Activism and Action Sara Bryson, Amanda Button, Kev Curran, Sally Ogden, Shelly Reed, Diana Skelton and Abigail Scott Paul (Chair)

Sara Bryson is the Senior Community Organiser for the newly formed Tyne & Wear Citizens. Citizens UK organises communities to act together for power, social justice and the common good. Launched by Citizens UK in 2001, the Living Wage campaign has won over £210 million of additional wages, giving 180,000 low paid workers a pay rise. Sara has worked with children, young people and communities to ensure their views and experiences inform policy, practice and research for almost 20 years - both regionally and nationally within Sure Start Children’s Centres, Children’s Fund, The Children’s Society and the Office for the Children’s Commissioner for England. Sara studied at the London School of Economics. She is a 2016 (North East Specialist) Clore Social Leadership Fellow; a Trustee at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art; Trustee at West End Women & Girls Centre and a School Governor.  She served as one of 22 Commissioners on IPPR’s Commission on Economic Justice, which reported in 2018.

Amanda Button grew up in Lincolnshire. As an activist with ATD Fourth World, in 2009-2018 she collaborated on designing a multimedia interactive exhibition called The Roles We Play: Recognising the Contribution of People in Poverty which has been praised in the Brixton Bugle and the Belfast Telegraph. The exhibition was published as a photo-essay book in 2015. In 2018, a film called The Roles We Play: A Model of Genuine Participation highlights different stages of the project as a way to refute stereotypes with people in poverty in control of their own narrative. In 2016-2019, Amanda was a co-researcher exploring “The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty”. In partnership with Oxford University and with academics and people with lived experience of poverty across the UK as well as in Bangladesh, Bolivia, France, Tanzania, and the United States, the research teams defined nine interdependent dimensions common to all countries. Amanda recently helped present this research at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. On 14 October 2019, she and other co-researchers will launch the British report about this work. Amanda is currently part of the critical friend group for ATD Fourth World-UK's National Coordination Team.

Kev Curran is the Director of Inspired Youth, and an award-winning filmmaker and campaigner with 15 years experience of social projects. He studied film and media at Plymouth University and has a first class degree. His first film Inner Sense won a Royal Television Society Award. He is a creative visionary with a passion and drive to work with the people at the heart of the experience to develop and shape his projects. His hard-hitting work has won a series of national awards igniting positive debate around social issues and raising awareness both locally and nationally.

Sally Ogden is a Shooting Producer and Development Producer for True Vision Yorkshire. She recently spent two years developing and producing The Truth about Muslim Marriage for Channel 4.  She is shooting Producer for the company’s Bafta nominated Channel 4 series Catching a Killer. Fighting Shame is the first film Sally has directed for Guardian Documentaries. Sally has worked in TV for the past 10 years and was previously a youth worker in inner city Bradford and worked with offenders on release from Prison. She later set up her own homeless charity, City Lights.

Shelly Reed is 19 years old and has lived In York all her life. She went into the care system at the age of nine and feels very lucky to have stayed in the same placement throughout the duration of her time in care, with carers who she now calls mum and dad. She now lives independently after being supported leaving care aged 17 and a half. She currently works full time, and wishes to grow a career in sharing her experiences of being in care in order to change the narrative and make a positive difference.

Abigail Scott Paul is Deputy Director of Advocacy and Public Engagement at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). She works alongside poverty activists and campaigners, content creators, cultural partners and the media to drive JRF's strategy and tell a new story about people in poverty. It is one that can boost public understanding, shift negative attitudes and build support for action. Abigail is a framing advocate having led JRF's award-winning Talking about Poverty work. She is passionate about the role of authentic storytelling for systems change, and recently collaborated with Sean McAllister on the critically acclaimed documentary A Northern Soul. She is a true believer in using data and insight to inform the way JRF communicates with public audiences. Twitter: @abigailspaul

Diana Skelton's 2018 novel, Until the Sky Turns Silver, was published by Sondiata Global Media and named a finalist by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the category of 'social change'. She is currently part of ATD Fourth World-UK's National Coordination Team. As part of ATD's full-time Volunteer Corps since 1986, she has lived and worked in low-income communities in Madagascar, the USA, and France, and has represented ATD at the United Nations and UNICEF. In 2008-2016, she served as Deputy Director General of ATD Fourth World International, coordinating collaboration among people in poverty from the Central African Republic, Haiti, the Philippines, Ireland, and thirty other countries. She is also the author of How Poverty Separates Parents and Children: A Challenge to Human Rights and of Artisans of Peace Overcoming Poverty.