Aldineber Alzate

Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Lead, International Strategy Directorate
Department for International Trade

Aldi currently works at the International Strategy Directorate of the Department for International Trade (DIT), as the lead for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Prior to working at DIT, he was a Policy Advisor at the Department for Transport, working on the High-Speed Rail (HS2) project. He has also been a consultant with the Government of Colombia, focusing on migration and poverty reduction policies, as well as having held roles with various NGOs in London.  Aldi has a MSc in Political Economy of Development from SOAS, and a BA in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex.

Sylvia Bluck

Governance Adviser, Anti-Corruption Team I Open Societies and Human Rights Directorate I Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

Sylvia has 25 years of development experience in working on law, justice, human rights and anti-corruption. She’s currently leading FCDO’s work to eliminate secret companies and build a global norm of company beneficial ownership transparency. She also leads FCDO’s work on asset recovery including a programme with the National Crime Agency to recover assets in the UK stolen from developing countries. In previous DFID roles, she’s led the human rights policy team; worked on security and justice and managed governance programmes on access to justice and public sector reform in DFID India. She's led law and human rights work at the Commonwealth Secretariat and the British Council and worked as a lawyer in the UK and the Solomon Islands.

Lisa Doyle

Independent 

As Executive Director of Advocacy at the Refugee Council Lisa led on campaigning, media, parliamentary, policy and research work. As a researcher, Lisa has undertaken research on a variety of issues that affect refugees and asylum seekers which has been used to advocate for policy change. In 2016 she co-authored England’s Forgotten Refugees which documented the experiences of newly recognised refugees. 

Lisa held positions at the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), where she conducted research concerning widening participation. Before joining LSDA, she was a lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sussex. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Reading.

Tom George

Head of Agri-Trade, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK

Tom leads the Agri-Trade Sector in the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Prior to joining Defra Tom spent over 10 years as a British diplomat, most recently leading the Global Issues Team in the British Embassy, Mexico City, covering a range of policy issues, including climate change, energy, economic policy, financial services, health and education. He has previously been posted with the FCDO to New Delhi, India, and has worked on a range of issues across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and South Asia, with a particular focus on energy and resource security, climate change, security policy, multilateral organisations and commercial diplomacy. Prior to joining the FCO he worked in consultancy in the metals and mining industry. He recently completed a Masters in Geopolitics and Grand Strategy at the University of Sussex.

Charles Gore

Independent;  Research Associate in the School of Global Studies 

Charles was team leader and principal author of the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development ’s (UNCTAD) Least Developed Countries Report from 2000 to 2008, and from 2008 to 2012 he was the Special Coordinator for Cross-Sectoral Issues in UNCTAD, directing research and policy analysis on Africa and least developed countries. In the 1980s, he worked as a consultant on the development problems of landlocked countries, particularly in southern Africa.

In the 1990s he co-managed a multi-country UNCTAD research project on lessons of East Asian development for Africa, and a multi-country ILO research project on the global application of the concept of social exclusion.

Originally trained in economic geography, he worked as a Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Swansea from 1976 to 1991. He is an Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Glasgow and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His current research focuses on the history of development and the idea of global goals.

John Holmes

Business Development Manager, College of Asia and The Pacific, The Australian National University

Working across the college and university to cultivate relationships with external partners, industry, government and the wider community John is playing a leading role as an intermediary between academic and external partners to assist in the formation of effective collaborations and new business opportunities. Prior to this role at the ANU, John had 20 years of experience of developing and delivering government policy on public engagement with science, energy and international climate change. Experienced in working with Whitehall and international partners, academics and through multi-lateral organisations including the EU and UN.

Mike Lewis

Head of Enhanced Investigations, Conflict Armament Research

Currently responsible for field research, government and intergovernmental liaison, fundraising, and capacity-building in West and East Africa, and the Middle East for Conflict Armament Research. Mike was formerly Senior Adviser to the European Union’s iTrace programme, a global illicit weapons documentation programme implemented by Conflict Armament Research. Previously a member of the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, humanitarian and conflict policy adviser for Oxfam GB, military/security/police researcher for Amnesty International, and policy lead on tax and development finance for the international NGO federation ActionAid. Since 2006 he specialised in research and investigation in armed conflicts and vulnerable economies, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, for intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Tracy Mcveigh

Editor – Global Development, Philanthropic and Foundations' projects
The Guardian and the Observer

Educated at the University of Glasgow and a journalist for some 30 years working first in education, then as a foreign news editor and as the chief reporter for the Observer newspaper before taking up her current role as Global Development Editor at the Guardian and The Observer. She now has responsibility for the editorial content of all the Guardian and Observer's philanthropic and foundation funded journalism covering areas from human rights to biodiversity.

Matthew Preston

Research Analyst, Multilateral Research Group
Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Matthew Preston joined FCO Research Analysts in 2003. He provides policy-relevant research, analysis and advice on a range of global issues and international organisations, particularly the United Nations.

Enrique Restoy

Executive Director: Programmes at Hope for Justice and Slave Free Alliance

Enrique is currently the global Executive Director of Programmes at Hope for Justice and Slave Free Alliance, an international charity working to end modern slavery. He has held senior positions in Frontline AIDS, Anti-Slavery International and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, and as a Researcher for West Africa in Amnesty International. Enrique is the author of numerous publications on human trafficking, human rights and gender research and programming in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. He is a member of the Human Rights and M&E Expert Group of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria and sits on the Advisory Board of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Enrique holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Sussex.

Letizia Rossano

Director, Asia and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations

Letizia has over 27 years of service with the United Nations secretariat working on sustainable development, disaster risk reduction and climate change, humanitarian action and peacekeeping.  She established the regional Centre she’s currently leading, based in Tehran, Iran, with the mandate to foster regional collaboration and technical exchanges amongst countries on disaster risk reduction and its impact on sustainable development. 

Her previous experiences include, leading in UNDRR resource mobilization efforts working closely with aid offices of all major country donors (2014-2019) and the global process of the Mid-Term Review of the Hyogo Framework for Action (2010/2011).  In 2014 and 2012, she was assigned as the only humanitarian advisor to the Syria mediation efforts of the Joint Special Representative for Syria, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, and the Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Kofi Annan. 

Letizia’s experience in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the United Nations include field coordination responsibilities in Afghanistan, before and after the 9/11 crisis, as well as policy coordination roles in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, as head of the New York Secretariat.  Letizia spent four years in the Department of Peacekeeping working in the Mine Action Service dealing with operational and policy issues related to antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions and started her UN career in India, in the Regional Office of the UN Drug Control Programme. 

Letizia holds a master’s degree in Humanitarian Action and Conflict Resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; received a full Language Fellowship from Mount Holyoke College, USA; and holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Bari, Italy. 

Jill Russell

Senior Director, Institutional Partnerships, Centre for Reproductive Rights

Jill Russell, a leader in managing complex international development programs for numerous donors across the globe, is Senior Director, Institutional Partnerships at the Centre for Reproductive Rights, an iNGO that specializes in sexual and reproductive health and human rights with offices in Nairobi, Bogota, Geneva, New York and Washington DC.

Previously, Russell served as the Director of Abt Associates’ UK office, and as the associate director at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, where she led a multi-disciplinary team in research, monitoring and evaluation in areas such as HIV, health and human rights. She also served as the head of new business development at the organization, where she led the Alliance’s business development strategy. In addition, she has 20 years of experience working with donors, including DFID, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Russell holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Kansas, a Masters in Health Service Administration from the George Washington University, and a Masters in Science in International Executive Management from the U.K.’s Lancaster University Management School.

Sheelagh Stewart

Freelance Consultant

Conflict, rule of law and security expert.  Extensive experience in development and foreign policy across civil society, academic, UK government and UN.  Head of UK Government Stabilisation Unit (tri-departmental government unit reporting to FCO, DFID and MoD) 2009-12.  Key contributor to government policy on fragile states, governance and stability.  Interested in soft power, relationship between equality and effective foreign policy.