OUR TRUSTEES

I'm a storyteller, author and an affiliate trainer at Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE) in the UK. I have worked with educators in more than 40 countries worldwide and first became aware of the Hands Up Project during a trip to the West Bank in Palestine. I am deeply honoured to serve as a trustee for this transformative charity.

Originally from Scotland, I studied biochemistry at Aberdeen University before following my passion for music at Leeds College of Music. Now based in Barcelona, I spend my time creating story-based courses and resources for teachers at my website LessonStream.

I’m a retired Epidemiologist having graduated from Toronto and Cambridge Universities specializing in Public Health and Preventative Medicine. In the last decade, I have been a freelance writer and editor working with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Reforesting Scotland. A former Trustee of Peace & Justice Scotland and Christian CND, I co-curated Peace Cranes, a major exhibition of 140,000 origami paper cranes representing the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 as part of the Just Festival followed by Consequences: Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age. A lifelong activist for Nonviolent Direct Action to oppose war and social inequality, my focus has been on children since spending time in Palestine with CPT and Pax Christi. So when I brought Moon Tell Me Truth to the Scottish Poetry Library last summer, I arranged for the P6s in Royal Mile Primary School to write and illustrate their own poems in response to those of the children of Gaza; the result was We All Need Peace.

I am a trainer and writer focusing mostly on the management of language schools and programmes. I am the global lead trainer of the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM) and co-author of From Teacher to Manager: Managing Language Teaching Organisations (CUP, 2008) amongst other books. I have been involved in English language teaching for 30 years. I live in Transylvania (Romania) and travel all over the world training and presenting. I am passionate about Palestine since living and working in the West Bank in 2003.