Vicky McNeil
Co-founder and Director of WorkingAbroad
Vicky has a strong interest in travelling and visiting projects all over the world – her travels have taken her all across Africa, Asia and the Americas from the deep jungles of Malaysia and Ecuador, to the deserts of Namibia and India, from the dolphins and whales in Croatia and South Africa to the coral reefs and sea turtles in Mauritius and Costa Rica. Vicky is a keen listener and an excellent advisor to all those who have questions about volunteering abroad, from gap year students and University groups up to family programmes and everything in between. She draws inspiration from wildlife photography, world music and culture, and her two daughters Chloe and Rosie!
A graduate from Durham University, UK, in Social Sciences and a TEFL qualified teacher, she has spent over 20 years travelling and working with volunteer organisations worldwide. Photographs from some of her travels can be seen here: http://www.vickykornevall.com
Email: victoria.mcneil@workingabroad.com
Andreas Kornevall
Co-Founder and Director of WorkingAbroad
Andreas Kornevall is the co-Founder of WorkingAbroad. He also founded the School Tree Nursery initiative in the UK and is currently the Director of Operations for the Earth Restoration Service Charity and an ecological activist and campaigner for the Restore the Earth Project. He also co-founded the Life Cairn memorial – a memorial for species rendered extinct at human hands.
His ecological work has won him recognition and endorsements from actress Joanna Lumley, HRH Prince of Wales and the “elders group” set up by musician Peter Gabriel. A graduate in Public Relations and Communications (BPR) from Geneva, Switzerland, he has spent over twenty years working with volunteer programmes in the ecological, cultural and social sectors; collaborating across all the continents.
He is also a prize-winning writer and storyteller, please contact: andreas.kornevall@workingabroad.com
He runs his own website under www.kornevall.com
Dave Johnston
Project Development and Communications Specialist
Dave Johnston is a conservationist and sustainable business specialist whose work bridges biodiversity protection and community-led initiatives. Originally from South Africa, Dave spent a transformative decade in the Peruvian Amazon, co-founding two NGOs and pioneering a conservation corridor and ranger programme to safeguard vital forests, including territories of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation. With extensive experience across Latin America and Africa, Dave now works with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), developing innovative biodiversity finance strategies and sustainable community enterprises. He joined WorkingAbroad in 2021, helping connect volunteers globally with ethical wildlife programmes, and serves as an advisor to Junglekeepers Peru after ten years on its board. Deeply committed to inclusive conservation, Dave champions a future where communities are supported to continue leading environmental stewardship, ensuring meaningful and lasting protection for some of Earth’s most threatened ecosystems.
Email: dave@workingabroad.com
Jack Digman
Marketing and Communications Assistant
Alongside WorkingAbroad, Jack is a full-time Marine Wildlife Conservation professional in Natural England. He has a passion for the marine environment and its conservation. Jack has joined our Blue Lagoon project in Mauritius, our Ocean Spirits and Reef Buddy Grenada projects, the dolphin research project in Portugal and the Pacific sea turtle project in Costa Rica. Jack initially joined us as an intern with WorkingAbroad for 2 years and has been our Marketing & Communications Assistant since 2021, running our social media accounts and managing our wonderful cohort of blog writers.
Email: jack@workingabroad.com
WorkingAbroad Blog Writers
We also have a team of talented writers who contribute articles to the WorkingAbroad Blog, on issues ranging from the environment, wildlife, travel, culture, to international development and much more. Interested in writing for us? Feel free to get in touch.
Gemma Howard-Vyse
Gemma recently graduated in Classics from the University of Edinburgh and has a love of all things literary, classical, philosophical and ancient. She has a natural affinity with nature and feels most at home in the wilderness, up a tree or in the sea. She aspires to be an editor, specialising in sustainability and conservation, and to write about travelling, wildlife and the environment. Gemma hopes to return to where she was born in South Africa to spread awareness about the importance of conservation and environmental education.
Edward Forman
Edward is currently pursuing a research masters degree, at Durham University, focusing on developing a 600-year reconstruction of the Gulf Stream to constrain when it began weakening and thus its sensitivity to anthropogenic warming. While studying he helps run the university’s Conservation Society and teaches undergraduate students. He is passionate about wildlife and in particular the often-overlooked role of insects. After reading about the harmful impacts we are having on the environment, he is now enthusiastic about decarbonisation and sustainability. He has previously written for environmentally minded blogs on issues such as lithium extraction and biodiversity loss.
Lucy Gordon
Lucy is a compassionate writer, having worked across the public sector for the last four years telling stories of change and transformation. With an enthusiasm for sharing powerful narratives of community bonds and sustainability innovation, she’s a keen traveller. Connections with family living all across the globe, she’s always looking for the next international trip and the stories that wait there to be uncovered.
Anna Juliet Stephens
Anna has spent over two years travelling South America, where she fell in love with the continent’s long coasts and vibrant cultures. She’s a passionate surfer, and follows the trail of surfing and Spanish on her trips abroad. Whilst studying for an MA in Anthropology of Development, Anna spent time living and working in the Peruvian Amazon. She has spent time studying traditional ecological knowledge and the impacts of globalisation. Anna currently works as a Research Development & Design Assistant – Climate Justice at the University of the Arts London and as a Freelance Journalist in Audience Engagement at the Financial Times. She holds an MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation from the University of Sussex and a BA in History from the University of Bristol.
Charlotte Gager
Charlotte is a 22-year-old journalism student in Portsmouth with an interest in environmental news and travel. When she isn’t studying for her degree, Charlotte loves to explore wildlife and feel grounded in nature. Travelling the world and discovering different cultures is also an important part of her life. She believes that writing about environmental issues and the beauty of wildlife can make a positive difference in society, helping people become more educated and value the importance of sustainability. One of her goals for the future is to be able to work as a journalist in different countries and write meaningful pieces about society, culture and biodiversity.
Freya Brodrick
Freya is an ecology graduate and aspiring conservationist from the UK. Aged 18 she spent two weeks on a wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe and ever since then ethical volunteering abroad has been one of her greatest passions. In her free time Freya writes articles for environmental platforms such as Curious.Earth and Conservation-Careers, as well as the WorkingAbroad blog! Her other hobbies include sketching, and film photography.
Yustiniya Khokhlova
Yustiniya is a digital communications specialist helping non-profits and social enterprises promote their causes among a wider audience and stand out while doing so. Her nickname growing up was ‘Greenpeacer’ but she only really embraced her passion for sustainability when she met Bea Johnson — the founder of the Zero Waste movement — at the United Nations where Yustiniya was working at the time. Eager to create a similar low-impact lifestyle for herself and her partner and to share their journey, Yustiniya then started a blog and a podcast (in Russian), as well as joining the marketing team at ZeroWaste Switzerland in Geneva. She later moved on to work for a sustainability-focused marketing agency where some of her projects reached over 200,000 people and inspired thousands to take concrete steps to reduce their waste and impact. She is currently an independent consultant living in the South-West of France. For now, her volunteer experience abroad only includes turtle rescue in Costa Rica but she can’t wait for her daughter to be old enough to join her parents on many more conservationist adventures.