Core Team

Dr Sandy Williams – Co-Director and Chief Executive
Sandy Williams co-founded Scriptoria nearly 10 years ago because she believed that development and environmental communications lacked the mix of flair and expertise needed to really drive home important messages.

Now recognised as a leading expert in the communication of these difficult issues, she regularly helps governments, businesses and research organisations around the world communicate messages relating to climate change, water, agriculture, forestry, health, green thinking and CSR.

Sandy has a lot of environmental experience both in the UK (she was Technical Controller for one of the UK’s largest water companies) and overseas, where she spent nearly 5 years conducting research in a tropical rainforest. She has a PhD in Tropical Agroforestry and a First Class Honours degree in Ecology.

Dr Jim Weale – Co-Director and Senior Strategist
Jim Weale co-founded Scriptoria in 2001 based on a passion for communications and a commitment to development and the environment worldwide. Since then, he’s worked hard to build a company that combines unusually high levels of expertise in development issues with a passion for producing communications that have a definite and sustained impact. He’s now recognised as one of the leaders in this field.

In his day-to-day work for Scriptoria, Jim has designed communications strategies for multi-million dollar poverty reduction programmes targeting Asia and Africa, trained corporate and government communications teams, and advised the UK government on marketing its aid efforts. The writing and communications courses he has designed for Scriptoria have also been very well received around the world.

Jim’s PhD is in English and Linguistics.

Dr Sandra Child - Writer and Project Manager
Sandra Child's career in communications spans 25 years,
and her experience speaks for itself. Before working with SCRIPTORIA, she headed and managed the communications programmes of the WorldFish Center, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, as well as the Australian Bureau of Rural Resources.
She has also worked as a communications consultant for Care International.

Sandra is a talented writer, and has produced innumerable annual reports, newsletters, scientific and technical reports, policy briefs and brochures. She has a PhD in Geology.

Mr Peter Thorpe - Writer
Peter Thorpe's long and distinguished career in communications covers nearly thirty years. During this time he's managed and headed communications departments for major organizations like NATO, the World Health Organization, the Royal Tropical Institute (the Netherlands), the Centre for Health and Population Research (Bangladesh), and the EU Regional Agricultural Programme
in Fiji.

 

Peter's commitment to development and his wealth of experience makes him an important part of our team. He has a BSc in Botany and Zoology and Postgraduate qualifications in Library and Information Systems.

Ms Catharine Way - Writer
Catharine Way's 25 years of experience in development communications have spanned a variety of major institutions. She's written and managed the production of a range of internationally important documents. Examples include both the 1997 and 1998 editions of UNICEF's flagship report The Progress of Nations, and two of UNICEF's annual reports. Her work for the FAO included managing preparation of the prestigious State of Food Insecurity report and writing FAO's 2007 advocacy brochure for World Food Day. Need we say more?

Catharine holds a Master of Journalism and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning & Management.

Mr Rodney Lynn - Development Consultant
Rodney Lynn is SCRIPTORIA’s hands-on development expert, working in-country to help organizations develop and improve their programmes.

With nearly 30 years' experience, his past posts include Senior Technical Advisor and Chief Advisor for Development Strategies for UNOPS Projects, Education Programme Advisor for the Aga Khan Foundation, and Training Advisor for CIDA in Kenya.

 

Rodney prides himself on his ability to help local partners identify what they need to do next and to help them to do it. He’s also adept at establishing relationships with key partners like government ministers and donor representatives.

Mr David Tonge - Translator
David Tonge has had over 15 years of experience teaching and translating from German, Spanish and French into English.
He holds the highly regarded Diploma in Translation (DipTrans),
and is an accredited member of the UK's Institute of Linguists.
He also has a BA (Hons) in modern languages from Oxford University and an MA from Cambridge University.

 

These impressive qualifications are coupled with an enthusiasm for helping not-for-profit organizations to communicate effectively. We're fortunate to be able to work with a translator of David's calibre, and are glad to be able to share his skills with
our clients.

Dr Sandra Clark - Writer, Editor and Copy Editor
Sandra Clark is a first-class editor with an eye for detail. After working as a researcher, she trained and worked in-house as a science editor and writer with the prestigious Nature Reviews journals. She then spent several years working for other publishing companies in the UK. As well as writing and editing for SCRIPTORIA, Sandra copyedits our texts to ensure that the final product is highly polished.

Sandra has a PhD in plant physiology and biochemistry and a BSc (Hons) in biology.

Dr Sharon Forsyth - Editor
Sharon Forsyth is an adept editor who cuts through difficult to understand content and delivers highly readable text. Her areas of expertise are medicine and health-related issues.

Sharon has a PhD in medicine and a BSc (Hons) in biochemistry. Before becoming a professional editor, Sharon was employed as a researcher by Cambridge University (UK) and Monash University (Australia). Her own research has been published extensively in international journals.