Meet the DigVentures Team

Lisa Westcott Wilkins MA MCIfA FRSA
Co-founder and Managing Director

As co-founder and Managing Director at DigVentures, Lisa has found the perfect place to combine her passion for archaeology with over twenty years of professional experience in communications, finance and journalism. With an Master’s degree in Archaeology from UCL and a prestigious Clore Fellowship under her belt, Lisa now focuses her energy wrangling field archaeologists and harnessing brilliant creative sector innovations for DV’s endeavours. She is an international speaker on crowdfunding for the creative and cultural sectors, and leads on the consultancy aspect of DV’s work. She is responsible for the Americanisms, absurdly strong site coffee and early morning DV dance parties.

Twitter: @LisaWWilkins

Brendon Wilkins MA MCIfA MIAI
Co-founder and Projects Director

Brendon is an award-winning field archaeologist with over 15 years experience directing and managing large, complex sites in advance of major construction projects, such as motorways, pipelines, and railways. With a consistent research and publication record, he has lectured internationally on wetland archaeology, Irish archaeology, and new advances in excavation methodology. His has directed sites as varied as an historic cock-fighting pit, a large Roman building, and a complicated multiphase wetland site at Newrath, Co. Kilkenny, a site dug in such wet and windy winter conditions, he swears it was the moment he started to lose his hair! Brendon is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Leicester, entitled: ‘Digging the Crowd: the future of archaeology in the digital and collaborative economies’.

Twitter: @Diggingthedirt

Manda Forster PhD MCIfA
Progamme Manager

Having honed her craft in the heady world of commercial archaeology, Manda joins DV following a five-year stint developing membership engagement for the Chartered Institute of Archaeologists and other professional bodies. She managed the Professional Archaeology programme at the University of Birmingham, and will be involved in developing all of DigVentures’ educational programmes. Manda’s main focus is delivering DV’s project schedule, keeping the team on track and making sure we are happy as we work. Since completing her PhD in 2004, Manda is proud to retain the enviable position of being able to distinguish a Shetland soapstone vessel from its Norwegian counterpart, and continues to research these humble Viking artefacts to this day. She loves getting the best out of talented people, far flung Scottish islands, and all things Scandinavian.

Twitter: @manda_forster

Maiya Pina-Dacier, BSc, MSc
Head of Community

Maiya graduated from UCL with an MSc in Skeletal and Dental Bioarchaeology. She’s worked on excavations as far afield as Rwanda, Spain, the Caribbean and Coventry. After a year working in commercial archaeology, Maiya leapt into the City, carving out a niche as a marketing and communications consultant. Having axed her way through a jungle of small print and complex policy conditions to build a culture of customer-friendly communication, Maiya’s back to the field with a trowel in one hand and a twitter feed in the other. Maiya was DV’s first-ever employee and we love her to bits!

Twitter: @muckymaiya

Rosanna Ring BA
Community Archaeologist

Rosanna graduated from the University of Reading in 2008 with a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology. Ever since then she’s gained a diverse range of work experience in the archaeology and heritage sector, spending three years as a Collections Conservation Assistant with the National Trust, as well as working as an HER Officer and Assistant Archaeologist at Peterborough City Council. After a year spent working as a Social Media and Communities Intern with DigVentures, she’s now happy to be officially part of the DV family. She’s (only slightly) obsessed with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

Twitter: @RVimes

Anna Van Nostrand BA, MA
Community Archaeologist

Anna completed her BA in Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2012. After spending several field seasons abroad in Italy, England and Mongolia she discovered her real passion was sharing archaeology with others. So she packed up her boots and trowel and headed for London where she graduated with an MA in Public Archaeology from UCL. She particularly loves working with kids and has experience teaching in museums as well as in the field. Her second favourite thing in the world (after archaeology) is baking.

Twitter: @PinkTrowel

Fergus Westcott Wilkins NSFW
Site Dog

Fergus is the world’s finest archaeological dog. A natural risk-taker and entrepreneurial spirit, Fergus has displayed a keen interest in digging and a fine nose for interesting buried things since birth. A key member of the DigVentures team, Fergus is responsible for on site security, leisure activities, and finding chips on a Friday night. He does not believe in meetings, panels, working groups, forms, reports or KPIs, and has been known to accept bribes for access to the team.

Twitter: @SiteDog