About Us — Greening Urban Environments

Virtual Workgroups brings together a diverse team of innovators, engineers, and researchers united by a passion for sustainable technology and horticultural innovation. Our collaborative model allows us to tackle complex R&D challenges across multiple disciplines.

Mike Anstey — Technical Director

Mike Anstey

Technical Director & Founder

Mike started work as a management trainee in a large manufacturing company before attending University. After graduating he spent a period as a lecturer in computing, then ran a small company completing technology consultancy for Racal, Dowty and Hughes Microelectronics. He holds a significant number of UK, US, Japanese and European patents and has been a DTI SMART winner along with ECN, EDN and Electronics Weekly award winner. Patents have been assigned to Racal Microelectronics, Dallas Semiconductor (USA), GPT Reliance, Dowty, Harwin PLC and Lodgenet Entertainment Inc (USA).

HNC Business Studies • BA Computing • BSc Social Sciences • MSc Innovation & Technology Assessment, Cranfield University • MRHS • FRSA

Lynette Warren — Company Co-Founder

Lynette Warren

Company Co-Founder

Lynette trained as a Radiographer and worked for 5 years in Nairobi alongside the flying doctor team. On her return she set up two small businesses, then specialised in ecotoxicology, pollution monitoring and geographical information systems. She was commissioned to research and produce The Luton Borough State of the Environment Report (1992). A Director of Earthworks St. Albans and the Bedfordshire Rural Community Charities.

Lynette had a passion for all things green and was the driving force behind the Company's horticultural and environmental projects. Sadly missed — her contribution was invaluable and she will not be forgotten.
Simon Hall

Simon Hall

Product Design & Renewable Energy

Simon has a degree in product design and designs and manufactures educational Renewable Energy Kits to promote awareness and understanding of renewable energy and encourage production from sustainable sources. His industry background provides a strong grounding in product design, project management, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and supplier liaison.

Rob Clawd

IT Consultant & Software Architect

Cambridge University graduate in Computer Science. Since leaving Cambridge he has worked as an IT consultant for industrial leaders across Europe, including UBS Bank Zurich, Nokia Research Cambridge and Alcatel Telecom Paris. Brings deep expertise in enterprise software architecture and systems integration.

Julia Bohler

Research & Communications

Julia studied psychology at the University of Zurich with a focus on cognition and perception, as well as architecture at ETH Zurich. Schooled in Switzerland she learned languages from an early age and now speaks fluent German, English, French, Italian and Spanish — a major asset for our European collaboration work.

Simon Smith

Software Developer & Hardware Prototyping

Computer Science graduate, software consultant, crystal ball gazer, breadboarding guru. Proficient in HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL and Python — and occasionally adds comments to his code. Carries a small hammer for hardware prototyping problems.

Visit Simon's website

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We're always open to collaboration with researchers, businesses, and innovators in sustainable technology and horticulture.

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