ACF leaders forum 2024
Speakers


Keynote address   

Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Julia King (she/her)

Engineer and crossbench member of the House of Lords, chair of the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee, chair of The Carbon Trust.

A career at Cambridge University and Rolls-Royce plc led to ten years as vice-chancellor of Aston University in Birmingham, before joining the House of Lords as a Crossbench Peer in 2016. She currently chairs the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee.

Interests include climate change, innovation and materials technology.

Current and recent appointments: Vice-chair of the UK Climate Change Committee 2008–2021; Chair CCC Adaptation Committee; Jet Zero Council climate advisor. Chair: The Carbon Trust; Frontier IP; NED: Ørsted; Ceres Power

Past appointments include: Chair of the King Review on decarbonising transport; Chair of the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials; NED Innovate UK; NED UK Green Investment Bank; UK Low Carbon Business Ambassador; NED Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult; Sector Champion for the Offshore Wind Sector Deal.

Changemaker panel session   

  Chair: Zoe Sprigings (she/her), chief executive officer, Oxforshire Community Foundation      

The Oxfordshire Community Foundation is a charity that builds thriving communities through effective philanthropy. It gives around £2 million of grants annually to grassroots charitable organisations across the county. Before joining OCF, Zoe was director of business planning and reporting at C40 Cities, a global charity that supports 100 major cities across the world to take climate action that builds healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Zoe was responsible for developing and implementing C40’s four-year strategic plan. Previously she held roles as a senior policy advisor and team leader in various UK government departments, working on international climate finance and putting domestic energy legislation through parliament. She holds an undergraduate Master’s degree in Modern History from Oxford University and a Master’s degree in Disasters, Adaptation and Development from King’s College London.

 

  Roger Harding (he/him), director, Round Our Way      

Round Our Way is an innovative campaign focusing attention on those of us paying the price for climate change in the UK and getting more working class voices into the debate. Roger was previously CEO of working class youth charity RECLAIM and director of communications, policy and campaigns at Shelter. He has also worked at the JRF, NatCen on the British Social Attitudes report, and a communications agency. He’s also chair of the Economic Change Unit, on the board of the Future Governance Forum, and was previously vice-chair of Victim Support.

 

  Dominique Palmer (she/her), climate justice activist and speaker      

Dominique is a climate justice activist, writer and graduate of Political Science and International Relations in the UK. She is part of Climate Live and a founding member of the Youth Climate Justice Fund. Her work focuses on intersectional and equitable climate action, making environmentalism inclusive, slow fashion, harnessing creative means to communicate the climate crisis, and finding joy through uniting. She is a winner of the prestigious Planetary Health Award, and in 2023, was honoured as a ‘Young Leader’ at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards. She was also named in Forbes 2020 Top UK Environmentalists List for her work. Dominique was named one of the UK’s most high profile youth activists on Sky News, and has featured in major publications including British Vogue, DAZED, the Sunday Times Style, and Global Citizen.

 

  Kamran Shezad, director, Islamic Foundation for Ecology & Environmental Sciences

Kamran has been recognised by The ENDS Report Power List as one of the top 100 most impactful and influential environmental professionals in the UK. He is a qualified environmental specialist with practical field and managerial experience in the sustainable development sector. He is a strong advocate of using faith-inspired approach in promoting the message of environment and guiding behavioural change. Kamran is a grassroots environmental activist and social justice campaigner, he has worked with a diverse range of faith groups and has produced toolkits, practical guides and mobilised communities for climate action. He sits on the Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the United Nations Interagency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development (UN IATF) and previously served on the Civil Society & Youth Advisory Council to the Presidency of COP26. Kamran holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sustainability (Strategy & Management), he has been awarded ‘Chartered Environmentalist’ status by the Society for the Environment and is a full member of the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment. Kamran also holds the following portfolios: Co-chair - Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust - Sustainable Futures Committee, advisor to the Faith for Earth Initiative - United Nations Environment Programme, has 'consultative' status with the United Nation's Environment Assembly (UNEP) and with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD); scholar’s team member of Al Mizan – a Covenant for the Earth charter launched by UNEP.


In conversation with session   

 Sally Byng (she/her), chief executive, Barnwood Trust      

Sally’s experience spans clinical therapeutic skills, academia and founding a charity, through to enabling change through charitable funding. Sally has led Barnwood Trust, a 200-year-old place-based foundation in Gloucestershire, from being a grant-maker and care provider to acting as an agent of social change. The Trust uses its resources to fund and influence change related to disability and mental health, working out a course of action on specific issues based on listening and learning, trying and testing ideas for making change in collaboration with others. In the pandemic, Sally formed, and still convenes Gloucestershire Funders, an active partnership between foundations and organisations providing funding in the county. She contributed to the advisory group for ACF’s new Origins of Wealth toolkit. Sally is a trustee of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and a non-executive director of Gloucester Community Building Collective CIC.

 

  Nezahat Cihan (she/her), chair of Cripplegate Foundation

Nezahat studied Business Administration and completed her postgraduate education in Management Studies. She has worked in the field of free advice provision for around 20 years, leading multiple UK charities that specialise in providing free services to women fleeing gender-based violence. She developed, successfully fundraised and managed larger UK and European Social Fund projects with various partners across Europe. She is the chair of the Cripplegate Foundation, a place-based funder in Islington. Currently, she works for London Legal Support Trust as their CEO, overseeing grant-making processes and leading multiple partnerships that respond to systematic issues in the advice sector as well as organisational development programs for the free legal advice sector.

 

  Josh Cockcroft (he/him), data lead, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation      

Josh is a British-Zanzibari neurodiverse changemaker. He has a particular interest in equity, funding practises, collaboration, and impact evaluation. Josh has worked at the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation since 2019, where he leads their data strategy and works with partners to improve how the social sector works together. As part of his work at Esmée, he is the founding chair of the DEI Data Standard, as well as being an advisor for the Funders Collaborative Hub, the Race Report, and Funders for Race Equality Alliance (FREA). Outside of Esmée, Josh is a trustee of the Arvon Foundation and the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation, as well as a director of Climate Spring.

 

Facilitator   

 Amanda Powell (she/her)      

Amanda is an independent research consultant and facilitator for the non-profit sector. Amanda has worked with a range of foundations in the UK and internationally, including Fred Hollows Foundation, Mental Health Foundation, and IKEA Foundation, supporting research, service design, communications and organisational strategy. 

Amanda’s passion is helping organisations find better ways to solve the world’s hardest challenges, and often this starts from within. In addition to her social impact consultancy work, Amanda is a pro bono researcher and practitioner for the Inner Development Goals community, a global collective working to raise awareness of the skills required to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals in time. Feel free to reach out at amanda-powell.com or on LinkedIn.

ACF leaders forum 2024 is supported by our Official Partners