Trustees

Lin has many years’ experience working in the private sector; starting off in media (magazine and press) she developed a variety of skills in understanding people and deadlines. From here she moved to the marine industry, working at senior management level firstly for a UK company and thereafter for 16 years with Dutch International Company.

Lin is Vice Chair of Essex Wildlife Trust. She is also a former Chair of the Essex Wildlife Trust Local Group and Advisor to the Diocese of Chelmsford on Wildlife Conservation in Churchyards. In 2000, Lin was awarded a Millennium Fellowship for a project concerned with the local community. She became Chair of Trustees for the Froglife Trust in 2004.

Roger has taught Zoology at the University of Glasgow since 1970 and, though he formally retired in 2010, he continues with some of his research and teaching interests.

Roger began his life in Science as a developmental biologist but soon broadened his interests to include life histories, ecological aspects of development and wildlife conservation. Under-graduate and later to Iceland as a junior member of staff, but his life changed as a result Roger has undertaken a long series of research visits to Trinidad and Tobago to study amphibians and marine turtles, usually accompanied by undergraduates and often postgraduates too. Roger has also contributed to marine turtle and amphibian work in Cyprus.

Roger served for many years as Secretary to the Board of Management at Friends of the Earth Scotland and has served as Vice President and President of Glasgow Natural History Society, and is Chair of the Clyde Amphibian and Reptile Group (CARG).

Frank spent ten years in the RAF, followed by three years in Singapore, before leaving to work for a major fork lift truck manufacturer. He spent the remainder of his working life in engineering sales.

Frank’s interest in wildlife developed when he retired and moved to a mountain village in Northern Italy, standing on the top of a mountain and looking down on golden eagles soaring below.

Frank is a volunteer Custody Visitor with the Cambridgeshire Police Authority. Frank is an active volunteer on Hampton Nature Reserve, managed by Froglife, undertaking almost daily inspections.

Inez spent 18 years in financial services, with experience of process engineering, operational management, relationship management, project management and sales.  This was followed by working at Peterborough Youth Offending Service as a Project Manager before moving to Froglife to set up the Peterborough Environment Enrichment Project (now called FACT). 

Inez left Froglife in 2007 to become Development Director at YMCA Cambridgeshire, and is currently Deputy CEO for Peterborough Council for Voluntary Services (PCVS).  Inez formerly volunteered on Hampton Nature Reserve, managed by Froglife.

Richard Donoyou qualified as a building surveyor, specialising in historic buildings. His career focussed on the built environment but in his spare time he has always been a keen amateur naturalist. He was a founder member of the Peterborough Wildlife Group, which subsequently became part of the Wildlife Trust. Richard is a former CEO for Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT)

In 1990 Richard set up his own consultancy and has completed projects as diverse as preparing the sustainability appraisal of the Regional Economic Strategy and EEDA Corporate Plan, leading the design of a new bridge across the River Cam in Cambridge and teaching historic building methods to adults and young people.

Phil Wheeler is a conservation biologist and Senior Lecturer in Ecology at the Open University. He has carried out research on a wide range of species and ecosystems from hares in British farmland and moorland to the dynamics of the tropical forests of South East Asia. Although most of Phil’s work in the UK has been with mammals, more recently he has supervised research projects on amphibians and reptiles, including partnering with Froglife since 2013 on studies of Great Crested Newts.

Phil has been teaching people about the environment since he was at school, first working as a volunteer and later employed with education charities in inner-city Manchester and since 2003 as a university lecturer at the University of Hull’s Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences and from 2015 at The Open University.

Gordon is a zoologist and teacher. With an additional background as an artist, puppeteer and dancer, he now combines scientific and expressive fields to offer challenging and exciting workshops.

As “Creeping Toad” he works with a blend of art, science and straightforward celebrations. Gordon says “I work on the principle that we live in a world worthy of celebration and most of my work these days revolves around that idea. So I work with groups to find ways of exploring and experiencing the places where they live, work and play”

Gordon brings to Froglife this mix of zoology, education and art with 30 years of experience of ways of engaging groups with issues, places and wildlife. That has included fund-raising, community project management and writing for publication.

Silviu joined Froglife in 2011 to take up the new post of Conservation Coordinator. Silviu has always been interested in reptiles and amphibians and has worked as a herpetologist on several research projects, primarily in Romania, Honduras and Indonesia.

Silviu is a fully qualified vet and holds an MSc in Taxonomy and Biodiversity Conservation from the University of Bucharest. In 2007 he moved to the UK to start a PhD in animal ecology at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Hull. The focus of his research was the landscape ecology of brown hares and rabbits in grasslands. This was followed by a People’s Trust for Endangered Species postdoctoral contract investigating the impact of biomass energy crops on farmland biodiversity, using brown hares as a model species. 

At the end of 2016, Silviu left Froglife to become a Research Associate for Conservation Evidence at The University of Cambridge but from the beginning of 2017 has become a trustee on our board.