EDG Staff

EDG staff consists of two broad, yet complementary, groups.

There is a group of Overseas Consultants, whose expertise is drawn upon, as needed, by EDG on a project-by-project basis. Though not direct employees of EDG, this small cadre of experts has, and continues to be, an essential part of the services and experience that EDG can offer to its clients.

The second group of EDG staff consist of those people who are directly employed by EDG and are based at the Oxford headquarters, whenever they are not seconded to a project outside of the UK.

Head Office Staff

Stephen Cobb BA DPhil (Oxford, 1976) founded The Environment and Development Group in 1990 and is its present Director.

Dr. Cobb is well known for his knowledge of and participation in environmental and wildlife matters and his coordination of conservation efforts. After a period as a lecturer in conservation biology at Nairobi University, he spent 8 years directing multi-disciplinary research teams in environmental projects in Sudan and Mali. Dr. Cobb has since advised the process of policy reform and institutional change in the wildlife sector in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana and Ghana and has sat on the Council of the Zoological Society of London and the International Steering Committee of The Wildlife Conservation Society, of New York. He recently led a team developing plans for the future growth of a major international conservation NGO, which involved wide-ranging consultation and evaluation exercises, which involved missions to South East Asia and Latin America. He also led the team that evaluated the first five years (and $20 million) of a regional programme designed to conserve the Congo Basin rainforest, which involved examination of the attainment of objectives, the management of the budget, and the performance of the twelve US NGOs and government agencies that participated in the programme. He has also provided inputs into establishing the sustainability of the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation.

Julie Gale BA (Oxford) MA (University of East Anglia, 1984), is a socio-economist and experienced project manager.

As EDG's Business Development Manager she is responsible for the design and development of projects and project proposals. She also undertakes the management of EDG's ongoing projects in francophone countries, and is closely involved with the writing and editing of project reports and proposal documents, including formulation of project methodologies and the preparation and management of project work programmes and budgets. She is familiar with the aid funding procedures and Project Cycle Management tools of the major donor agencies, particularly the European Commission, the World Bank and GEF, and with the GEF's operational programmes and funding mechanisms. Julie is an experienced workshop facilitator and trainer of adults and she also holds the Diploma in Translation from the Institute of Linguists.

Brian Hickman HND Computing (Southampton I.E.H., 1986) is a computing consultant with a broad base of experience in PC technology, applications, training, systems analysis and programming with a particular interest in database development.

Brian fills the roles of maintaining and developing the computing resource, supporting users and assisting with technology policy.

Keith Lindsay BSc, MSc (British Columbia) PhD (Cambridge, 1995) is a project manager and environmental biologist with over 30 years' professional experience in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Europe, both in planning, conducting and evaluating field projects and in senior administrative and leadership roles. 

Since joining EDG in 1994, Dr Lindsay has been responsible for the management of projects with a broad range of international donors and geographical coverage, including Africa, Latin America the Caribbean and Asia. He has undertaken a variety of long- and short-term overseas consultancy missions and project work, both independently and with EDG, in the fields of project/programme monitoring and evaluation, institutional analysis, environmental assessment, information systems, protected area monitoring and management and biodiversity research and conservation.  Dr Lindsay is also an Associate Fellow at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute.

Marie Tyne is a full member of The Association of Accounting Technicians and is the Group's administration and finance officer.

She joined The Environment and Development Group in November 2000.  Having previously worked for Cobham Resource Consultants as an Accounts Manager and Office Administrator, she spent the six years prior to joining us as Senior Accountant for Virgo Leisure in Oxford.  Marie is experienced in the preparation and monitoring of detailed project budgets and provides the necessary financial information and administrative backstopping to support project managers and team leaders, ensuring an efficient service to clients.