About Dialogue Matters

How we work. Our sustainability story. The awards on the shelf. The places we've worked. But most importantly, the brilliant people who make it all happen

Meet the team

Diana Pound

Diana Pound

Director

Internationally respected expert in stakeholder dialogue, participatory research and facilitation. Diana founded Dialogue Matters in 2000 and brings almost 30 years’ experience tackling complex environmental challenges. 

Ross Freeman

Ross Freeman

Project & Team Manager

Ross combines expertise in stakeholder dialogue, facilitation and sustainability with over 10 years’ leadership experience. He leads complex projects and designs and facilitates participation both online and in person. 

Imogen Samuel

Imogen Samuel

Project Officer

Imogen is a project coordinator and facilitator, working across the design and delivery of inclusive stakeholder engagement and participation. She also brings experience in training, analysis and reporting. 

Zoe Bullivant

Zoe Bullivant

Project Officer

Zoe is a facilitator and qualitative researcher with a background in conservation and social care. She is skilled at building rapport and creating supportive spaces for diverse groups. 

Joel Pound

Joel Pound

Senior Associate

Joel is an experienced lead facilitator, trainer and project manager. A former Deputy Director of Dialogue Matters, he brings over 10 years’ experience in designing and delivering stakeholder dialogue. 

Annisa Hussain

Annisa Hussain

Office Manager

Annisa keeps Dialogue Matters running smoothly, managing the office and administration and supporting the team behind the scenes. 

Sassy

Sassy

Well-being Officer

With a pe-degree in team psychology, Sassy ensures the well-being of the DM team. She encourages regular breaks, time outdoors and the occasional reminder not to take ourselves too seriously.

How we work

Encouraging

We don’t come into projects as top-down experts. Instead we enable people to share their knowledge, perspectives and ideas 

Constructive

We help people recognise what is already working well and build on it to make progress

Collaborative

We encourage full co-production, which means environmental professionals work with communities and other stakeholders; sharing the responsibility to both plan and implement change

Holistic

We take an integrated systems thinking approach which looks at the big picture

Cutting-edge

We keep learning, testing new approaches and working with others at the forefront of good practice

Productive

We help people build shared understanding and find mutually acceptable, sustainable ways forward – not weak compromises

Sustainability

Eco friendly services

We design our services to be efficient, accessible, and resilient, using lightweight digital platforms and remote delivery where suitable to minimise unnecessary energy use and travel

Lower carbon footprint

We focus on practical sustainability measures that genuinely reduce environmental impact while maintaining reliable learning experiences

Reduced energy use

We deliberately minimise motion and autoplay media on our website because lightweight design reduces energy use

Our awards

We are a small company, but we achieve a lot!

We have high standards and take great pride in the fantastic feedback we get from participants and sponsoring organisations.

As well as fantastic feedback, the awards we’ve won prove that our methods really are effective and leave a positive impact. Many of the awards recognise the work we have done as a company, but our director Diana Pound has also received some accolades as an individual.

  • CIEEM Award for Best Practice Stakeholder Engagement: Greening the Economy of the Turks and Caicos
  • Countryside Management Association, Gordon Miller Award, Highly Commended
  • CIEEM Award for Best Practice Stakeholder Engagement
  • CIEEM Tony Bradshaw Award for Outstanding Best Practice: Hatfield Foest Conflict Resolution
  • CIEEM Highly Commended in Best Practice Stakeholder Engagement: Living Coast Youth Voice
  • IUCN, Commission for Education and Communication. Award of Excellence Wester Europe
  • Society for the Environment, Highly Commended Environmental Professional of the Year
  • CIEEM Highly Commended in Small Consultancy of the Year
  • CIEEM Highly Commended: Seize the moment - New Approaches for Fresh Momentum
  • Action 2030 Award: Global Climate Change - Strengthening Understanding of the Economic Impacts of Climate Change

Sharing knowledge internationally

We are proud to have shared our knowledge internationally by working with a huge variety of countries, each with different cultures and challenges. Some topics we have worked on include protected area management on land and at sea, developing climate adaptation strategies, and bridging the gap between science and policy for international organisations.

This map demonstrates the countries we have collaborated with, which includes: Anguilla, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Jordan, Kenya, Mediterranean, Northern Ireland, Norway, Paris, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Tanzania, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wales