Operation Wallacea
Wallace House
Old Bolingbroke
Lincolnshire
PE23 4EX
England

Tel: +44 1790 763194
Fax: +44 1790 763825

Email: info@opwall.com

Opwall HQ - Alex Tozer

Dr. Tim Coles founded Operation Wallacea in 1995, and the Operation Wallacea Trust (Charity no. 1078362) in 1998.  In doing so he designed and ran a series of projects that have not only resulted in the levering of over $2 million of funding for tropical conservation practices, but have also established protected areas and national parks, discovered over 30 new vertebrate species to science (plus many more invertebrate species), and have achieved numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Tim has a PhD in fisheries management and over 13 years of experience in biological assessment in the UK water industry and National Rivers Authority.  In 1990 he established both IEMA (the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) and EARA (the Environmental Auditors Registration Association). IEMA now has over 12,500 individual and corporate members based in 87 countries, and is a leading international membership-based organisation dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development, and to the professional development of individuals employed in the environmental sector.  EARA has now evolved into the IEMA Environmental Auditors Register, which has over 1,650 auditors listed in over 50 countries worldwide.

Tim and Operation Wallacea have received numerous awards for their work in the environment sector, including an RSA Better Environment for Industry Award, an EC Environment Award, the Best New Tourism Project Award from the Guild of British Travel Writers, and the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award for Best Project in a National Park.

Pippa started working with Operation Wallacea back in 1998 when we only operated in Indonesia. Now many years on, having travelled to Indonesia, South Africa, Mozambique, Cuba and Honduras, she heads up our sales and marketing teams.  Having overseen the growth of Operation Wallacea from a company taking 15 volunteers on a trip to Indonesia to an organisation that now takes over 1500 individuals abroad every year, Pippa was recently appointed Director of Sales and Marketing and is responsible for all school and volunteer recruitment and management.  When on expedition she misses her guinea pigs Tabitha and Arnold and puppies Oscar and Sam. 

Alex first started working with Operation Wallacea in the summer of 2004, when he volunteered to work in a baking hot office in a dusty Honduran town for 3 months in the name of conservation.  He has been addicted to Opwall ever-since, and is now involved in setting up and running the projects at each site.  He has an MSc (distinction) in Psychology from Nottingham University, has professional qualifications in Occupational Testing and speaks bad South American Spanish with heavy english overtones.

Kathy first became involved with Operation Wallacea in 2001 when she joined the Indonesian expedition as a general volunteer after completing her degree in Biology and Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). She was immediately hooked on jungle living and returned to Indonesia with Opwall the next year to collect data for her MSc project on the Buton macaque. Following her MSc (distinction) in Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool, Kathy ran away to Mexico to conduct her PhD on the social relationships of wild spider monkeys. Upon completion of her PhD also at the University of Liverpool, Kathy returned to LJMU as a lecturer in Animal Behaviour. 

A few months later, Kathy found herself listening to the Opwall presentation at LJMU in the same lecture theatre as in 2001 volunteering to run a howler monkey project at the Opwall field site in Honduras. Less than a year later, Kathy joined the Opwall team on a full time basis to oversee the conservation management and primatology projects in Honduras and to coordinate student research projects across all Opwall field sites. Having lived in the jungle for too long to be accepted back into civilized society, Kathy continues to reside with her monkeys in Mexico

Jake is an experienced field scientist with a masters in Applied Ecology and Conservation from the University of East Anglia, UK. Jake has worked on biodiversity programmes in countries across south-east Asia, Africa and south America. To date, Jake’s primary work has focused on tropical forest ecology, particularly in Guyana, but includes tropical marine ecology also. Jake is interested in the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife, particularly logging, and working with foresters and local communities to reconcile negative effects on biodiversity. Jake believes that working with communities to facilitate alternative livelihoods and increase environmental awareness is key to effective implementation of conservation management. Jake has published several scientific papers, and started working for Operation Wallacea in March 2010.

Pippa Mansell has been involved with Op Wall ever since she undertook her dissertation at the Indonesian marine site in 2004. After graduating from Plymouth with a 1st Class Honours degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography in 2005 she wandered round the world for 4 years working on a number of marine and conservation projects in various countries whilst exploring and generally enjoying herself the rest of the time. Her love of Indonesia took her back to Hoga every year as a member of staff and she has been site manager there since 2007. Pippa is also a director of the local Indonesian NGO, Lembaga Alam Mitra Wakatobi.

2009 brought Pippa back to the UK where for 6 months a year she is based at The University of Essex working as a senior research officer for Dr Dave Smith, head of marine research for Op Wall. Pippa continues coordinating the Indonesian marine site during this time whilst also undertaking her own work as a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow; the rest of the year finds her back in her beloved Indonesia.

A former Royal Marine SteveO has organised and run expeditions to the Tropics for the last 35 years. He has worked on expeditions with Operation Raleigh, Swale Treks, Trekforce, World Challenge as well as many Forces expeditions and special TV and film based expeditions. Steve is based in Jakarta and runs an Expedition Advisory Service for expedition groups going to Indonesia. He has worked with Op Wall since 1996 and has been part of the team that has helped the organisation grow from taking just a small number of volunteers to one destination in Indonesia to the current levels of research activity at 21 sites in 10 countries. SteveO is an invaluable source of advice on expedition management and runs the UK emergency team when the research teams are in the field over the summer or provides support at the field sites.

Alison joined the operations team of Operation Wallacea in 2006. She had a very sweaty trip to Honduras in 2007, where she spent her time between the Cofradia office, Base Camp and Santa Tomas. In 2008 and 2009 she was the main Opwall representative in South Africa. Before joining the team she dreamed of being a primary school teacher and completed her degree at Bishop Grosseteste College in Lincoln. This dream went the way of those she had of being a farm secretary (NCFS at Riseholme College, Lincoln) and also a top notch secretary (RSA Group Certificate at West Anglia College). Her proudest achievement is her three children Charlotte, Jack and Harry.

Gwen joined Operation Wallacea in 2008 and after two summers in the office managed to get out to South Africa this year on an Opwall expedition, where she was our representative in Sodwana Bay and got to complete her PADI Open Water.  After a fantastic summer in the field Gwen has returned enthused and ready to continue her studies in accounts after nearly a decade away from the books.  Before joining the Opwall team, Gwen spent 8 years working for accounts practioners, the first 2 in Uxbridge where she completed her AAT.  In 2006 she completed a charity trek across Cuba, where she managed to raise money by cycling between all the offices of her then employer in 3 counties, covering 200 miles in just 4 days, and motivating colleagues, some she'd never met before, to join her along the way!

After leaving an Archaeology degree Amy decided to use her mathematical ability and is part way through her AAT at Lincoln college. She joined the company in the Autumn of 2009, excited by the prospect of combining her mathematical qualifications with her passion for travel and hopes to add to the places she has already visited, including Cyprus, Greece and America. Highlights so far being behind the scenes at an Archaeological dig in Turkey!

Ellie started working for Operation Wallacea in March 2010. She graduated from Oxford University in 2006 with a Masters in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management. Ellie has a wide range of research interests from the use of ants as bioindicators of land degradation to the effectiveness of trophy hunting as a conservation tool. After catching the travelling bug following a gap year in Australia Ellie has managed to incorporate travel into her university research, and also spent a year working in Tanzania. She travelled along the Trans-Siberian railway route last winter, and in 2010 spent the summer in Indonesia with Operation Wallacea organising and running the Wallacea wildlife training course for schools. Ellie is involved in liaising with academics at various universities over the developing academic collaborations and in ensuring that information about the various Opwall presentations are passed on to students.

Jeni graduated from The University of Nottingham with a Zoology degree in 2006. She then went on to join research projects on baboons in the Western Cape of Africa and elephants in Kwa-Zulu Natal. She also worked for Opwall’s partners, BioMap, in Egypt. In 2008 she decided to go back to uni to study for an MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation, where she finally lead her own research project, investigating lizard population trends in the Seychelles. She graduated with distinction in 2009 and joined the Opwall team in March 2010.In summer 2010 Jeni helped co-ordinate the Amazonian Opwall projects and will be liaising with university students and academics during the 2010 university lecture tour.

Rachel graduated from The University of Sheffield in 2009 with a Masters in Biology. After graduating, she was offered an amazing opportunity to work in the Panama rain forest for 3 months as a lab research assistant for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. This experience reinforced Rachel’s desire to pursue a career in Biology and conservation, and by joining the Operation Wallacea team, she hopes to achieve this ambition. Rachel joined the fundraising team in August 2010 and is looking forward to spending next summer on one of the Opwall expeditions.

Helen graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2005 armed with a degree in Environmental Sciences. After graduating, she returned to UEA to top up her knowledge with a graduate diploma in Ecology. Whilst at UEA, she was presented with the chance to go to Egypt with Opwall in 2009. She went, and has been mildly obsessed with Egypt ever since. She joined Opwall in January 2010 as part of the school sales team. In her free time Helen is attempting to learn Arabic and helped co-ordinate the Opwall Egypt expeditions in 2010. Helen is co-ordinating the schools staff and is the initial contact for schools.

Charlotte graduated from The University of Birmingham in 2007 with a BSc in Zoology of which her dissertation research was collected during the 2006 Honduras expedition. After a successful first season Charlotte returned to assist and finally in 2008 run the small mammal team. Determined to pursue a career in conservation she then studied a Master's in Applied Ecology and Conservation at The University of East Anglia. Following work for other organisations in Ecuador and Vietnam Charlotte has returned to Operation Wallacea to be part of the UK office team.  In 2010 Charlotte co-ordinated the Honduras forest schools programme. Charlotte is helping co-ordinate the CoPE scheme for schools and giving presentations to schools about the various projects and how to prepare for the site.  Charlotte is also involved in drafting the training course material for various sites.

Alastair started working for OPWALL in the Cloud forests of Honduras as part of the Habitat Survey Team before returning to the UK office to work in Schools recruitment. A graduate of Geography and Environmental Management from Northumbria University, he is a dab hand at a wide range of survey techniques from UK Phase One Habitat Surveys and aerial Elephant surveys in the field to estimating population dynamics/behaviour in the lab with a toy shark. As the OPWALL CoPE coordinator he is helping UK 6th Form students to develop the key skills that they need for employment and future study at university.  In 2009 and 2010 Alastair helped co-ordinate the Honduras and Indonesia schools forest programmes respectively.

Charlie gained A levels in Geography, English and Art at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in June 2010. She then began work at Operation Wallacea in August, after visiting projects on the Mkuze Game Reserve and Sodwana Bay in South Africa in the summer of 2008. Here she participated in tracking cheetahs, catching bats, whale watching and sleeping just inches away from hyena. This sparked an interest in African culture and wildlife, which she plans to take further over the period of her gap year (or years!). University will eventually be on the cards, but not before she has travelled the world.