Our Annual Conference is fast approaching, and if you haven’t already got your tickets, there’s still time – buy them here!
The program will include hands-on workshop sessions, led by faith leaders and community organisers, and a diverse line-up of speakers. Have a look at some of the fantastic speakers we’ll be hearing from on Sunday 7th April.
Annette Lawson OBE
Annette is an activist feminist who, for many years, has held leading positions in women’s organisations seeking gender equality and women’s access to their human rights. She has worked at UK, European and UN levels, and brings expertise in relations to and lobbying government. She has written on mental illness and disability and is deeply conscious of the difficulties faced both by those with these issues and also by their families and carers. Annette was the awarded an OBE for services to diversity in 2004.
Debbie Weekes-Bernard became Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement in November 2018.
Debbie works to improve Londoners’ life chances and to boost social integration and community voice across the Mayor’s programmes. She leads the promotion of equalities and active citizenship across London, and makes sure City Hall actively seeks to tackle poverty for Londoners across all groups.
Alongside professional work, Debbie has a longstanding professional and personal interest in social justice, social mobility and community engagement. Debbie is a trustee of the Equality and Diversity Forum and has sat on a number of other influential panels and working parties including the Poverty Commissions for both the National Union of Students and the London borough of Lewisham.
Deputy Mayor Debbie Weekes-Bernard
Naz Shah MP
Naz Shah is the MP for Bradford West and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities. She chairs a nationally recognised, award winning mental health charity, and has developed numerous community and social initiatives. Her passions include tackling inequality, progressing social justice and developing strong and positive leadership. Naz is an an award winning campaigner, activist, community champion and inspirational speaker, paticularly on issues such as honour based violence, violence against women and forced marriages.
Akeela Ahmed MBE has been an equalities activist and campaigner for nearly nearly 20 years. On Muslim Women’s Day, she was listed in Nylon magazine as an activist that is ‘making a difference’. In 2014 she founded ‘She Speaks We Hear’ which gives unfiltered women’s voice a platform. Akeela advises and works with government in tackling anti-Muslim hatred, sitting on the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group as Chair of the Independent Members. She is also a social entrepreneur within the social housing sector. Akeela is co-organiser of the Women’s March on London and in January 2017, she spoke to over one hundred thousand people at the Women’s March on London. For her work with WML she was listed as one of Stylist’s Women of the Year 2017.
Akeela Ahmed MBE
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick
Cressida Dick was appointed as the Metropolitan Police’s first female commissioner in February 2017. Throughout her career, she has picked up several esteemed accolades and mantles, including the Queen’s Police Medal for distinguished service; in 2013 she was assessed as one of the most 100 most powerful women in the UK by BBC4’s Women’s Hour; and in the Queen’s 2015 New Year Honour’s List was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Solutions Not Sides
Solutions Not Sides seeks to tackle Antisemitism, Anti-Muslim Hate and polarisation around the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UK. The programme provides humanising encounters and focuses on possible solutions based on understanding both sides’ narratives. Their aim is to shift attitudes away from supporting one side against the other, and towards seeking a solution for the human beings involved.
Sharon Booth is the founder and director of Solutions Not Sides. Following her graduation from Cambridge University, she taught English in Tunisia and then went on to work in Amman, Jordan. In her final year in Jordan, she was employed as PA to the Defence Attaché at the British Embassy, then returned to the UK and began work in Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution, founding the Solutions Not Sides Education Programme in 2010. In January 2016, she was awarded a master’s degree with distinction from King’s College London, in Terrorism, Security and Society, specialising in nationalism and religion.
Ruba Huleihel is a 31-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem who was recently called to the Bar after studying at the University of Law in London. She attended a Seeds of Peace camp during one of the bloodiest times in the conflict. She describes it as “the only place that gave us room to breathe, where we could talk about the conflict and learn to respect each other’s history and narrative”. She is co-founder of Birdsong, a social enterprise that creates income for under-served women and has worked at GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates, specialising in community care law. She is currently working towards qualifying as a barrister specialising in criminal, immigration and human rights law. Her recent pro-bono projects include teaching debate to prisoners in HMPs Isis, Pentonville and Wandsworth and acting as an advocate with the Communities Empowerment Network for children excluded from schools.
Michal Huss is 26 years old and grew up in Omer, a small town in the southern part of Israel. Currently Michal is doing her PhD at the Architecture Department at the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research. Prior to this Michal gained a Distinction in MA Art and Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London, and holds a BA Joint Honours degree in History of Art and Fine Art from the same University. In addition to her academic studies, she has recently created and developed artistic projects with community groups that focus on maps and mapping. Growing up in Israel, a country in on-going political conflict has had a profound influence on her. She believes that putting an end to violence and solving the conflict through political negotiation will make life safer and better for both Israelis and Palestinians.