Dr Pauline Hadaway

co-founder, The Liverpool Salon; former director, Belfast Exposed Photography

Pauline Hadaway has worked in arts and education since 1990 and is co-founder of The Liverpool Salon, which organises public debates on a range of topics. 

As director of Belfast Exposed Photography between 2000 and 2013, she oversaw its transformation from a community photography resource into an internationally renowned gallery of contemporary photography. In her doctoral research at the University of Manchester, Pauline explored different uses of arts, heritage and culture as tools for peace building and economic and social reconstruction in Northern Ireland. She is currently part of a team based at the University of Liverpool researching uses of art in conflict transformation. 

She has been published widely, including Policing the Public Gaze (2009), a report for the campaign group The Manifesto Club;  Re-imagining Titanic, re-imaging Belfast in Relaunching Titanic: memory and marketing in the ‘post -conflict city’ (2013) and Escaping the Panopticon, a chapter in Photography Reframed: visions in photographic culture, published by I.B. Tauris (2019). Her latest publication is Callaghan and Northern Ireland a chapter in James Callaghan: An Underrated Prime Minister, co-authored with Kevin Bean (2020).

Hilary Salt

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actuary; founder, First Actuarial

Hilary is an actuary who advises trustees and employers on pensions. She also works with trade unions where she assists in collective bargaining situations and advises on the pension schemes run by trade unions themselves. She has worked extensively with the Communication Workers Union devising the ground-breaking Collective Defined Contribution proposal which ended their dispute with Royal Mail.

Hilary also provides policy advice to a number of organisations and is the independent actuarial adviser to the NHS Pension Scheme’s Scheme Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Policy and Public Affairs Board of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Hilary has two grown up sons, a lovingly tended garden, a VW campervan and a season ticket to Old Trafford.

Follow Hilary on Twitter: @redactuary

Thilo Spahl

journalist and psychologist; author, Die Steinzeit steckt uns in den Knochen

Thilo Spahl is a journalist and psychologist. He has published widely on issues relating to science and technology. Two of his books (Leben, Natur Wissenschaft – alles, was man wissen muss and Die Steinzeit steckt uns in den Knochen) have been listed on the Spiegel bestseller list. He is married with two children and lives in Berlin.

Jonathan Berchner

pastor, EKBO (Protestant Church of Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia) / Protestant Parish of Luckenwalde

Jonathan grew up in different parts of Brandenburg, studied mostly in Berlin and Prague, before deciding to work with people in a very diverse and creative job environment. Jonathan has been a lay judge and was a youth worker, but has now been a pastor for the last three years.

Naomi Denny

volunteer coordinator, Visioneers e.V.

Naomi Denny hails from Ireland and has been based in Berlin for several years. She has worked with several tech start up companies and has been most recently active as volunteer coordinator with Visioneers e.V., a Berlin based NGO with a focus on social projects assisting disadvantaged communities. Naomi completed her studies in Russian & Latin at Trinity College Dublin followed later by a Postgrad Diploma in Library and Information Studies at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

Matthias Goedeking

PhD Researcher, Hertie Centre for International Security

Matthias Goedeking holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations and is currently working as a PhD researcher at the Hertie Centre for International Security in Berlin. He has previously worked in the field of political communication for national and international NGOs and spent time working at the OSCE Presence in Albania. His current research interests revolve around ethnic conflicts, rebel alliances and civil war dynamics. In addition, he has published on Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East and Northern Africa. He lives and works in Berlin.

Follow Matthias on Twitter @mgoedeking

Alan Posener

journalist and author; former opinion editor, Die Welt

Born 1949 in London, Alan spent his childhood in Britain and Malaysia, and has lived in Germany since 1962.

As a student Alan was involved in radical politics, as a member of the Maoist KPD based in Dortmund. Later – after a short period of ‘Berufsverbot’ – he worked as a teacher in Berlin. Alan gave up teaching in 1990 and became a freelance writer, translator and rock singer.

Alan is author of about a dozen books, including Benedict’s Crusade: The Attack of the Vatican on Modern Society. He has worked for Die Welt in diverse functions, among them editor of the op-ed page, since 2000. He also writes regularly for Zeitonline and occasionally for The Guardian and is often heard on the BBC and seen on Deutsche Welle TV.

Alan has been involved with several blogs, most notably with the Achse des Guten, which threw him out several years ago. He is now a contributor to Starke Meinungen.

Follow Alan on Twitter @APosener

Sabine Beppler-Spahl

chair, Freiblickinstitut e.V; CEO, Sprachkunst36; author, Brexit-Demokratischer Aufbruch in Großbritannien; Germany correspondent, spiked

Sabine Beppler-Spahl is chair of the German liberal think tank Freiblickinstitut e.V., which organises the Berlin Salons, and she is the Germany correspondent for spiked.

Sabine studied economics at the University of Hamburg and went to school in Hong Kong and Germany. She is also a regular contributor to the German magazine Novo and has published articles in Die Welt, Berliner Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Zeitschrift Merkur and other publications.

Her book Brexit-Demokratischer Aufbruch in Großbritannien (Brexit – the struggle for democracy in Great Britain) was published by Parodos Verlag in March 2019.

Dr. Sven Speer

chief of staff, Katja Suding (FDP), Member of the German Parliament

Dr. Speer holds a degree in political science and history and a PhD in political science. He started his professional career as a scholar at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’ at the University of Münster. Afterwards, he worked for several members of parliament in Berlin and Hanover and was managing director of an association of private schools.

Additionally, he founded the Open Religious Policy Forum advocating freedom for religion and non-religion. In this function, he gave speeches worldwide from Amman and Jerusalem to Salt Lake City.

Besides his current position as chief of staff of Katja Suding, vice chair of the Liberals in the German parliament, he is founder of www.inteero.de, an online interior design company.

He held scholarships of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United State in Washington DC, and the Rhenian Leadership College in Düsseldorf.

Julia Rawlins

international programmes lead, Climate-KIC

Julia has worked at the intersection of education/culture/sustainability for several international organisations in Europe and other parts of the world. Her current focus is on urban climate solutions through a systems transformation approach. She has an MA in Literature & History and an MSc in Environmental Policy and is passionate about creating broader access to nature and wildlife in cities!