Tristan is passionate about sustainable development, poverty alleviation, social capital and organisational culture, and wellbeing. His background is in geographical and environmental sciences but for over 20 years his interest in social processes has driven his work, particularly his work on social capital. Tristan has diverse experience, having been a university lecturer for 10 years, started several businesses, run an environmental newspaper, been a software developer, organised events, given conference and public presentations, conducted research, and provided consulting and training services to organisations and governments in numerous countries.

Tristan’s biggest passion is the concept of social capital, which he believes can draw attention to the importance of social and cultural processes and can be used to help transform organisations into productive places people want to work. He believes an understanding of social capital can help to make any organisation, project, or program more effective, more efficient, and ultimately more successful.

Tristan has developed extensive resources on social capital that are widely and freely available. These resources are accessed by approximately 30,000 people per month, and he volunteers a great deal of time to helping people and organisations to understand and use social capital and related concepts. Tristan has established a social capital research group with over 1,000 members from over 130 countries and he facilitates regular webinars by leading scholars and practitioners.

Tristan’s work is driven by the desire to help people, organisations, and communities with a strong focus on the principles of sustainable development.