Mike worked for over 30 years in local government in Lancashire and Merseyside, including delivering youth education programmesk and managing partnerships with voluntary sector organisations. Mike was the senior manager responsible for community cohesion and equalities at Burnley Council in the years after the 2001 ‘northern town’ disturbances, leading the council’s work to promote race relations during the decade when the BNP was represented on the council. In 2021 Mike published ‘On Burnley Road: Class, Race and Politics in a Northern English Town’, drawing on his experience. Mike is also a research associate with a Montreal-based international academic network on ‘deindustrialisation and the politics of our time’, considering the historical roots, lived experience and social consequences of deindustrialisation and the political responses to it.

Raj Bhari has worked in social cohesion, conflict transformation and peace building in the UK and internationally (Middle East and North Africa), for over twenty years. As well as designing and co-delivering large scale social cohesion programmes, Raj has a strong skill set in mentoring and supporting community facing leaders and peacebuilders, operating in extremely challenging and hostile environments.

Raj has worked as a senior advisor to UK Government departments and local authorities, where he contributed to the development of the national community cohesion, conflict resolution and community engagement agendas. This work primarily focused on improving relations between divided communities. Raj currently holds the position of senior peacebuilding advisor with the Peaceful Change initiative.

He also has extensive experience in participatory arts in peace building and teaches Cultural Mediation on the Applied Theatre: Drama in Educational, Community & Social Contexts MA programme at Goldsmiths University, London.

Ralph Scott is a doctoral researcher in Politics at the University of Manchester, where his research is focused on analysing the educational divide in political attitudes and behaviour through quantitative analysis of longitudinal data.

Most recently he was Head of Research and Learning at Teach First, where he led a five-person team of technical experts to monitor, evaluate, investigate and recommend improvements to the organisation’s programmes.

Previously he was Research Manager at The Challenge, the social integration charity, where he oversaw the organisation’s research for thought leadership. Prior to that he was Head of Citizenship at the think-tank Demos, where he led numerous policy research projects, including evaluations for the Department of Education and the Home Office. He has an MA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Edinburgh and an MRes in Politics from Birkbeck College, University of London.

Dr Naomi Tyrrell is a Social Scientist who specialises in engaging young people in research and evaluation. After 18 years in academic research, she is now a social research consultant for charities and social enterprises that are focused on making an impact in their communities. She has led research projects focused on migration, social and health inequalities, intergenerational relationships and language use, educational interventions, and the impacts of Brexit. Her recent projects have been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, European Commission, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, University of Plymouth, charitable trusts and the National Lottery. She is currently a visiting research fellow at the University of Plymouth. You can see her published, peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters on here.

Christine Cox has committed her career to conflict transformation and empowerment of communities to move beyond trauma and towards a healthier future. She has designed and facilitated multiple ‘on the ground’ programmes in countries affected by conflict as they seek to rebuild and create a more cohesive society, including Central Asia, Georgia, Bangladesh, Kenya and the Somali refugee camp Dadaab.

In addition, Christine has worked within the UK (Leeds, Manchester, Burnley, Bradford, Rochdale, Oldham, Peckham and Southwark in London) with young people and wider communities in multiple areas facing issues including deprivation, limited resources, territory and gang conflict, community division and increased threat of recruitment by extremist organisations. In addition Christine has set up community radio stations in the UK, and Ninotsminda and Marneuli (Georgia).

She has a Post-Graduate Diploma from Cambridge University on Child and Adolescent Psychotherapeutic Development.

Edwina Peart is an experienced educator/trainer, consultant and researcher in equity, inclusion and justice. She works in local community, national and international developmental contexts and cultural, faith and educational environments. Her skill combination is effective in both originating and assessing policy and practice and is grounded in a broad experience. She favours an intersectional analysis.

Edwina has worked as a gender studies lecturer raising awareness of and advising on issues of gender equality within the wider institution. She chaired a Race Equality Network for staff at a time of organisational and priority change. She has delivered training on racial and transgender equality, recognising structural barriers to embracing diversity and sustaining work towards inclusion and justice. She has experience of inward and outward focussed Interventions.

Edwina’s research and analysis includes assessing the links between theory and action, evaluating the contribution and cost of individual and community engagement in the equity agenda. Her approach acknowledges power relations, structural inequalities and personal agency and perspective. It enables difficult conversations to be opened and held. She works collegiately to formulate and deliver clear action plans with built in commitment and accountability.