Will Thompson Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

William Thompson is a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (www.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org). Here, in collaboration with international research institutions, NGOs and industry, he leads the development of the High Agricultural Reforestation Potential (HARP) Toolkit. HARP will be a set of tools designed to facilitate sustainable reforestation in tropical agricultural landscapes, with a particular focus on cocoa and coffee producing landscapes at forest frontiers. In addition, William is collaborating on the ETH Zurich led Sustain-Cocoa project to evaluate the impacts of forest-focused supply chain policies on West African cocoa producers and the remnants of the Guinean forests.

Zurich, Switzerland

Zürich Area, Switzerland

I am performing research as part of the flagship project, "Enhancing Resilience in Food Systems", of the World Food System Centre, at ETH Zurich. Here, I am a member of the Sustainable Agroecoystems Lab, lead by Professor Johan Six. I am also collaborating with researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Bergen. The project's aim is to tackle the question "with so much uncertainty and complexity, how can we make food systems more sustainable under multiple, unpredictable drivers of change?".My research will focus on two case food systems; cocoa in Ghana and bananas in the Dominican Republic. The resilience of organic and conventional value chains in these food systems will be assessed using a combined approach, including; transdisciplinary, system dynamics and data mining techniques. Following the resilience assessment phase, the findings will be used to design interventions that enhance resilience, in collaboration with key stakeholders in these value chains. This research is being funded by a Mercator World Food System Grant.http://www.worldfoodsystem.ethz.chhttp://www.resilientfoodsystems.ethz.chhttp://www.sae.ethz.ch

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

I was implanted at the United Nations World Food Programme, Tanzania as part of The WINnERS Project (Weather Index-based weather-driven Risk Services). This is an international collaboration between the private sector, academia and international organisations including; Imperial College London, University of Reading, Ecole Polytechnique, University of Hamburg, SwissRe, Willis, Sainsbury's and UNICEF. The project aims to create climate-smart supply chains that provide increased climate resilience to all players, from smallholder farmers to large multinational corporations. At WFP Tanzania, I co-ordinated the design and launch of the WINnERS climate-smart supply chain in collaboration with WFP's Patient Procurement Platform, the goal of which is to create increased market access and income security for smallholder farmers.

London, United Kingdom

A rotational graduate scheme based at Sainsbury’s Head Office, in London. I performed roles across several departments within Sainsbury’s Brand Division, including; Product Development, Packaging, Projects Systems & Reporting, Sustainable & Ethical Sourcing and Product Technology. The various roles all had a focus on maximising product quality and environmental integrity. Working towards goals within the corporate “20 by 20” sustainability strategy was a key part of each placement. This gave me exposure to an international supply base and many thirdparty stakeholders. Key projects: • I performed a review of the use of soy beans in Sainsbury’s own brand products, whilst in the Sustainable and Ethical Sourcing Team. The findings from my research were used to inform corporate policy on the sustainable use of soya. • Whilst in the product development team I project managed the re-launch of a range of wines (worth c. £7 million / year). Including the redevelopment of existing products and the development of new lines.• As part of the Packaging Team I designed a novel packaging solution for a range of cooking sauces to reduce the weight of their packaging by c. 200 000 kg / y, whilst also reducing transportation costs, increasing shelf space and minimising food waste through portion control.

Hong Kong

I worked as part of the technical team responsible for the quality, environmental and ethical credentials of products sourced from all over Asia. This included performing a review of the Asian supply base's sustainability credentials compared to targets in the company’s corporate sustainability strategy. This informed the sustainability strategy in relation to the Asian supply base.

Melbourne, Australia

Worked with viticulturists across several vineyards in Victoria to maintain vine health and productivity as well as reducing water usage.Represented the company at Vintage 2030, a symposium looking at the effects of global warming on viticulture in Australia.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Based in San Jose, Costa Rica worked with banana, pineapple and melon producers to ensure fruit was high quality, environmentally sustainable and ethically produced for US and European markets.Undertook a project researching renewable energy through the novel use of pineapple waste as a fuel for an anaerobic digester.

Bristol, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

Hull, United Kingdom

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Master'S Degree, Environmental Technology, Distinction

Focus on Sustainable Food Systems and Natural Resource Management Thesis: "Analysing agricultural technology adoption by smallholder.

Bsc, Biology/Biological Sciences, General