With a strong interest in all sports and a background of working on Golf Courses in New Zealand, Ewen completed a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Landscape Management. This lead to a role in Sports Field Design, Project Management and Consultancy in Auckland, New Zealand working with many of the Local Councils and National Stadia. Upon moving to the UK to work with the STRI Group as a Project Manager and Consultant, Ewen developed strong working relationships with several top end Football Clubs and Organizations. During his time with the STRI Group, Ewen took part in seven international FIFA Tournaments across various locations, with himself taking on the Main Turf Delivery Role during events in the U.A.E in 2013, Costa Rica in 2014 and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. Ewen moved to Qatar in 2015 with the STRI Group initially working on the construction team of the Qatar International Golf Course, and later picking up the technical delivery and project management for the construction of AST R&D Centre during the development of the JV, eventually joining the AST team fulltime in October 2016.

Carlos graduated with a bachelor of Agronomic Science and Engineering in Brazil. Following on from University, his practical experience in Sports Turf Management developed from hands on, on-the-job training and positions in construction and maintenance of golf courses in America and in Europe. In America, Carlos completed with distinction the highly regarded education program for Turf managers at the Ohio State University while assisting highly regarded PhD’s, professors and privet businesses to develop turf trials, turf educational programs and turf business strategies and networking. Upon returning to his home country, Brazil, Carlos joined STRI in 2013 to be their only full time Consultant based in Brazil and acted as a Turf Consultant to FIFA in the lead up to and during all 2013 Confederations Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics, while also providing similar services to other similar age group tournaments across the Americas. Carlos’s desire to continue being a part of nations hosting the biggest sporting events in the world was a major draw card to relocate home. Carlos came to join the AST team early in 2017 to help deliver AST Research programme, as well as provide extensive experience as a turf consultant to major events.

Originally from the UK, Matthew started with the STRI Group in 2009 as part of the Research Plots Turf Management Team. Matthew developed keen interest in Turf Management along with the intricacies of constructing and managing turf plots for the purposes of research. During this period at STRI Matthews skills in the areas of data collection developed and he became a key member of the STRI team that annually travelled to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships each year to carry out the performance testing on each court before each days play. Matthew was also regularly involved in the restoration of the 2012 London Olympic Games Equestrian track located in Greenwich Park. Matthew relocated to Qatar in September 2015 to provide specialist construction management for the AST R&D Centre on behalf of the STRI Group, and eventually joining the AST team fulltime in October 2016.

Adrian is a Sport Turf and Landscape professional from Australia. Adrian has moved in between the turf / landscape industry for the past 21 years, working in various levels from sports turf positions to landscape positions, with holding degree’s in both categories. Prior to Doha, Qatar Adrian worked on the major stadium complex within Sydney Australia (SCG and Sydney Sport Ground Trust). Via this period Adrian gained knowledge and experience in turf management by being a part of the team which delivered consistently international standards turf for the following sports played out of the combined facilities (Test Cricket, One Day International Cricket, AFL, Rugby Union, NRL, Football etc. ). To gain experience in all aspects of the Turf Management/Landscape industry Adrian went abroad in 2006 and joined Aspire Logistics whereby through the site of Aspire Zone and diverse organization of Aspire Zone and its entities Adrian as enhance and gained more experience in Turf Management/ Landscape via working on the unique range of projects that exist within Aspire Logistics such as importing large trees into Doha, to assisting with the Turf Management team for Aspire Logistics and AST.

Colin Lyons from Ireland joins AST as Sr. Sports Field Construction Consultant having 27 years construction industry experience, of that 21 years directly within the sports industry. Colin brings a wealth of experience to AST having worked on projects across a number of governing bodies including FIFA, World Rugby, FIH, GAA and ECB. The last number of years has seen Colin’s career path steer in a commercial direction giving him a perfect mix of both technical and commercial expertise. Over the years, Colin has travelled extensively and been involved in the Construction and Maintenance of sports turf systems for many facilities and clients from local club and council to English FA, Scottish Rugby, Welsh rugby Union, Sri Lanka Cricket and many leading premier league teams in UK and Europe. Colin joins AST from Dutch company Greenfields BV with a strong synthetic turf background and where he was also the companies SME responsible for all Natural Grass, Hybrid and Agronomic projects throughout EMEA.

Bede has been involved in the turf industry for the past 13 years after graduating in Sports Turf Management in 2006. He has delivered sports turf surfaces for numerous sporting codes and events in international stadia both in New Zealand and internationally including the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 and the Rugby League World Cup 2017. He has experience working with warm and cool seasons grasses including transitioning in challenging climates as well as multi-sport venues including concert preparation and surface repair. For Bede, joining Aspire Sports Turf is an exciting and challenging decision to live and work in a new environment and culture. He looks forward to using the experience he has gained and the opportunity to further test himself in a new climate and country.