Sabiha Rumani Malik
FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT
Sabiha Rumani Malik founded The World Bee Project CIC in 2014 to address the intrinsically interlinked challenges of pollination, pollinator, and biodiversity decline, climate change, food insecurity and threats to human well-being and initiate a global perspective to seek long-term solutions to benefit nature and people.
Sabiha Malik’s concepts put nature and people first and are rooted in Eastern philosophical ideas of effective altruism. Sabiha founded ‘Celebrating the Right to Life, Food, and Shelter for Women in Adversity’, a programme she pioneered in 2019 in East Jerusalem, Israel, and which can be implemented in areas where conflict and adversity deny women the right to life, food, and shelter. It has since been established in indigenous communities in Tamil Nadu, India.
Previously, Sabiha founded the UK charity Sanghata Global, where she conceptualised a framework to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in frontier markets and, in 2009, shared her concept with Dean Yuwei Shi at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Monterey, California. In 2011, Sanghata Global collaborated with MIIS and Village Capital to launch the Frontier Market Scouts (FMS) program, an innovative graduate-level social business education programme to train graduates with the skills to provide social start-ups in emerging and frontier markets with essential management expertise and capital investment. The capital investment was generated by Village Capital, of which Sanghata Global was a co-founder. Sabiha was awarded the 2013 Ashoka U Innovation Award, and the ‘Frontier Market Scouts program’ and its alumni expanded to 31 countries across all five continents, empowering hundreds of entrepreneurs in frontier markets worldwide and raising the profile of social impact business education programme models. In early 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FMS program was paused. Sanghata Global and MIIS have decided that in 2024, Sanghata Global will resume the FMS program’s successful run by transitioning it to other institutions.
At its inception in 2007, Sabiha was an associate founder at Singularity University, NASA Ames, California. Before that, Sabiha founded ‘Diamonds for Humanity’ and designed jewellery collections for the 2000 LVMH – De Beers partnership. Prior to that, Sabiha was a strategy adviser, director, and designer at the architecture firm Foster and Partners, where she contributed design concepts for winning entries in international competitions, including the extension to the Joslyn Museum, Omaha, and the re-design of the Reichstag, Berlin.
Amaryllis Knight
Honorary Founding Member, TWBP
Amaryllis is the co-founder of Sanghata Global, a U.K. public charity that focuses on reducing poverty worldwide through entrepreneurship and enterprise development. Honorary Founding Member of The World Bee Project CIC, Amaryllis has created brand strategies and user experiences for multinational companies and has had extensive entrepreneurial success in the technology, media, lifestyle, and impact spaces, having co-founded Falcon Motorcycles, Altai Design, Amco Investment Corp, and numerous award-winning restaurants.
Professor Simon G Potts
Honorary Founding Member, Adviser, Pollination, Ecosystems & Food Security
After its establishment in 2014, Sabiha invited Professor Simon Potts to join The World Bee Project as an honorary founding member advising on pollination and other ecosystem services in support of global food security. A Research Professor at the University of Reading, in 2016 Simon Potts co-chaired the first Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The evidence informed the 2019 IPBES report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Professor Potts’ multiple roles are listed here.
Edgar Mora Altamirano
Expert Adviser Urban Ecosystems
Global Goodwill Ambassador
The World Bee Project
Mayor of Curridabat , Costa Rica, between 2007- 2018, Edgar revolutionised the planning paradigms for the environmental, social and economic development in the city and created the innovative regenerative urban plan named ‘Sweet City’. The approach became an international by-word for innovative, sustainable urban regeneration and won numerous international awards. Edgar lectures at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Technological Institute of Zurich (ETH- Zurich) and the Universidad de Costa Rica.
Andy C Welch
Strategic Advisor
Solutions Engineer & Data Scientist
Andy Welch is a data and analytics specialist, who provides technology and data science support to The World Bee Project CIC. This includes helping to manage the World Hive Network data sets as well as providing analytics support for The World Bee Project’s global research projects. In the UK, Andy leads The World Bee Project’s 3 -year collaborative projects with the University of Reading and Oracle for Research, where we are helping to establish a new standard in optimal management of bee pollination to enable better crop yields whilst also ensuring a healthy and sustainable environment for wild bees and other insects.
Scott Horton
DLA Piper, Legal Advisor
Scott Horton is an attorney and legal academic whose work concentrates on international public and private law, natural resource development and human rights matters. He is Senior Consultant at DLA Piper Law Firm. Scott’s clients have included the governments of Georgia, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Taiwan and South Korea as well as AIG, CBS, EBRD, IFC, Newmont Mining, Shell Oil and the financier George Soros. DLA Piper Law Firm provide legal services pro bono to The World Bee Project.
Dr. Mike Garratt
University of Reading Ecological Intensification and Sustainable Crop Production
Dr. Mike Garratt’s research focusses on invertebrate ecology in the agri-environment and primarily the impacts of farming practice and land management on the ecosystem services of pest control and pollination underpinning crop production. Mike’s specific areas of interest include insect pollination ecology and crop production, ecological intensification of smallholder farming systems, effects of agricultural practices on pests and natural enemies, and trophic influences of soil fertility management in agricultural systems.
Igor Kurdin
Engineer, Innovator
Igor Kurdin is the founder and head of Amohive, an international team of electronic engineers, computer scientists, programmers and business analysts working together since 2015. He is also the owner of IT Consulting, with 25+ years of experience in engineering and management. He has advanced expertise in telecommunications, electronics, software support systems and automation, and innovatively combining classical systems analysis and design methods. The Amohive team has experience in developing complex hardware and software solutions to monitor production processes in various areas.
George Clouston
Remote Monitoring Technology and Precision Apiculture
George has advised The World Bee Project on hive monitoring technology since 2018. With decades of experience in working closely with beekeepers and scientists in Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand in a range of industry sectors, he has a deep understanding of the benefits of hive monitoring for beekeeping, bee research, agriculture and ecosystem management. George was part of the Arnia team responsible for several breakthroughs in the remote monitoring of bees and is now with Bee Hero. He is also a beekeeper with over 10 years’ experience.
Anna MacDonald
Strategic Adviser
Anna is co-founder and joint-principal of London Film Academy, a leading film school committed to innovation, collaboration and continued filmmakers support. She is the executive producer of the films made at and has devised and masterminded special events and educational programmes at film festivals and schools worldwide. Her previous work as a Publishing and Marketing Consultant includes production and publicity of events at the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as embassies in London and New York.
Nikki Hoberman
Strategic Adviser
Nicky Hoberman is an artist. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Nicky has had a number of group and solo exhibitions in the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, and England. In 1996 she was chosen for the 1996 New Contemporaries at Tate Liverpool. She was also included in Saatchi’s “New Neurotic Realism” exhibition in 1998. She participated in group shows in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria and Magasin 3 in Stockholm. Hoberman has also had three solo shows at Feigen Contemporary in New York.
Bálint Szüle MSc.
Hungary
Bálint initiated and leads our project in Hungary, in which the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Technology and Industry are open to cooperation at the national level. He has a Master’s degree in Agribusiness Management from the University of West Hungary and is a PhD candidate at Széchenyi István University. Bálint’s field of research is soil fertility and natural nutrient replenishment. He is currently working as an International Business Relations Manager at the Centre for University-Industry Cooperation at Széchenyi István University
Sergey Petrov
Engineer
Sergey is the founder of Pollenity – a company built to design, develop, and implement innovative technologies and methodologies to advance the global beekeeping sector. He is an engineer and entrepreneur with experience in the biotech and educational industries. His vision for sustainable beekeeping strongly aligns with that of The World Bee Project and he engages in various collaborative projects around the world.
Professor Dave Goulson
University of Sussex
Bumblebee Ecology and Conservation
Professor Goulson sees The World Bee Project as an opportunity to engage people in conservation and science and as a way to create a global data set that benefits science. Professor Goulson and his group study the ecology, behaviour and conservation of bumblebees and the impacts of pesticides on bumblebees at the Goulson Lab, University of Sussex. His popular science books include A Sting in the Tale and its sequel, A Buzz in the Meadow.
Tomás Fiege Vos de Wael
Group Head Sustainability Peterson Control Union, The Netherlands
Tomás Fiege Vos de Wael has been advising The World Bee Project on governance since 2018. Tomás is Group Head Sustainability Peterson Control Union where he advises on environment and governance. Tomás has been engaged with the sustainability sector since 2008. He is co-founder of a venture aimed at sustainably restoring degraded lands and rebuilding ecosystems and livelihoods.
Annette Poyser
Strategic Adviser
United Arab Emirates
Annette has worked in the marketing industry for over 30 years, both on the client side and within agencies. She now works with agencies as Executive Director of BBN Ltd to facilitate collaboration and growth through their BBN partnership. Currently resident in Dubai, UAE, Annette supports The World Bee Project’s strategic marketing efforts on behalf of BBN Ltd. and in her time.
Professor S V S Raju
Banaras Hindu University, Farming and Pollinator Conservation Practices, India
Professor Raju, a leading authority on pollinator entomology and agricultural zoology, is a distinguished researcher who has won numerous honours including, most recently, the “Distinguished Scientist Award 2020” from the Green Agri Professional Society. Professor Raju has published three books and has two more on the way and has published multiple research papers.
Ben Plesser
Strategic Adviser
Public and Media Relations
Ben is an award-winning producer of television news and documentaries who travelled the world for 60 Minutes, CBS News, and NBC News. Over the past two decades, he combined war zones and political hot spots with magazine projects ranging from ambitious investigations to explorations of science and culture. Passionate about investigative journalism and focussed on human rights, conservation and the environment, he has won numerous industry awards, including four Emmys, a Peabody, and most recently, the prestigious 2019 Edward R. Murrow award. In 2019, together with his friend and colleague Mandy Clark, Ben launched ENP Media, where he is the Head of Content.
Dr. Sajiv Anand
All India Crop Biotechnology Association Farming and Pollinator Conservation Practices, India
Experienced in the agribusiness sector, Dr Sajiv Anand is one of India’s most respected advocates for sustainable farming. He developed two major sustainability codes in India in castor (SUCCESS) and tea (trustea) crop and served as a member of the expert committee to develop the plant protection code in tea for the Tea Board of India. He was a member of the expert committee to develop good agricultural practices and guidelines of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, India. Dr. Anand is the founder of FoodPrint, a non-profit which develops responsible farming practices with a focus on pollinator conservation.
Dr. Dhananjay Wakhle
Apiculture, India
With a Ph.D. in study of enzymes in Indian honey, Dr Wakhle has four decades of experience in research and beekeeping training at the Indian government’s Central Bee Research and Training Institute in Pune. He is recognised by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and has worked as National Consultant for beekeeping and honey marketing. Dr Wakhle is Chief Scientist at the VSBT Centre of Excellence in Apicultural Biotechnology, Baramati, where he has helped more than 2000 farmers and students and conducted research on honeybees, beekeeping for pollination and other bee products and services.
Ethan Liu
Finance
Ethan Liu is Founder and Managing Director of Flanton & Co. a firm of chartered accountants, regulated by The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Upon graduation from Oxford University in 2004, Ethan began his career with the tax department of Deloitte LLP, London and founded Flanton and Co. in 2012. Ethan and Flanton & Co provide accountancy services pro bono to The World Bee Project CIC.
Yossi Aud
Biodynamic Apiculture Education
Yossi Aud is a celebrated biodynamic beekeeper, Waldorf educator and founder of Bees for Peace. He collaborates in social areas in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority with Palestinian charitable organisations. In 2019 The World Bee Project collaborated with Yossi for implementation of its ‘Bees and Flowers in East Jerusalem’ programme which taught beekeeping skills to Palestinian women, created roof gardens in their homes, enabled thriving livelihoods as honey producers, and a year later inspired the establishment of the Sinsila Center in East Jerusalem.
Martin Lewis
Martin Lewis Design
Martin Lewis is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has over three decades experience with his design consultancy based in London. Martin Lewis Design supports international clients, educational foundations, with pro bono work for charitable organisations. His work has been exhibited at Tate Modern, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Photographic Society. Martin supports The World Bee Project’s website design and production.
The World Bee Project ‘people’ and ‘partners’ are individuals and organisations aligned with our mission to champion pollinator friendly landscapes – we collaborate with each as and when we need to rapidly scale a project with the use of Artificial Intelligence and related technologies.