After a diverse career involving shark conservation, primate rehabilitation, arts management and more, Alex Gerard began working with Malawian agricultural charity Tiyeni in 2022 to support their mission of eradicating food poverty across Africa.

Alex initially specialised in underwater camerawork while studying for his BA in Photography in Plymouth. He became fascinated with marine science and ecology and then spent the next decade training as a shark behaviourist in Australia and specialising in marine husbandry for aquariums in the UK. But it was in 2010, while site managing a primate protection education centre in Nigeria, that Alex was inspired to return to study and enrolled in Birkbeck’s MSc in Environmental Management.

Tiyeni has trained over 80,000 farmers in ‘zero-tech’ Deep Bed Farming methods that improve soil quality, and thereby crop yield and crop quality. The Malawian Ministry for Agriculture recently certified Tiyeni’s method as the most effective farming technique available in Malawi.