About Us
We are the only UK charity focused solely on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens. We work tirelessly to apply pressure on governments, regulators, policy makers, industry and retailers to reduce the impacts of harmful pesticides to both human health and the environment.
Our work includes campaigning for change in policy and practices at home and overseas, co-ordinating projects which help smallholder farming communities escape ill-health and poverty caused by pesticides, and contributing our wealth of scientific and technical expertise to the work of other organisations who share our aims.
We strive:
- To eliminate hazardous pesticides
- To reduce dependence on pesticides
- To promote ecologically sound, and socially just, alternatives to chemical pest control
What We Do
- We publish independent information on pesticide use and impacts for governments and decision makers, researchers, media, concerned citizens and other interested groups.
- We undertake and target research to promote better understanding of the cause and effects of pesticide problems.
- We undertake projects to demonstrate that growing food and textiles, and managing amenities, is possible without the use of hazardous pesticides.
- We promote effective and progressive policies to eliminate pesticide hazards, representing concerns of users, consumers and exposed communities nationally and internationally.
- We support projects with partners in developing countries to demonstrate the efficacy of organic and low input production as a means of providing farmers with economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound livelihoods.
Get in Touch
Meet Our Team
Alex joined PAN UK in August 2020. He has over 10 years of experience conducting research and training in agroecology and sustainable crop management. Before joining PAN, Alex worked at the International Rice Research Institute, based in Philippines and Indonesia. Alex is interested in understanding ecological interactions in agro-ecosystems and in identifying opportunities to promote biodiversity to enhance ecosystem services. He is especially interested in promoting sustainable, safe and efficient pest management practices by working closely with farmers in a participatory approach.
Amy joined PAN UK in November 2022 as Public Affairs and Media Manager for the Pesticide Collaboration. She has spent her career working on various campaigns focussing on environmental and social justice, including for the Climate and Ecology Bill, youth voter registration and working for Caroline Lucas MP. She has recently completed a MA in Law and has also spent four years as a City Councillor in Brighton and Hove, and spent time as Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee.
Geremew joined PAN UK as Finance Manager Assistant in November 2008. In 2010, he became Finance Officer, responsible for all financial issues at PAN UK. Geremew has a BSc degree in Finance and Accounting from London South Bank University and a BA degree from Asmara University, Ethiopia. Geremew started his professional career at The Institute of Agricultural Research in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as Project Accountant, responsible for managing World Bank loans and grants. He has also worked as Finance Officer for The Green Belt Movement from 2010-2016.
Jago joined PAN UK in April 2023 to manage the organisation’s international campaigning, advocacy and communications work, including its engagement with UN treaties and other multilateral policy forums relevant to pesticides. Jago has 20 years of research, campaign strategy and advocacy experience at leading environmental NGOs, including at Greenpeace, 14 years at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), and latterly at Global Witness.
Joey joined PAN UK in spring 2023 to expand the reach and impact of the T-MAPP app. He has previously worked in School’s Payroll and as the Business Manager in a sustainable, ethically focused hospitality business where he oversaw company finance and governance, helping to establish the company as not-for-profit, renovating a restaurant and implementing a pioneering gift-economy business model. He has a BSc in Chemistry from University of Bristol and a MSc in Sustainable Development, an interdisciplinary course from the University of Sussex, taught by academics in SPRU and IDS. He is interested in leveraging the power of innovation and technology towards a kinder future.
Jon joined PAN UK in December 2019. Prior to this he worked for nine years at the international NGO, Sightsavers, in a variety of roles including Head of Finance. Jon trained as a chartered accountant at the National Audit Office and has an MSci in Natural Sciences, focusing on geology, from the University of Cambridge.
Josie joined PAN UK in June 2017 to head up the organisation’s UK campaigning, policy and communications work. She studied politics at university and has spent the last fifteen years working as a campaigner for a range of organisations including the League Against Cruel Sports and Save the Children UK. For the past eight years she has focused on social, environmental and human rights issues associated with large-scale agriculture, leading ActionAid UK’s biofuels campaign and working on land rights for Global Witness.
Keith started at PAN UK as Director in May 2010. Keith has over 20 years’ environmental experience. He was previously the Director of Programmes and Research at the Koru Foundation – a charity that supports community scale renewable energy projects in the developing world. He spent eight years working on UK and EU environmental policy at the ENDS Report where his last role was Climate and Energy Editor. He has extensive experience of working with grassroots organisations and ran the European arm of a three-year international research and advocacy project for WWF. He holds a Doctorate in Development Studies, and MA in Environment Development and Policy from the University of Sussex – both of which involved research into pesticide use.
Nick joined PAN UK in March 2007 as the UK and European Programme Coordinator. At university Nick studied environmental science focussing on hydrology, water quality and environmental hazards. Prior to joining PAN UK Nick spent six years working for the Environmental Investigation Agency as a campaigner, working on a diverse range of issues relating to investigating and exposing the illegal trade in endangered species.
Osheen joined PAN UK in August 2024 as a Communications Assistant. She completed an MA in Politics, Governance and Public Policy from University of Sheffield and an MA in Mass Communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, focusing on subjects in communications and public policy. Previously, she worked as a content creator at the University of Sheffield, promoting Education for Sustainable Development initiatives. With experience in real estate content creation, legal research and journalism, she is passionate about raising awareness of pesticide toxicity and environmental challenges through creative communication strategies.
Rajan leads our engagement with global agricultural supply chains. He has experience in environmental consulting, agribusiness and agricultural development in the UK, East Africa and Ethiopia. Before joining PAN UK, Rajan worked at the Gulu Agricultural Development Company in Uganda where he oversaw operations for the production of organic cotton and sesame, and established programmes to train and source produce from smallholder farmers. He is interested in the opportunities that sustainable agriculture provides for ensuring fair returns for farmers and fighting the climate crisis.
Sam has previously worked at the Dragon School, Oxford, as Web and Social Media Manager and as a Key User and Training Manager at Oxford University Press. She has a BSc in Ecology and has worked on a number of invasive species projects. She has also spent many years volunteering for environmental groups as both a communications officer and in the field.
Sheila’s academic background is in Agricultural Zoology/Entomology and she is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Division of Environmental Health at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town. As a doctoral student Sheila tutored undergraduates in Entomology and Pests and Diseases at Oxford University before working in farmers’ participatory research in Ethiopia and Kenya. More recently Sheila has been concerned with broader aspects of pesticide risk reduction, mainly in East Africa but also in the Former Soviet Union and the Caribbean. She has undertaken assignments for UN FAO, UNEP and the secretariats of the chemical conventions.
Meet Our Trustees
Barbara is a social scientist and independent pesticide consultant. She was PAN UK’s International Projects Officer from 1991-2000 and Director from 2000-2006. At PAN UK she contributed to the public interest input to the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent and helped establish a stronger International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO). She liaised with PAN partners globally to document and publish reports of pesticide hazards and to strengthen initiatives to reduce poisonings, support alternatives and promote better regulation, particularly in Africa. She contributed to the University of Cape Town’s Diploma on Pesticide Risk Management and helped establish the Bhopal Medical Appeal. She has been Chair of PAN UK trustees since 2014.
Lasse Bruun is the UN Foundation’s Director for Climate and Food where he leads the work on agroecology, smallholder empowerment and protein diversification. He is an advocacy expert on food systems, energy transition, sustainable agriculture and social justice, with twenty years experience in leadership, development, campaigning and movement building. Prior to joining the UN Foundation, Lasse built 50by40, a global NGO bringing together 70 organizations across 45 countries. Within this role, Lasse enabled close global collaboration between multiple stakeholders, pushed sustainable livestock to the forefront of the food systems debate and brought about meaningful collaboration and exchange between Global North and Global South movements. Lasse runs a small farm using agroecology and intercropping to grow vegetables.
Sondhya is a seasoned campaigner specialising in public mobilisation. Starting out as a volunteer at 38Degrees, she then worked at The Runnymede Trust and Greenpeace UK before SumOfUs (now Ekō). Now a freelance campaigner, Sondhya continues to facilitate public advocacy — using a range of tactics from online tools to shareholder activism — for progressive change. Her collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach resulted in Apple publishing its first ever human rights policy in 2020. She was also a co-founder of gender justice campaigning group Level Up. Prior to all of this, Sondhya was a veterinary surgeon for 14 years.
Vera is a scientific researcher who joined the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania in 2007 having worked as a research scientist at the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI) since 1980. She led a number of collaborative researches from 1989 with institutions in Eastern and Southern Africa, North America, Europe and Scandinavia, assessing the health hazards posed by pesticide handling, storage and use on large and small-scale farms and developing action on pesticides impact in Tanzania. She also contributed to development of the University of Cape Town’s Diploma on Pesticide Risk Management. She became the Executive Director of Tanzania Association Public, Occupational and Environmental Health Experts (TAPOHE) in 2008 and Chairperson for the Africa Stockpiles Programme (ASP) Tanzania Network of NGOs and CSOs.
Steph currently works in policy at the RSPB, with a focus on agriculture, pesticides and wider land use across the UK. She has worked at the RSPB since 2009 in a number of different roles. Prior to policy she worked on threatened species projects including turtle doves and swifts, and has also worked in communications and membership recruitment. In partnership with PAN UK colleagues, Steph jointly set up the Pesticide Collaboration – the civil society group looking to reduce pesticide-related harms in the UK.
Ed joined PAN in February 2020 as Treasurer. He comes from a commercial background having for many years run a variety of businesses, principally in international food trading. Through his time as owner and CEO, he has gained wide experience in finance, management and administration. He has recently moved away from the commercial world and is now in private practice as a therapeutic counsellor in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Our Audited Accounts
PAN Worldwide
PAN UK is part of a network of over 600 participating non-governmental organizations, institutions and individuals in over 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.
PAN was founded in 1982 and has five independent, collaborating Regional Centres that implement its projects and campaigns:
PAN North America,
PAN Latin America,
PAN Africa,
PAN Asia Pacific
and PAN Europe.
PAN UK is an active member of PAN Europe.