About

I have spent 15 years working with people who have experienced trauma, poverty and other forms of structural inequality in society.

I love working with organisations, institutions and people that want to use their learning effectively to challenge injustice and inspire change. Communities are more powerful than hierarchies.

I have a range of governance experience, being a Trustee at St Cuthbert’s Centre, lead for communications strategy development at Xenia, and I’ve held a number of leadership roles in non-profit organisations, including:

  • managing volunteers and homelessness services
  • director of business development
  • strategic communications lead
  • research and evaluation lead. 

I have additionally served as a Trustee of two charities for over 7 years and in the past, I held a Public Duty through the Home Office as a member of the Independent Monitoring Board of an immigration removal centre, monitoring standards to ensure that detainees are treated fairly and humanely.

At the same time I have pursued my academic career, gaining a Masters in Public Administration from the University of York with distinction, and I am now working on a doctorate in social policy, examining the interactions between housing and immigration policy. I’m committed to understanding the real-life impacts of policy, through research and working with organisations to learn how policy affects them.  

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Areas of interest and experience 

  • Homelessness and rough sleeping
  • Multiple exclusion and multiple disadvantage
  • Physical and learning disabilities
  • Co-production
  • System change
  • Immigration, refugee and migrant rights
  • Mental health
  • Human rights

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Qualifications and training

  • Doctor of Social and Public Policy (current); Cardiff University
  • Public Engagement Academy 2021; Cambridge University, the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Wellcome Connecting Science.
  • Outstanding Leadership; Cass Business School, Centre for Charity Effectiveness
  • Master of Public Administration (distinction); University of York
  • Meeting the mental health needs of survivors of domestic and sexual violence (level 3); OCN
  • Trauma Informed Care for Managers; AVA
  • Prince2 Project Management

Professional memberships

  • Social Research Association
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • Member of Centre for Homelessness Impact’s Research Network
  • Housing Studies Association
  • Homeless Link
  • NACCOM
  • HEAR (Human Equalities and Rights) Network