’s marketing strategy and digital systems, renewable energy projects and legal/administrative compliance. His natural ability to connect with people has also been instrumental in the organisation’s strong community and corporate relations. 

Isha is a Senior Associate at Third Derivative (D3), the world’s largest accelerator for climate solutions, where she leads investment research and due diligence for engineering-driven technology startups. Prior to D3, she spent nearly three years with Rocky Mountain Institute’s India Program, where she led thought leadership on climate finance and advisory to Indian states on climate incentive policies. Isha holds an MEng in Civil Engineering from University College London, during which she published research on bioenergy in Brazil and was President of one of the UK’s largest Engineers Without Borders chapters.

With over 15 years experience as a structural engineer, Bryce’s career has included work in high seismic performance, sensitive architecture, rooftop solar, and disaster response and preparedness contexts. Bryce served as an earthquake and resiliency specialist in Nepal supported by UNESCO, as well as for Project Frog, a company building resilient componentised building kits for earthquake-prone areas.

After more than 25 years as a Chartered Engineer working in senior business, commercial and technical management roles for large multinational companies such as Siemens, Rick founded his own company, Riverfresh, over 10 years ago. Rick sits on various early-stage technology investment boards and was an honorary industrial fellow at the University of Bristol.

Sean is a project manager on the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge and has been supporting hundreds of students over the last 3-4 years to design holistic solar off-grid appliance projects. Previously, he briefly worked with the United Nations Office for the High Commission on Human Rights as part of their Climate Change team. He finished his MSc in Climate Change, Development, and Policy at the Institute of Development Studies in the University of Sussex in 2019. He also holds a BA in International Relations with studies in Human Rights from the University Sussex and is soon to graduate from UAL with an MA in Fine Art.

Amy Bloom is a waste sector technical engineer with consultancy experience and technical understanding across industrial, commercial and municipal waste and environmental services. She is excited by research, development and implementation of innovative technologies and solutions to current materials and systems as we strive towards a circular economy and zero-waste world. Amy is currently employed as a chemical engineer supporting UK engineering operations at SUEZ, including anaerobic digestion, energy from waste and new technologies.

With a background in mechanical engineering, Luke has spent the majority of his career working to shape engineering and engineers towards a more globally responsible outlook. He has worked with Engineers Without Borders UK to grow their university programmes, and more recently with the Royal Academy of Engineering to foster a global community of engineering entrepreneurs who are working on solutions to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In 2022, Luke co-founded an e-commerce business focused on providing low-cost, highly efficient heated clothes with the goal to reduce domestic energy prices.

Akaraseth is an DPhil Candidate at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research aims to understand and quantify the fiscal implications of climate risks to critical infrastructure. Alongside his research, Akaraseth is a Research Affiliate at the University of Cambridge. He is also a Trustee at Engineers Without Borders UK and a member of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Environment Programme (UNEP), Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Human Rights (UN OHCHR) Youth Advisory Group on Climate Justice in the Asia-Pacific.

Since joining Expedition Engineering in 2015, Hazel has worked on a diverse range of projects, from large infrastructure schemes such as HS2 to innovative footbridges. She was part of the team that achieved significant cost and carbon savings on the HS2 Old Oak Common Station roof and has also been involved in several studies looking to improve productivity on infrastructure projects.

Hazel enjoys working as part of a collaborative team and is committed to developing innovative design solutions that bring together form and function and have a positive impact on society. She was a key member of the team working on the AVA Footbridge, which uses modern methods of manufacture to transform the way Network Rail procure, manufacture, and install footbridges.

Noah works as an Associate for Expedition Engineering. Passionate about sustainability and communities, he started his career at Arup as a Civil/Structural Engineer before a spending several years in the non-profit sector managing a refugee charity and building retreat centres. His engineering experience includes heritage projects, nonlinear FE analysis, structural dynamics and international development work in West Africa and India.

Henry is a structural engineer at Expedition Engineering. With a background in bridges, he has worked on megaprojects, long viaducts and smaller, bespoke steel and FRP footbridges. More recently he has worked on various regenerative schemes, strengthening  & decarbonising infrastructure and refurbishing foundations.

With a background in mechanical and manufacturing engineering, Elizabeth has been working in the Engineering for Sustainable Development sector since 2020. After spending a couple of years working in climate tech start-ups (primarily biochar production), she is now working with Engineering for Change, ensuring the successful delivery and development of the Impact Projects programme, which involves overseeing multi-disciplinary research and design projects within the ESD space.