SIGRID RAUSING TRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chair of the Trust
- Deputy Chair, Audit & Risk Committee Chair
Andrew Puddephatt is Deputy Chair of the Trust. He is Founder Director of Adapt, a social purpose company that helps organisations manage their users' data ethically. He is the Board Chair of Global Partners Digital, a social purpose company that promotes democracy and human rights online. He is also Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity registered in the UK that works with the internet industry to remove child sex abuse images online. Prior to this he was the Executive Director of ARTICLE 19 from January 1999 to October 2004. He has held a number of other prominent human rights positions, including Director of Charter88 and General Secretary of Liberty. He has been an expert member of both the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth Expert working groups on freedom of information and freedom of expression and is an advisor to UNESCO on media and internet policy.
He is the chair of International Media Support, a Danish-based NGO which provides emergency support to journalists in conflict areas and an Executive Board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. In January 2003 Andrew Puddephatt was awarded an OBE for services to human rights.
Job Titles:
- Operations Administrator
- Grants & Operations Administrator
- Trust
Angela Todd Drake is the Trust's Grants and Operations Administrator. Prior to joining the Trust she worked at ROSA UK on their grants and operations processes. Angela has more than 15 years' experience in the market research sector and running small businesses. She's worked on database management including training colleagues. Angela has run fundraising events, and campaigned for health and equal rights.
Angela has a BA in Politics and Business from the University of Westminster.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Anna Shea is Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law. She has undertaken human rights research and advocacy in several countries, including Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, Egypt, Indonesia and Türkiye. Prior to moving to the UK, Anna qualified as a lawyer in Canada and was called to the Bar in the province of Ontario. She has engaged in strategic litigation at the Supreme Court of Canada, European Court of Human Rights and UK Supreme Court.
She holds a double degree in Common Law and Civil Law from McGill University in Montreal, an MA and BA (Hons) in History from the same institution and a Masters in Law (Distinction) from Birkbeck University of London.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC is one of Britain's most distinguished lawyers. She has spent her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights. She has conducted many prominent cases of terrorism, official secrets and homicide. She is the founding force behind the establishment of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford. In 1997, she was elevated to the House of Lords where she is a Labour peer. She has published a number of books including two on how the justice system is failing women, and has written and broadcasted on many issues over the years. Currently, she has taken on the role of Director to the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute. She directs the Institute's work upholding the rule of law and human rights globally.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Executive Director
Beth Fernandez is the Trust's Deputy Executive Director. She has worked within human rights civil society organisations for almost 20 years and has managed numerous human rights capacity-building projects in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. She joined the Trust from ILGA-Europe where she worked to support LGBTI organisations in conducting strategic human rights advocacy, monitoring and documenting violations, and planning for strategic litigation. Prior to that she worked for Interights where she managed training projects for lawyers on international human rights standards. She has also volunteered for refugee service and policy organisations.
She holds a Masters degree from University College London in Human Rights, and a BA in Politics and Russian from the University of Leeds.
Bethany Simpkin is the Trust's Office Manager. Prior to joining the Trust, she supported the CEO at the Portland Trust as Executive Assistant, office manager and project support. Bethany has 10 years experience managing projects and events in the charity sector through her roles as senior project coordinator and senior fundraising and events manager at the Holocaust Educational Trust. Bethany is actively involved in supporting women's rights initiatives and volunteers with both domestic violence support services and a homeless charity in South East London.
Bethany holds a Prince2 project management qualification as well as a BA in Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Job Titles:
- Officer for Open Societies
- Senior Programme Officer for Open Societies
Bénédicte Goderiaux is Senior Programme Officer for Open Societies. Prior to this she was senior policy and advocacy adviser at Saferworld, where she focused on the impact of counter terrorism and migration policies for rights, peace and development. Previously she was a researcher at Amnesty International's International Secretariat for 17 years, focusing on East and North African countries. She has experience monitoring, documenting and reporting human rights concerns in repressive contexts and armed conflict related abuses. She has worked with civil society groups and human rights defenders in several countries to develop tailored advocacy and campaigning strategies.
She holds an MA in Social Anthropology of development from the School of Oriental and African Studies and an MA from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Comfort Osilaja is Grants Manager at the Trust. Before joining the team, she worked at the Commonwealth Foundation where she led on the strategic review and development the Foundation's flagship grants programme, supporting civil society's participation in governance. Prior to that she worked at Care International UK managing a portfolio of contracts in West and Central Africa, and at CAFOD where she was responsible for the development and delivery of projects in West Africa. Comfort also worked as a Training and Development Officer at Merlin, and as a Client Relationship Manager at Path National Ltd.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Founder and Director of the Ecological Restoration Fund
Daniel Hotz is the Founder and Director of the Ecological Restoration Fund (ERF), an organisation deeply committed to supporting initiatives that champion biodiversity, restore degraded landscapes, and amplify environmental activism. ERF is driven by a recognition of the interplay of environmental protection/restoration and human rights, and strives to enhance the economic, social, and cultural benefits of conservation for local communities, especially indigenous populations. Aiming to empower a global restoration movement, ERF's holistic approach promotes the advancement of policies and practices that protect ecosystems and supports the communities dependent on them.
Under Daniel's guidance, ERF has committed over £40m to environmental organisations in some thirty countries.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Trust As Executive Director
Duncan Wilson joined the Trust as Executive Director in June 2019. Duncan has over 20 years of experience within the human rights field, both nationally and internationally. He came to the Trust from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he directed grant making related to access and accountability in the Public Health Program. Prior to joining OSF, Duncan was the first Head of Strategy and Legal at the Scottish Human Rights Commission, during which time he led the development of Scotland's first national action plan for human rights, as well as negotiations on justice for survivors of historical child abuse. Previous to that, he was the first head of economic, social, and cultural rights at Amnesty International. Duncan started his career working as a research coordinator with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education.
He holds an LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from Lund University and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh.
Job Titles:
- Programme Manager for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Fabien Maitre-Muhl is Programme Manager for Human Rights and Rule of Law. Prior to joining the Trust he worked with various organisations including Plan International UK, UNHCR in Cote d'Ivoire and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Fabien also worked with various civil society organisations in Colombia where he did research on the guarantees of non-recurrence, the participation of victims in reparations processes, and the prosecution of the crime of forced displacement.
Fabien holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex.
Job Titles:
- Grants Officer
- Trust 's Grants Officer
Harriet Baker is the Trust's Grants Officer. Previously, she worked for Let's Go Outside and Learn, an organisation dedicated to improving community engagement with greenspaces and nature. Here she assisted with project delivery and conducted research to support strategy development. Prior to this, Harriet worked in the script continuity department in films and television for four years, for studios including Disney, Netflix and Universal.
Harriet holds an MSc in Digital Anthropology from University College London, and a BA in Classics from the University of Oxford.
Hosh Ibrahim's interest has been focused on good governance and its paramount role in development on the African continent. This led to further work supporting human rights across the Global South, due to the interconnectivity of many of the issues. He serves on the Board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for African Governance where he previously worked as the Director of Special Projects. He currently serves on the Global Advisory Board of Sesame Workshop, creator of Sesame Street children's television for early childhood development. In addition to SRT, he serves on the Board of Outright Action International. Hosh is a trustee of The Khartoum Breast Care Centre in Sudan for women's health, which he helped establish and is now run by Dr Hania Fadl OBE. He also served on the Board to develop the Africa Centre of New York, which is currently active and due to fully open its building on the corner of Central Park and Harlem by the end of 2020.
Hosh is a graduate from The Central School of Speech and Drama and spent more than a decade as a working actor in television and film. Hosh also graduated from UCL where he studied Politics, Philosophy and History.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Trust As Chief Operating Officer
Jane Pickering joined the Trust as Chief Operating Officer in September 2020. She has more than 20 years' experience in UK charity operations. Prior to joining the Trust she was Operations Director for LucidCatalyst, an international consultancy working on at-scale solutions to climate change. She previously worked at Intermediate, a charity set up by Jonathan Powell, the lead negotiator for the UK Government for the Good Friday agreement, which provides advice and support to leadership in international civil conflict; and Reprieve, which supports victims of extreme human rights abuses with a combination of public pressure and legal action.
She has a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Manchester.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Open Societies
Janek Lasocki is Senior Programme Officer for Open Societies. Prior to joining the Trust, he worked on supporting human rights and civil society in Russia through capacity building and international advocacy at ARTICLE 19 in London and People in Need in Prague. Previously he worked as Advocacy Coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
Janek holds a BA in Russian & History from UCL and an MSc in European Studies from LSE.
Professor Sir Jeffrey Jowell QC is the inaugural Director of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and a practising barrister at Blackstone Chambers. He is Emeritus Professor of Public Law at University College London and the recent UK member on the Council of Europe's Commission for Public Law ("The Venice Commission").
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Joey Hasson is Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law. Joey has almost 20 years of international experience combining grassroots community organising, civic engagement and the law to tackle structural inequalities, improve public policy and defend human rights. Joey is a co-founder of Equal Education, a national movement of school-going youth to improve public education in South Africa, and supported the establishment of the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in Cape Town as advisor to the Bertha Foundation. He was coordinator of Amnesty International's global campaigns on the Right to Housing and Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Prior to joining the Trust, Joey was Activist Training Manager with 100 Million, a campaign to end the exclusion and exploitation of marginalised youth worldwide.
Joey holds an MSc in Inequalities from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town. He is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board
- Managing Director of Serious Change Investment Management
Joshua Mailman is Managing Director of Serious Change Investment Management, a sole LP impact investment fund with $100 million in assets under management, and President of the Joshua Mailman Foundation. He currently serves on the boards of Echoing Green and the Fund for Global Human Rights. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers at the Mailman School for Public Health at Columbia University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Kapil Gupta is Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law. Prior to joining the Trust he worked as a Projects and Information Officer at the Human Dignity Trust. He has global experience in strategic litigation and technical assistance on international human rights law, comparative constitutional law with particular focus on matters relating to LGBTI rights. He has also worked closely with civil society organisations, litigants, and governmental and inter-governmental bodies on matters pertaining to security and communications around human rights litigation in the Caribbean, South Asia, East and West Africa.
He completed his MA in Human Rights Practice under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (2008-10) of the European Commission. He holds a bachelor's degree in law from the National Law Institute University, Bhopal (India).
Job Titles:
- Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Laura Cools is Programme Officer for Human Rights and Rule of Law. Prior to joining the Trust, she worked as Research and Policy Advisor at Impunity Watch, the Netherlands, where she coordinated the gender and transitional justice programme in Burundi and Guatemala. Previously, she was a Project Officer at the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law in The Hague, a researcher at Impunity Watch in Burundi, and a Programme and Advocacy Officer at the Coalition for the ICC in New York. She has acquired further experience in transitional justice, gender and human rights at ICTJ, UN OHCHR, Refugee Law Project Uganda, Aprodeh Peru, UN-LiREC Peru, and the diplomatic representations of Belgium in Chile and Geneva.
Laura holds an MA in Human Rights from Columbia University, New York, as a Fulbright Scholar.
Job Titles:
- Programme Manager for Open Societies
Maha Abushama is a Programme Manager for Open Societies, with a special focus on the Defending Civic Space. She came to the Trust from Amnesty International, where she worked for seven years as the Campaigner on Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Maha is experienced in monitoring, documenting and reporting human rights violations against communities and individuals within repressive contexts including armed conflicts. She also contributed to the design and implementation of global campaigns and advocacy strategies to address these human rights violations. Previously she was a Senior External Relations Officer at the Palestinian NGO the Youth Development Association, and an External Relations Officer for the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), where she fundraised and advocated for sustainable development.
She holds an MA in Human Rights Theory and Practice from the University of Essex and a BA in English Literature and Translation from Birzeit University, Palestine.
Job Titles:
- Communications Officer
- Communications Officer at the Trust
Olivia Eckersley is the Communications Officer at the Trust. Previously she was an Account Manager at Edelman, working across a broad range of companies, organisations and charities. Here she also did media training, preparing senior spokespeople for both proactive media interviews and crisis management. Before communications, Olivia was a journalist for 10 years, working predominantly at ITN's Channel 4 News as an Assistant News Editor on the foreign desk. She also had previous stints at the BBC, ITV news and CNBC. Olivia has also worked pro bono on media strategy for a grass roots Syrian charity.
Olivia has a BA in Geography and Sociology from the University of Leeds, and an MA in Journalism from City University, London.
Job Titles:
- Programme Officer for Environment / Environment
Rachel Aveyard is Programme Officer for Environment. Prior to joining the Trust, she was a Programme Manager at BBC Media Action. She has seven years of experience in research, policy and programme roles with experience in media development, community resilience, gender equality and human rights.
She holds an MSc in International Development from University College London, and a BA (Hons) in Geography and Politics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Chair 's Gifts
Robin Nobel is Senior Programme Officer for Chair's Gifts. Robin comes to the Trust with a decade's worth of experience in grant management, particularly in the higher education and heritage sectors. Prior to taking up post at the Trust, Robin served as Senior Grant Programmes Manager and Acting Director of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, a philanthropic trust aimed at the preservation of Jewish Heritage across continental Europe, with a focus on Eastern European and Former Soviet States.
Robin holds a Masters in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford, as well as a Masters in English Literature and a BA in Cultural and Religious Studies from McGill University, Canada.
Sheetal Patel is the Trust's Senior Finance Officer. She previously worked at the emergency healthcare organisation MERLIN, where her job involved travelling to various conflict zones to train staff and evaluate Merlin's financial systems. Before that she worked at Imperial College, London.
She holds a qualification from the Association of Accounting Technicians.
Job Titles:
- Programme Manager
- Programme Manager for Environment
- Programme Manager for Environment / Environment
Sophie Adwick is Programme Manager for Environment. She has over 15 years' multi-country experience in the design, implementation and evaluation of applied conservation and biodiversity research. Prior to joining the Trust, Sophie was Assistant Manager of the Zoological Society of London's Asia Conservation Programme. Her responsibilities included developing, managing and overseeing programmes and projects in countries across regions such as China, Russia, Indonesia and Thailand, working closely with local ZSL teams and partners. In previous positions, she has led organisational strategy and policy on wildlife trade in the EU and UK, developed and delivered national-scale training and capacity-building courses, and provided evidence-based, technical advice and recommendations on wildlife issues to internal and external stakeholders. Sophie has extensive international field experience gained across Asia, Africa, Central and North America, and Europe.
She holds a Masters in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from Oxford University and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Edinburgh.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programme Officer for Arts
Teresa Drace-Francis is Senior Programme Officer for Arts. Prior to joining the Trust she was General Manager at Iniva, a visual arts organisation working predominantly with British artists of African and Asian descent. She has previously worked at Gasworks, Cubitt as well as independently advising and lecturing. Between 2007 and 2011 Teresa worked at Arts Council England leading on artists' workspace and international networks among other strategic initiatives and supporting arts organisations in London, including South London Gallery, Camden Arts Centre and the Photographers' Gallery.
Teresa holds a BA in Art History from Cambridge University and a Masters in Management from Queen Mary University.
Job Titles:
- Acting Programme Manager for Environment
- Acting Programme Manager for Environment / Environment
Tom Lee is Acting Programme Manager for Environment. He was a Research Assistant in the strategy division of the British Red Cross, where he was involved in the implementation of an innovative research agenda.
Tom holds a BA in History from the University of Bristol and an MA in East Asian Regional Development from the University of Leeds.