chief economic adviser and board member, Centre for Economics and Business Research; author, Women vs Capitalism
Professor Vicky Pryce is a board member of the Centre for Economics and Business Research and sits on the Economic Advisory Council of the British Chambers of Commerce and on the advisory board of OMFIF, the central banking think tank. She was previously senior managing director at FTI Consulting, director-general for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and deputy and then joint head of the UK Government’s Economic Service at the time of the Stern climate change review.
Before that, she was a partner at KPMG and held senior economic positions in banking and the oil sector. She has held a number of academic posts and is a fellow and council member of the Academy of Social Sciences, a companion of the British Academy of Management and a fellow of the Society of Business Economists. She is also co-founder and an NED of GoodCorporation, a company set up to advise on business ethics.
Her recent books include Redesigning Manufacturing (Routledge 2015); Why Women Need Quotas (Biteback 2015); Greekonomics (Biteback 2013); It’s the Economy, Stupid: economics for voters (Biteback 2015); Prisonomics (Biteback, 2013); Women vs Capitalism (Hurst, 2019); and co-author of How to Be a Successful Economist (OUP , 2022)
Follow Vicky on Twitter @realVickyPryce
retired course leader for PGCE Citizenship Education, Canterbury Christ Church University; author (jointly with Laila Nielsen) The Citizen in Teaching & Education (2020)
Ralph taught in high school, grammar school, further and higher education in Kent 1981–2019. A former GCSE chief examiner, he developed and led the pre-service course for Citizenship Education teachers at Canterbury Christ Church University 2002-19. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His most recent book is a comparative study which scrutinises opinions and insights of young people in Sweden and England concerning their perceptions of opportunities and barriers to political participation.
He was a member of the working group which developed the Olympic Values Education Programme for the International Olympic Committee. His published research concerns the realities of school provision of citizenship education and factors which influence it, as well as the potential for social change which the subject presents. His recent work concentrates on the contrast between the formal [what official versions of what happens] and the real [people’s lived daily experiences]. Ralph has spoken at conferences in the UK and in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Portugal and Spain. He is widely published in peer reviewed journals and edited collections.
Recently retired, Ralph continues to research and write, judge Debating Matters, watch non-league football, read detective fiction, and struggle to learn Swedish and Russian – but not simultaneously.
independent political consultant; principal of O’Brien Global Strategies LLC
Jon O’Brien is an independent political consultant based in Washington DC. He has worked to give voice to those who support sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as a core value and moral imperative. He is a leader in developing global strategies to advance reproductive freedom, make the moral case for choice, and counter conservative religious opposition to reproductive health access. Jon has worked on five continents with partners – including policy leaders, prochoice advocates, family planning associations, healthcare professionals, and others – to bolster their communications and advocacy to make gains in reproductive rights and access. He was deeply involved in law reform contributing notable victories in Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, and the Republic of Ireland among others. He worked for the International Planned Parenthood Federation as Program Manager for Europe and is the past president of Catholics for Choice.
lecturer, University of Dundee; leader, joint architecture programme, University of Dundee and University of Wuhan in China.
Dr Penny Lewis leads the joint architecture programme at the University of Dundee and the University of Wuhan in China. She studied architecture and became an architectural journalist, writing for magazine, newspapers and editing Prospect, the Scottish architectural magazine before becoming a lecturer and academic. She is an advocate for parents; she was chair of her children’s Parent Council and has played an active role in the campaign against the Named Person Scheme (NtNP) and the campaign against the smacking ban (Be Reasonable).
former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales; Green peer
Baroness Natalie Bennett was leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012-2016, during which time it won 1.1million votes in the 2015 General Election – more than in every previous general election added together. Natalie became the second Green peer in October 2019.
She was a former journalist on The Times and the Bangkok Post, and editor of the Guardian Weekly. Natalie has an academic background in agricultural science, Asian studies and mass communications, and is a lifelong feminist. She’s a passionate supporter of the universal basic income, working for a food strategy that doesn’t allow multinational companies and supermarkets to decide what we eat, and thinks education should be for life, not just exams.
Natalie sees the need to address the Climate and Nature Emergencies as an opportunity to create a far healthier, happier society.
Follow Natalie on Twitter: @natalieben
engineer; student
Tegan is currently working as an engineer in London Transport Services, after training for this career path as part of a social enterprise scheme.
However, she has recently decided to follow her interests and retrain, so is undertaking a degree with the Open Uni in PPE with the aim to work with organisations focussed on social change, and with encouraging positive political discourse.
Tegan has a background experience in mental health, and this is one of her areas of interest, along with criminal justice.
financial services and private equity advisor and investor
Anne Fergusson is a private equity advisor and investor. She offers pro bono advice to young people seeking to galvanise their working lives and matches experienced business people building ethical projects to sources of ethical funding, for which she receives a fee if the deal happens.
Her background is a mix of academia, executive search and business development and she is a Scottish chartered accountant. Although she has never practiced, she has used these skills to support her work throughout her career.
She lived and worked in London for 15 years before returning to her home town of Edinburgh four years ago.
journalist, writer and broadcaster; presenter, Radio 4’s FutureProofing and How to Disagree; forthcoming book, Technology is not the problem
Timandra Harkness is a writer, broadcaster and presenter. Her first book Big Data: does size matter? was published by Bloomsbury and her second book Technology is not the problem will be published by Harper Reach in May 2024. Watch her TedX talk, What Is Knowledge In The Age Of Big Data? here. Timandra writes and presents BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing, How To Disagree and Steelmanning series. Documentaries including Data, Data Everywhere, Personality Politics, and Five Knots for BBC Radio 4, and Are You A Numbers Person? for the BBC World Service. She was resident reporter on social psychology series The Human Zoo.
Since winning the Independent newspaper’s column-writing competition, Timandra has written for publications including the Telegraph, Guardian, Sunday Times, Unherd, Men’s Health and Significance (the journal of the Royal Statistical Society). She formed the first comedy science double-act in the UK with neuroscientist Dr Helen Pilcher. Since then she’s written and performed scientific and mathematical comedy from Adelaide (Australia) to Pittsburgh PA. In August 2019, Timandra took a new solo show, Take A Risk, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Timandra is a graduate member of the Royal Statistical Society, and a founder member of their Data Ethics and Governance Section.
sociological researcher
Sociological researcher with interests including the impact of sport on society, Chris is also interested in the role popular music plays in societal development. Originally a builder, Chris entered the social work profession in the late eighties. He worked for the probation service then as an approved mental health social worker in Central Manchester before turning to lecturing on social work programmes. When not watching his beloved Manchester City, Chris can be spotted DJing or riding around Manchester on his vintage Lambretta scooter.
MD, Pinch Point Communications
Sarah is MD of Pinch Point Communications, an Independent Advisor to the Welsh Assembly Commission, a Trustee of Bristol University Students’ Union and Chair of the Taylor Bennett Foundation.
Starting as a BBC journalist, she has worked in corporate communications since 2000 and in 2013 founded Pinch Point Communications.
Sarah has been listed in the FT/Yahoo! Money and HERoes 100 Business List, for the last three years, which celebrates female leaders, who are working to support and encourage the female talent pipeline.
She was President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 2015. Sarah lives in Bristol and is evangelical about the joys of running.
