Lord Andrew Adonis
Lord Andrew Adonis is a Labour Party politician and journalist who served the Government for five years under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He began his career as an academic at Oxford University before becoming a journalist at the Financial Times and later The Observer. Lord Adonis was appointed in 1988 by Tony Blair to be an advisor at the Number 10 Policy Unit, becoming head in 2001 and serving until 2005 when he was appointed Minister for Schools until 2008. He served as Minister for Transport from 2008 to 2009 and then Transport Secretary from 2009 to 2010.
He has worked for a number of think tanks, is a board member of Policy Network and the author or co-author of several books, including several studies of the British class system. His latest book, Ernest Bevin: Labour’s Churchill, is a biography of the Labour politician Ernest Bevin whom, alongside Tony Blair, Adonis regards as a source of inspiration for the modern Labour Party.
Since 2021 he has been Chair of the European Movement.
Professor Julian Allwood FREng
Julian Allwood is Professor of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Cambridge. From 2009-13 he held an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship, to explore Material Efficiency as a climate mitigation strategy – delivering material services with less new material. This led to publication in 2012 of the book Sustainable Materials: with both eyes open – listed by Bill Gates as “one of the best six books I read in 2015.”
Julian was a Lead Author of the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) focussed on mitigating industrial emissions. Amongst others, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2017.
From 2019-24 he is director of UK FIRES – a £5m industry and multi-university programme aiming to explore all aspects of Industrial Strategy compatible with delivering zero emissions by 2050. ‘Absolute Zero’, the first publication of UK FIRES attracted widespread attention including a full debate in the House of Lords in February 2020, and has led to a string of other reports, research and impact.
Professor Robert Beckford
Professor Robert Beckford joined the University of Winchester in 2021 as Director of the new Institute of Climate and Social Justice. He is also the Professor of Theology at the Queen’s Ecumenical Foundation in Birmingham and Professor of Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Vu University in Amsterdam. Robert is scholar-activist specialising in the intersectionality of theology, ‘race’ and class in black religions of the Black Atlantic. He has written six monographs in this field. Robert also produces research across a range of media including television and radio documentaries, drama productions and contemporary urban music. He has won several awards for his research projects including a BAFTA.
Patrick Boggon
Patrick Boggon, a successful major fundraiser, and the Director of Tarnside Consulting www.tarnside.co.uk . He is committed to helping charities fundraise effectively and turn their visions into reality. Many of his projects, including The Auckland Project (£200m), Cheetham’s School of Music (£36m) and Lichfield Cathedral (£4m) have depended upon realizing ambitious new appeals. He is passionate about supporting people and causes as they build their culture of philanthropy, skills, and competence to set new targets and harness new income streams… and make good things happen.
The Most Revd and Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell
Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York. He has previously served as the Bishop of Chelmsford, Bishop of Reading, Canon Pastor at Peterborough Cathedral and Diocesan Missioner for the Diocese of Wakefield. He served in parishes in South London and Chichester.
He is a member of the Church of England’s Committee for Minority Ethnic Concerns, and Chair of Church Army, an Anglican society for evangelism and social outreach. He is a member of the House of Lords.
He is a well-known writer and speaker on evangelism, spirituality and catechesis. His latest book, Dear England, was published in March and addresses issues about how the Christian faith can shape the life of our nation. He is married to Rebecca who is a potter, and they have three sons and one grandson.
Bernard Donoghue
Bernard is the Chief Executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), the umbrella body for the UK’s most popular, important and iconic palaces, castles, museums, galleries, heritage sites, stately homes, cathedrals, churches, gardens, zoos and leisure attractions.
He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board and is the Mayor’s Ambassador for Culture. He has been a member of the UK Government’s Tourism Industry Council since 2014. In January 2021 he became Co-Chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board.
Bernard was Chair of the award-winning London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) between 2010 and 2021. In June 2021 he became Chair of the Board of the Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continually operating theatre in the English-speaking world. In November 2021 he was elected Chair of the People’s History Museum – the Museum of Democracy.
He is a member of the Cathedral Council of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. He was Chairman of WWF-UK’s Council for 10 years, until 2020, and is a former trustee of WWF-UK. He has been a trustee of Centrepoint, Kids in Museums, the Museum of The Home and the Heritage Alliance. He has been a judge for the Museum and Heritage Awards since 2003.
In October 2020 Bernard was named by Blooloop, the world’s leading online resource for professionals working in visitor attractions, as one of the world’s 50 most influential people in the museum sector.
The Very Revd Adrian Dorber
Adrian Dorber is Dean of Lichfield and Chair of the Association of English Cathedrals. He began ministry in Bracknell, moving to Reading as a Parish Priest, to Portsmouth as University Chaplain, lecturer and Public Orator, to Durham as Director of Ministries and Training, and then was appointed Dean at Lichfield in 2005. He headed the initiative that produced the Spiritual Capital report on the impact and role of English Cathedrals. He has been involved in teaching and learning at every level and enjoys facilitating adult education. Similarly he is committed to a “whole life” focus for faith and has been doing his best to understand, reach out and serve local, national and international interests.
Regina Ebner
Regina Ebner is the Partners in Action coordinator for the Christian conservation charity A Rocha UK. She works on networking Christian organisations, places of worship, adventure centres, conference centres and farms on caring for their land, for nature, people and climate.
Regina has a background in project development, team building and permaculture food growing. She has a passion for bringing people together to reconnect them through adventure, fun and learning to nature and the land. She lives at Ashburnham Place in East Sussex (one of the Partners in Action) with her goats and happy chickens.
In her spare time she has developed a charity in Madagascar, with a focus on sustainable education and has headed up the development of a new school.
Azariah France-Williams
Fr. Azariah France-Williams is Rector of Ascension Church Hulme, which is a member of the HeartEdge Network. He is a broadcaster with BBC Radio who contributes to Pause for Thought as well as the Daily Service. Azariah is the author of Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England, published by SCM Press, and his second book will be published in 2022. Azariah is a Visiting Scholar with Sarum College in Salisbury. Azariah co-hosts the podcast (G)race with Revd Winnie Varghese, an Episcopalian priest serving in Atlanta, Georgia.
Josh Grear, Christian Aid
Josh Grear is the Children and Young People’s Project Officer at Christian Aid. His background is in community youth work with a focus on empowering young people to positively impact their world. Josh is managing the Letters for Creation project that is seeking to empower children to be courageous advocates on climate justice through prophetic art. Josh is passionate about church collaboration towards social justice.
Dr Lorna Gold
Dr Lorna Gold is Director of Movement Building with FaithInvest. She currently serves as the Board Chair of the Laudato Si Movement (formerly Global Catholic Climate Movement) and teaches part-time in Applied Social Studies at Maynooth University. Prior to her current roles, she led Trócaire’s Policy, Research and Advocacy for almost two decades, until April 2020. She holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the University of Glasgow and is a member of the Vatican Commission on the post-COVID world taskforce on economy. Her most recent book Climate Generation – Awakening to our Children’s Future was described by Naomi Klein as “an anguished journey into the heart of the climate crisis.” It tells her personal story of waking up to the reality of the ecological emergency as a mother, academic and person of faith.
The Very Revd Rogers Govender
Rogers Govender was appointed the Dean of Manchester in January 2006 after spending over twenty years as a parish priest in South Africa and Manchester.
His role at the Cathedral has involved major fabric interventions and repairs as well as extensive change management of the outreach ministry of the Cathedral as Mother Church of the Diocese of Manchester. He has spearheaded the outreach to other faith communities and the statutory sector and community groups. The Cathedral is now known for its reputation as a place of gathering for the entire community without exception. This has placed the Cathedral at the centre of religious and civic life of the city.
Rogers has a special interest in leadership development and is a regular speaker at Common Purpose and other community events. He is a founding trustee of We Stand Together, a member of Manchester Climate Change Board, and First Patron of The Booth Centre for homelessness and Patron of CAHN (Caribbean & African Health Network) forum, as well as being Chair to a newly formed organisation called Sangha (Connecting people & building community). He is also a member of Our Manchester, the representative group responsible for setting the ten year strategy for the development of the City of Manchester. His community activities include Modern Slavery, Our Faith Our Planet, and the Peace and Unity initiative which seeks to bring together a culturally diverse group to celebrate our unity and build cohesion in the city. Rogers also chairs the Challenging Hate forum which was established over a decade ago.
Rogers is passionate in promoting diversity in our society and does this through networking and partnership working. He believes that the Church and religion in general, can make a positive difference in society and in through these means he seeks to build alliances across various groups to add value to our community.
In recognition of his role in the City of Manchester and his Inter-faith work Rogers was awarded a MBE in the 2018 Queen’s New Year Honours List, and in 2022 was appointed to the Archbishops Council and elected to the Board of the Church Commissioners.
Dr Guy Hayward
Guy Hayward is Director of the British Pilgrimage Trust (britishpilgrimage.org), which he co-founded in 2014, and leads guided pilgrimages around Britain. He has been interviewed about modern pilgrimage for BBC1 TV’s ‘Sunday Morning Live’ and BBC2 TV’s ‘Pilgrimage’ and Channel 4’s ‘Britain’s Ancient Tracks’, contributes to BBC Radio 4, and has been featured in The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Porter, Tatler, Condé Nast Traveller, Country Walking and Waitrose Weekend. He has created pilgrim routes for English Heritage and the Association of English Cathedrals. Guy completed a PhD at Cambridge on how singing forms community, founded choralevensong.org and is half of musical comedy double act Bounder & Cad.
His website is guyhayward.com and you can follow him on FB / IG / TW on @drguyhayward / @pilgrimtrust / @choralevensong / @boundercad
The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave
Dr Michael Ipgrave has been the 99th bishop of Lichfield since 2016. He previously served as Bishop of Woolwich and as Archdeacon of Southwark; before then he worked as Inter Faith Relations Adviser to the Archbishops’ Council and served in parishes in Leicester, Japan and Rutland. Bishop Michael is a member of the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission and of the Liturgical Commission, and he chairs the Council of Christians and Jews. In 2011, he was made an OBE for services to inter faith relations in London.
The Revd Hilary Ison
Hilary has been in licensed lay ministry since 1980 and ordained ministry since 1987 in parish and sector ministry, theological education and from 2008-2017 as a National Adviser for Selection in the Bishops’ Advisory Panels for ordained ministry.
She trained in Organisational Consultancy and Systems Leadership (MA, Tavistock Clinic 2002) and since 2017 undertook further training as a practitioner in Systems Constellations www.systemicconstellations.com
Hilary offers 1:1 supervision sessions for ministers and clergy and has facilitated regular reflective practice groups for incumbents in their first post of responsibility in the Diocese of London.
Her interest in building resilience in congregations and ministers has been stimulated and informed through participation in a 3 year research project (2017-20) looking at how better to prepare ministers to cope with tragedy and trauma in congregations. This has resulted in the development of resources and delivery of training days for ordinands and curates, and, during the Covid Pandemic, providing on-line workshops for those in ministry.
Hilary lives in London with her husband, David, and has four adult children and enjoys walking her black Labrador dog, Phoebe!
Austen Ivereigh
Austen Ivereigh is a British writer, journalist, and Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. A commentator on the BBC and regular contributor to The Tablet, Commonweal and America, he is author of two biographies of Pope Francis: The Great Reformer. Francis and the making of a radical pope (2014) and Wounded Shepherd. Pope Francis and his struggle to convert the Catholic Church (2019).
During the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 Dr Ivereigh collaborated with Pope Francis on his vision for a post-Covid world. Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. In Conversation with Austen Ivereigh was published by Simon & Schuster in December 2020.
Inspired in part by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ 2019 he moved with his wife and dogs to a small farm in Herefordshire, from where he writes ‘Wild Faith’, an irregular Tablet column on his attempts to be ecological.
Edward Kellow
Edward Kellow has been working in sustainability leadership for over twenty years in the UK and internationally. As head of learning and leadership at LEAD International (2006-2012), he co-ordinated and supported local teams of trainers who were designing and delivering global leadership programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and China. In 2012 he designed a course on Sustainable Cities for Rio+20 that won the international public vote for the best learning event. In 2018 Ihe designed and delivered a leadership course for senior civil servants at the Afghan Ministry of Labour (MOLSA), Kabul. A former intelligence officer, he has sold shirts at Harrods, supported HIV/AIDS volunteers in East London, and set up an innovative greetings card company called ‘Twisted Yarns’.
Andy Lester
Andy Lester is Head of Conservation for the Christian Wildlife Charity A Rocha UK. Andy is a Chartered Environmentalist and economist with degrees in green economy and global environmental issues from Bournemouth and London Universities. Andy writes frequently for three regional newspapers, and speaks regularly on national radio on faith and ecological issues. Andy lives with his South African wife in Hampshire with their four boys.
The Venerable Marlene Rosemarie Mallett
Marlene Rosemarie Mallett is a British Anglican priest and sociologist. Since March 2020, she has served as Archdeacon of Croydon in the Diocese of Southwark. Before ordination in the Church of England, she was research sociologist and academic, specialising in international development and ethno-cultural mental health. She was priest-in-charge and then Vicar of St John the Evangelist, Angell Town from 2007 to 2020.
The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH
The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH entered politics at a young age as an active Young Conservative and stood as a candidate for Lambeth Council aged only 21, winning the seat and becoming chairman of the Housing Committee. He was elected to Parliament winning Huntingdonshire in 1979, and became a minister in 1985. He served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet from 1987 to 1990 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Foreign Secretary; and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Sir John became Prime Minister in November 1990. At the 1992 General Election, the Conservatives received the highest number of popular votes in history.
Under his stewardship, Britain’s longest period of continuous economic growth began. He initiated the Northern Ireland Peace Process, which would lead to the Good Friday Agreement. Sir John retired from the House of Commons at the 2001 election.
In 2005 Sir John became a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, an honour which is in the personal gift of The Queen, and limited in number to 24.
Fr James Martin SJ
Fr James Martin SJ is an American Jesuit priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America. In 2017, Pope Francis appointed Martin as a consultant to the Dicastery for Communication. A New York Times Best Selling author, Martin’s books include The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, and Learning to Pray. He is a sought-after public speaker and media commentator on subjects such as the life and teachings of Jesus and Ignatian spirituality as inspired by the life and teachings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
The Very Revd Geoff Miller
Geoff Miller has been Dean of Newcastle since October 2018.
Born and bred in the large council estate of Wythenshawe in Manchester he had a short career in teaching at secondary level in Leeds before he began training for ministry at Nottingham. He was ordained in 1983 and served his title in the Parish of Jarrow. There followed parish responsibilities in Billingham, South Shields, Stockton on Tees and Darlington before moving to the Cathedral as a Residentiary Canon and Diocesan Urban Officer in 1999. In 2005 he became Archdeacon of Northumberland remaining attached to the Cathedral until becoming acting Dean in 2018. He has been Dean throughout a major refurbishment of the Cathedral buildings and its life and mission. He is passionate about serving a Cathedral that takes its context as its starting point, where relationships are taken seriously and that radical welcome is at the heart of its daily life.
Michael Minta
Michael Minta is the Head of Bishoprics and Cathedrals at the Church Commissioners for England. The Church Commissioners provide housing and office accommodation for Diocesan Bishops and Archbishops in England and fund their working costs. As Head of Bishoprics and Cathedrals, Michael is responsible for leading the Church Commissioners work in serving Bishops and Cathedrals in their ministry, acts as Secretary to the Bishoprics and Cathedrals Committee and also leads the Lambeth Palace Library team.
Michael is part of the worshipping community at Chelmsford Cathedral, formally Chair of Governors at The Cathedral School Chelmsford, and is currently a trustee of YMCA Essex and the Bishop Palace Trust in Wells. To keep fit, he enjoys cycling and running around after Hollie, his Cockapoo!
The Very Revd Andrew Nunn
Andrew became Dean of Southwark in 2012 having been Sub Dean and Canon Precentor from 1999. He grew up in Leicester and studied for a degree in Public Administration before reading Theology at Leeds University before ordination. He was formed for the priesthood at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
Andrew’s ministry before being at the Cathedral was principally in parishes in inner-city and suburban Leeds, where he was also chaplain to a Church of England secondary school. After leaving Leeds, he became Chaplain to the Bishop of Southwark.
Andrew contributes to the life of the church by teaching and speaking at a number of courses and events in the Diocese of Southwark and further afield outside the Diocese. He is a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and on the Panel of Chairs of the Synod. He served as a member of the Crown Nominations Commission from 2011 until 2017. In 2021 his book The Hour Is Come was published by Canterbury Press, to be followed by Bethlehem Bound in 2022. He writes a weekly blog called Living God and is well known on Twitter for his daily prayers.
His many interests include theatre, cinema, reading and travel and his particular passion is living out and helping to encourage an inclusive church in which all people feel at home and valued.
Catherine Odell, Christian Aid
Catherine Odell is the Children and Young People’s Manager at Christian Aid. She and her team are passionate about engaging young people in issues of global justice and in finding ways to amplify children’s voices. She is keen to tell you about how your cathedral might engage with a project called Letters for Creation – a global prophetic art-making project on climate justice.
Revd Yejide Peters, Conference Chaplain
Revd Yejide Peters is the Associate Dean and Director of Formation at Berkeley Divinity School, the Episcopal seminary at Yale, CT, having previously served as Vicar of St. Chad’s with St. Mary’s and St. Alkmund’s in Shrewsbury. Her experience also includes nine years as rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, NY, Associate Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA, and board leadership in organisations such as Forward Movement and Rural Migrant Ministries.
Revd Yejide Peters brings to the Conference a wealth of pastoral experience on two continents, keen insights into both academic and practical aspects of theology, and a passion for diversity and inclusion, as well as forming, supporting, and preparing leaders from diverse backgrounds for service to Christ’s church and the world.
Dr Eve Poole
Dr Eve Poole has a BA from Durham, an MBA from Edinburgh, and a PhD in theology and capitalism from Cambridge. She is the author of several books, including Leadersmithing, which was Highly Commended in the 2018 Business Book Awards. She was Third Church Estates Commissioner (2018-2021) and the first female Chairman of the Board of Governors at Gordonstoun (2015-2021). She taught leadership at Ashridge Business School for 15 years, having previously worked for the Church Commissioners and Deloitte Consulting, where she specialised in change management. She is a regular contributor to Thought for the Day for BBC Radio Scotland.
The Revd Canon Dr Sharon Prentis
Sharon is the Dean of Ministry at St Mellitus College, a national theological education provider based in four different centres, spread across the UK: London, Chelmsford, the Southwest, and the East Midlands and Honorary Canon Theologian at Lichfield Cathedral. After gaining postgraduate degrees in Sociology, Anthropology and Theology, her work has straddled church, community and education contexts as a practitioner, researcher and teacher for 20 years. She has worked in church mission and helped to set up a social enterprise for community health at a large faith-based organisation. During her time in higher education, Sharon was involved in several ‘micro-projects’ aimed at inclusion and participation in communities with limited access to mainstream services. As a result, the Department of Health recognised her work when she became a Mary Seacole Scholar for her interfaith project on increasing health awareness and access to services. After becoming ordained, her community development work continued for several years as an integral part of her ministry. More recently as the Intercultural Mission Enabler in Birmingham, a key focus was to support churches around mission and inclusion where she helped developed their strategy.
As a long term advocate of full participation of all God’s people, Sharon serves as a trustee for a national charitable organisation which promotes an integrated missional approach; this recent role is in keeping with her conviction that Christians have an important role to play in healing divisions in communities. In 2019, she edited the book ‘Every Tribe’, which tells the stories of diverse ‘saints’ from around the world. In addition to leading spiritual retreats and teaching, recent work has focused on intercultural church, and the meaning of corporate lament as a conduit for forgiveness, peace and reconciliation.
Dr Anne Richards
Dr Anne Richards is, from the start of this year, the Church of England’s National Public Policy Adviser (society, spirituality, apologetics). Prior to this, she was the National Adviser for Mission Theology, New Religious Movements and Alternative Spiritualities and as such remains the convener of the ecumenical Mission Theology Advisory Group. MTAG specialises in providing resources on Spirituality, Theology, Reconciliation, Evangelism and Mission, including examining the relationship between all of these and social action.
With MTAG, Anne has written books such as The Search for Faith and the Witness of the Church, Presence and Prophecy, Transparencies, Sense Making Faith and Unreconciled? Online resources she has produced with MTAG include The Dispossession Project on environment, prison, and the concept of ‘home’, Five Themes in Theology of Evangelism, the Liberation and Entrapment Project, the Excarnation, Beyond Bodies, project on living with technology in the modern world, and materials on Trafficking, and Social Engagement and Evangelism, including an examination of the Brexit vote.
Current projects include work on mortal remains, and MTAG’s Ancient Wisdom, Modern Mission series on the contemporary importance of saints.
Mark Russell, FRSA
Mark was appointed as Chief Executive of The Children’s Society in 2019 and is passionately committed to social justice and fighting for children and young people to feel hopeful and happy. Mark grew up in Northern Ireland and read Law at Queen’s University Belfast. He has 10 years’ experience as a youth worker, supporting young people in England and Northern Ireland. In 1999, Mark was awarded the ‘British Gas Tomorrow’s People Award’ for his cross-community work, bringing Catholic and Protestant young people together across Northern Ireland in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement. Before joining The Children’s Society Mark served as Chief Executive of Church Army for almost 13 years. Mark has been a Trustee of The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England and has served as Chair of The Marylebone Project, the largest women only homeless project in the UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and tweets @markrusselluk
Dr Rupert Sheldrake
Dr Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than ninety technical papers and nine books, including Science and Spiritual Practices. As a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, he was Director of Studies in Cell Biology, and was also a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. He worked in Hyderabad, India, as Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and also lived for two years in the ashram of Fr Bede Griffiths in Tamil Nadu. From 2005-2010, he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project for the study of unexplained human and animal abilities, funded from Trinity College, Cambridge. He is currently a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, California and of Schumacher College in Dartington, Devon. He lives in London and is married to Jill Purce, with whom he has two sons. His web site is www.sheldrake.org.
Professor Christopher Southgate
Christopher Southgate is Professor of Christian Theodicy at the University of Exeter. He recently directed the project ‘How can congregations be helped in times of tragedy?’ which led to the edited volume Tragedies and Christian Congregations (Routledge). Chris is also the author of Theology in a Suffering World: Glory and Longing (CUP), and of eight collections of poetry, most recently Rain falling by the River (Canterbury Press).
Jenny Stewart
Jenny Stewart joined the Charity Commission in 2019 and is the Assistant Director of Registration and Customer Service. She started her career in HM Diplomatic service before leaving the Civil Service for the private sector in organisations such as BT, Vernons Pools and Seton UK. Jenny was appointed as Chief Executive of Liverpool and Sefton Chambers of Commerce in 2012, where she represented the chamber and its members in both commercial and civic roles. She was also a trustee of several charities, and became interim CEO at Liverpool Football Club Foundation in 2018.
Jenny is married with four daughters and two grandchildren. At home she enjoys getting out for long walks with her (very barky) miniature schnauzer Dolly.
Dr Selina Stone
Dr Selina Stone is Tutor and Lecturer in Theology at St Mellitus College in London and completed her PhD thesis in Pentecostal Theology and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham in 2021. Dr Stone’s research and teaching focuses on the themes of politics, power and social justice, which she began exploring as a practitioner, while working as a community organiser and programme di-rector at the Centre for Theology and Community from 2013-2017. She is a sought-after speaker and consultant; teaching, training and advising community leaders, charities and churches who are seeking to work towards a more just world in which all people might flourish.
The Revd Dr Gillian Straine
The Revd Dr Gillian Straine is the CEO of The Guild of Health and St Raphael and creator of The Healthy Healing Hub project. She is a priest, theologian and author, with a PhD in Physics and a MA in Theology from the University of Oxford. She is dedicated to interdisciplinary thinking across the boundaries of medicine, science, faith, public health and community leadership. Her publications include Science and Religion: A path through polemic (SPCK, 2014 ), and Cancer: A path through polemic (SPCK, 2017). She is a visiting fellow of Sarum College, an elected Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion, and Chair of the Science and Religion Forum.
Justin Thacker, Christian Aid
Justin Thacker is married to Cathi, has three wonderful children and lives in Chesterfield. He loves speaking and writing about global justice issues and helping people connect their faith with issues of justice. He is the Just Scripture Advisor for Christian Aid, and a freelance theological consultant. His first career was in medicine during which time he worked in Kenya as a paediatrician. He then became a theologian and worked as the Academic Director at Cliff College while writing Global Poverty: A Theological Guide. Before working at Christian Aid he led the campaigning organisation Church Action for Tax Justice.
The Rt Revd Graham Usher
Graham Usher is the bishop of Norwich and lead bishop for the environment. Previously he was bishop of Dudley, rector of Hexham, and a vicar in Middlesbrough. He is a Church Commissioner and a member of the Anglican Consultative Council. With a background as an ecologist, he has maintained an interest in this area, previously chairing the Forest Commission in the Northeast and being a board member of the Northumberland National Park Authority, and through his writing – Places of Enchantment and The Way Under Our Feet. He is a keen beekeeper.
