Alex Mitchell
Founder and Director of Weird Fishes Advisory. Eight years working at the intersection of environmental data, policy, and strategy - in UK government, international conservation NGOs, and on the ground with programmes operating across three continents.
I set up Weird Fishes Advisory because the same problem kept showing up everywhere I worked: organisations doing genuinely important environmental work, but unable to use their data effectively - to drive their own decisions, to communicate their impact, or to make the case for growing what they'd built.
The gap wasn't ambition or effort. It was the infrastructure - the systems, the frameworks, the translation layer between data and decision. That's what I build.
What I bring
I can take a programme from no data architecture to a functioning monitoring system, from unverified impact claims to a defensible theory of change, from a local voluntary scheme to a policy-embedded international operation. I've done each of these things, and I can do them across the full technical spectrum - from an Excel dashboard to a Python pipeline to a multi-stakeholder policy process.
What makes this useful isn't just the technical range. It's having worked inside the organisations I now advise. I understand how government procurement actually works, how NGO funding cycles constrain decisions, and what a field team can realistically maintain after a consultant leaves.
Selected work
DEFRA - England Tree Planting Programme
Built the monitoring and decision-support infrastructure for a £640M government programme. The reporting tool was cited by the Chief Analyst as a model example of how programme monitoring should be done. Also developed real-time situation reports during emergency response across COVID-19, EU Exit, and Avian Influenza - enabling ministerial decision-making at the highest levels of UK government.
Ocean Wise - Whale Report Alert System
Managed a marine mammal protection programme from regional app to operational maritime policy across North America. Doubled the user base, secured partnerships that tripled available data, raised over $400,000 CAD in funding, and led the integration of whale presence data into regulated maritime navigation systems. Currently cited in policy discussions at NOAA and Transport Canada.
Future-Fit Foundation
Developed open-source frameworks that translate the UN Sustainable Development Goals into actionable business metrics for SMEs and global investors. Built transparent reporting tools and audited business practices to help organisations identify impact gaps and build measurable pathways toward a restorative economy.
Speaking and recognition
Invited speaker at the European Cetacean Society, NOAA policy workshops, OCEANS conference, and Greentech conferences - presenting on marine data integration, environmental programme scaling, and evidence-based conservation policy.
If you have environmental data that should be doing more - whether that's driving decisions, demonstrating impact to funders, or scaling a programme's reach - book a coffee with me.
