Kolja Zydatiß

author, Cancel Culture: Democracy in Danger; editor, upday

Kolja Zydatiss studied psychology, neuroscience and statistics. Since 2016, he has worked for a variety of online- and print-media. Currently Kolja is an editor for the German edition of the news aggregator app upday. He is also the socio-political spokesperson for the Freiblickinstitut e.V. debate institute.

Kolja’s first book, Cancel Culture: Demokratie in Gefahr (Cancel Culture: Democracy in Danger) was published in March 2021 by Solibro, Münster. It was awarded the Ferdinand Friedensburg Prize 2021 by the Ferdinand Friedensburg Stiftung e.V.

Rachel Parr

senior operations manager, Oxford Summer Courses, Bridgemark Education

As the senior operations manager of Oxford Summer Courses, an Oxford based education company, Rachel manages all of the practical elements involved in delivering short academic, residential courses to over 2000 students across a variety of national and international locations including India, Singapore, North and South America, and across the UK. 

Before this, Rachel served in the British Army for 20 years as a professional logistician, specialising in training, education, and operational planning.  Her operational service includes tours of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Northern Ireland.  She was made an MBE in 2012 for her work in the drawdown of UK operations in Iraq. 

Rachel graduated in 1994 from Cardiff University with a First-class honours in Archaeology, a subject which she hopes to return to, one day.  In her spare time, Rachel enjoys running the dog and dragging her long-suffering family around historical sites.

Beverley Briggs

creative producer
The Forge

Beverley is the creative producer at The Forge – a specialist participatory arts organisation – where she develops innovative programmes in partnership with schools.  She is particularly interested in exploring how the arts can support literacy and oracy in the classroom. Prior to joining The Forge, Beverley was a head of english in a secondary school and a regular TES columnist. She has worked extensively within the cultural and educational sectors and is currently studying for a Doctorate in Education at Newcastle University.

Toby Jones

British actor Toby Jones is known for his roles both in the theatre and on screen. Toby has most recently been cast in both Studiocanal, NETFLIX and Blueprint Picture’s A Boy Called Christmas and theNetflix film, The Last Thing He Wanted, written and directed by Oscar nominated Dee Rees. He has also been cast in Potboiler Film’s The Sands of Venus, and the Filmscience film First Cow.  

This year Toby will voice the role of the Reverend Chasuble for the animated adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and has most recently finished filming the Netflix prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Taren Egerton. Last year he returned to the stage in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, to high acclaim. He starred in a number of films including French comedy film Normandy Nude, Lionsgate’s World War One drama Journey’s End and blockbuster, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. He also reprised his role in Mackenzie Crook’s comedy Detectorists on BBC Four, for which he won Best Male Performance in a Comedy at the BAFTAs. Toby can most recently be seen in Don’t Forget the Driver, a series he co-wrote for BBC 2, alongside Tim Crouch. 

Toby’s many other accolades include Best British Actor at the London Film Critics Circle Awards for his role as ‘Truman Capote’ in Infamous and BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his role as Alfred Hitchcock in the HBO/BBC television movie The Girl.

Sarah Price

head of Locomotion
Science Museum Group

Sarah is head of Locomotion, part of the Science Museum Group, which can be found in Shildon, the world’s first railway town. Before joining Locomotion in August 2018 she was head of Engagement and Learning for Culture Durham, part of Durham University, where she led the team that was responsible for formal and informal learning, visitor experience and special exhibitions. Sarah’s role at Locomotion is to manage all aspects of the operational delivery on site and to lead the museum through a new Masterplan development which involves improving the visitor experience through a refresh of the existing interpretation, introducing a changed emphasis in programming, restoring the historic assets on site and building  a new 4000m2 facility to increase the number of railway vehicles on display. Despite knowing next to nothing about railways and being on a steep learning curve, she is excited about helping Locomotion realise its true potential.

Katherine East

teaching fellow in Early Modern History
Newcastle University

Katie is currently a teaching fellow in Early Modern History at Newcastle University, having previously held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship with the University. Her research focuses on early modern intellectual culture, particularly the aspects of that culture which contributed to the formation of radical political and religious ideas. Katie has a particular interest in how public debate helped shape early modern ideas, and the different intellectual tools used to manage these exchanges. These are the themes of her first monograph, The Radicalization of Cicero: John Toland and Strategic Editing in the Early Enlightenment (2017).

Jonathan Blackie CBE

visiting professor
Northumbria University/North East Culture Partnership

Jonathan was the senior Government civil servant for North East England for about ten years, including the 2004 referendum to create and Elected Regional Assembly for the region, retiring in 2011.

He is currently advisor to the twelve North East local authorities for the Case for Culture, author of Borderlands: Rescaling Economic Development in Northern England in the context of Greater Scottish Autonomy, independent trustee at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums and chair of Alnwick Garden Trust.

Formerly Regional Director, Government Office North East, Director One North East, Regional Director English Partnerships, and Director Newcastle City Challenge.

Recently chair of New Writing North and St Chads College Durham University.

Saskia Clubb

anthropology student, Oxford Brookes University

Saskia debated with Ravensbourne School, making it to the 2017 National Finals with her team. She has interned with the Academy of Ideas, worked for the NHS and as a swimming teacher. She is now a student of anthropology at Oxford Brookes University with the goal of going into teaching in the future.

Rachel Hammersley

senior lecturer in Intellectual History
Newcastle University, UK

Rachel Hammersley is an intellectual historian based at Newcastle University. She is interested in the history of political thought – particularly concepts such as republicanism, democracy and revolution – and in the ways in which political ideas intersect with religious beliefs. She is the author of several books and a number of articles including: French Revolutionaries and English Republicans: The Cordeliers Club, 1790-1794; The English Republican Tradition and Eighteenth-Century France: Between the Ancients and the Moderns; and (as editor) Revolutionary Moments: Reading Revolutionary Texts. Her intellectual biography of the seventeenth-century political thinker James Harrington is due to appear with Oxford University Press in the autumn. Rachel also writes a regular blog which explores early modern political ideas and their relevance today: http://www.rachelhammersley.com

Jon Bryan

regional support official
University and College Union

Jon works as an official at the University and College Union (UCU). He has been involved in trade unions all of his working life, having previously been a leading lay representative for NATFHE – one of the predecessor unions of UCU. Prior to his current role, he worked in further education colleges across the north east and led the union’s national negotiations on pay and conditions. Jon has a background in sociology and social research, having come to the North East to study and then teach.

Active in his local community, Jon is treasurer of The Great Debate, chair of the neighbourhood association where he and his family live, governor at a local primary school and sits on the board of the Ouseburn Learning Trust.

Jon is a Debating Matters Angel

Jon has written about further education, poker, and gambling. You can follow him on Twitter at: @jonbryan and @JonBryanPoker