Annie Hedge, Chair

Annie is an Employment Tribunal Member as well as being the founder of EW group, a consultancy and training company established in 1992 which specialises in all aspects of equality and diversity, working across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The company has done a great deal of work in the NHS, in various parts of the criminal justice system, in local authorities and government departments as well as many national agencies. Annie has a PhD in organisational psychology and is a qualified executive coach.

Kristina Glenn

Kristina has just stepped down as the first woman Director of Cripplegate Foundation, a grant making trust established in 1500 which tackles poverty and inequality in Islington. In 2010 she set up Islington Giving, which brings businesses, residents, voluntary organisations and funders together to address inequality. This has inspired 20 other Giving models across London – the London’s Giving movement. Kristina has been an active supporter of women’s organisations ranging from ex prisoners organisations to mental health projects. She is an advisor to London’s Giving and is a member of the Goldsmiths’ Charity Committee.

Katherine Minett

Katherine is a lawyer with the Government Legal Department. Prior to moving to the UK in 2017, Katherine worked as a human rights lawyer in Australia with a focus on supporting people diagnosed with mental illness. She worked in a range of areas including crime, migration, guardianship, tenancy, mental health tribunal and family violence. Katherine previously worked as a volunteer for the Mental Health Legal Centre and the Public Interest Law Clearing House in Melbourne.

Victoria Poku-Amanfo

Victoria is an experienced campaigner and policy expert with over 5 years of experience working both in the non-for profit, and private sector. She helped set up and co-found direct action feminist group Sisters Uncut, and has since worked in the European Parliament shaping policy on matters relating to human trafficking, domestic violence and the Green New Deal. She currently worked full time at London First, leading on green policy and advocates for corporations to be more ethical and sustainable in their business models. Victoria previously interned at the Human Rights firm Hodge Jones & Allen and worked as a Campaigns Officer for Youth Access where she trained 18-25 year olds on the law and their access to specialised mental health services.

Kat Hacker

Kat specialises in immigration, human rights and public law. In 2011 she completed the Qualified Lawyers’ Transfer Test, (having been called to the Bar in 2008) to qualify as a solicitor and obtained her Higher Rights of Audience to qualify as a solicitor advocate in 2015. Having run a number of test case litigation influencing both immigration law and practice, Kat became one of less than 60 individuals to obtain the Level 3 accreditation under the Immigration and Asylum Law Accreditation scheme, and is an advanced immigration law practitioner. Kat Hacker has worked at the Helen Bamber Foundation since November 2017 as Head of Legal Protection. Previously she worked in a well-recognised legal aid firm for over eight years before moving to a private immigration practice prior to joining the Foundation.

Throughout her career Kat has always maintained volunteer work within the sector, volunteering at Camden Community Law Centre from 2013 until 2017 and now with Young Legal Aid Lawyers as part of their mentorship scheme.

In July 2018, Kat co-founded ILPA’s Well-being Working Group with the aim of raising awareness within the sector of the need to improve support to those working in immigration and human rights. With over eleven years’ experience of working in the sector, Kat is passionate about assisting the marginalised and vulnerable in society, to afford them an opportunity to have their voice heard and their cases fought tenaciously in a system pitted against the individual.

Laura Bennett

Laura is an experienced policy and public affairs professional, who currently works for Carers Trust, where she leads on their Westminster and England policy and influencing work for unpaid carers and the services that support them. She wrote the only rights guide for young carers and young adult carers about their rights under the Children and Families Act and Care Act, as well as leading policy work for Carers Trust to implement these rights for carers of all ages. She is also a regular media spokesperson for the charity.

Laura spent six months on part-time secondment to the DHSC, helping them shape their thinking on carers and the voluntary sector in developing a carers strategy.

As a lifelong voluntary sector employee, with a longstanding commitment to rights-based work and empowering those whose voices are not always heard, Laura began her career in the sector supporting women with mental health issues and has a background in frontline first-tier legal mental health advice and information work. This includes running the only national mental health information line for women, as well as in-reach to HMP Holloway. She also worked for a local Mind providing advice and information in a variety of community, in-patient and out-patient services.

Since moving into policy work, the policy areas and organisations Laura has worked on include end of life care and palliative care, Sense (where she led their work on Campaign to End Loneliness and was nominated for an employee award), an older people’s advice charity, a London charity helping the sector engage with the 2012 Olympic Games and a volunteering infrastructure charity.

Olivia Dehnavi

Olivia specialises in women and the criminal justice system, prison, desistance, and employment. She works on policy and research at Working Chance, the UK’s only employment charity for women with convictions. In her role, Olivia advocates for changes to policy and practice that will improve rehabilitation and employment outcomes for women with convictions. She is part of the Is it a Crime to be Poor Alliance, and coordinates the lived experience policy group Changemakers. Before joining Working Chance, Olivia worked in human rights in Cambodia, where she scrutinised prison conditions and women’s rights. In Phnom Penh, she co-founded the city’s first feminist film festival, as well as lecturing in law at the Royal University of Law and Economics. Olivia has written for the annual Monument Fellowship book on criminal justice, and for gal-dem magazine. While studying law, she taught debating in London’s prisons.

Hannah Phillips

Hannah is a policy researcher and professional. She has over five years of experience advancing strategic priorities in local, national and international policy including at a large London local authority, the House of Commons and UN Women. She is currently pursuing doctorate research at the University of Oxford on gendered violence in politics. Hannah has volunteered for charities and causes including Strong Women, Strong Girls, The Girls Network and The Young Women’s Trust.