Who we are

MEET THE TEAM

Beyond Conflict’s trustees, management and board of advisors includes many leading figures in their respective field, each bringing expertise and contacts to support people in war-zones suffering from the psychological fallout of conflict, displacement and terrorism. Our team comprises of people from the Middle East, Europe and America. Beyond Conflict’s ethos is one that embraces people of all cultures and faiths, it is a meeting of East and West.

Board of trustees:

Edmund Newell

Ed is Principal of Cumberland Lodge, the educational foundation that seeks to build more inclusive societies in Britain and globally by leading a dialogue on the biggest issues facing the world today, including freedom of religious belief and expression, international security and inter-faith dialogue. He is former Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral and Sub-Dean of Christ
Church, Oxford.

Edna Fernandes, Co-Founder

Edna is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Conflict, formed in January 2018. She is also author of Holy Warriors, a best selling book on religious fundamentalism; The Last Jews of Kerala; and The Hollow Kingdom. Prior to that she was a journalist for the Financial Times, Reuters, AP-Dow Jones and the Mail on Sunday.

Luke Tomkins,

Co-chair of the Board of Trustees

Luke is a chartered accountant by trade, spending the first four years of his career as a member of the structured finance team at PwC. He has since moved into Financial Planning, holding roles with McDonald’s and most recently at BT, managing the cash and capital expenditure planning cycle.

Gillian Dare OBe, Co-chair of the Board of Trustees

Gillian is a retired diplomat, with nearly 20 years in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Throughout her Foreign Office career, she has specialised in political and security policies in conflict-affected and fragile counties, focusing on conflict resolution, peace building, governance, rule of law and building stability. Her most recent role was as the lead FCO Senior Policy Officer for Women, Peace and Security. She has been awarded an OBE and the Cross of St Augustine by the Archbishop of Canterbury for her work.

Dr Kishan Manocha

Kishan is Head, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. He has extensive experience dealing with religious freedom issues around the world and is a former Visiting Research Fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights at Harvard University and Fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies.

Dr Abda Mahmood

Abda currently works as an epidemiologist in an industry environment. She completed her PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Prior to her PhD, Abda worked as an academic researcher at the University of Oxford, completed the MSc in Psychological Research at the University of Oxford, and was awarded a First Class Honours BSc in Applied Psychology at the University of Durham.

Sara Hunt

Sara is an independent reputational risk management consultant and has worked across different sectors including development finance, banking, and reputation data. She advises on risk strategy, policy frameworks, governance and controls. She previously held roles at Standard Chartered and ABN AMRO. Sara is an advocate for diversity and inclusion and mental health, and has been a Samaritans listening volunteer for more than 20 years.

Adam Perkins, Treasurer

Adam is a chartered accountant and director at PwC specialising in risk management and governance.

He has delivered several roles in the UK, US and East Africa and has extensive experience in fiduciary risk management in the delivery of large international aid budgets in conflict affected states.

Operational Team:

Edna Fernandes, Director/Co-Founder

Edna is the Co-Founder of Beyond Conflict and Director of its operations, dealing with overseas partners, projects and liaising with our team advisors. She is a former foreign correspondent who has worked for the Financial Times, Reuters and Mail on Sunday. She is author of bestselling Holy Warriors, The Last Jews of Kerala and The Hollow Kingdom. In the past, she was a volunteer on the management comimittee of the girls’ education charity, PAWA.

Golam Abbas, Advisor and
Partner on Bangladesh Project

Golam Abbas is Director of Global Development Consortium (GDC), BC’s partner on the ground in Bangladesh for the Rohingya Refugee project. He is a former UNHCR Country Director and has four decades of experience at UNHCR, in the field of global humanitarian work. He works alongside British Bangladeshi psychiatrist, Dr Abu Hussain Mohammad Saleh, GDC’s mental health consultant and a leading expert in trauma counselling.

Professor Mohammed Al-Uzri
Senior Advisor on Iraq and Mental Health

Mohammed is the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Presidential Lead for International Affairs and a 2020 recipient of the RCP Presidential medal of honor. Mohammed was Advisor on the Iraq Mental Health Survey, the first of its kind conducted by WHO and Iraqi authorities. He is Honorary Chair at the University of Leicester, Consultant Psychiatrist and Assistant Medical Director at the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

Abi Ramsden, Social Media Manager

Abi is a philosophy graduate from the University of Sheffield. She recently discovered her passion for post conflict aid whilst traveling South East Asia. The damage inflicted during conflict succeeded multiple generations and it became apparent to her that in order for societies to develop they must first heal from their trauma. This is why support of mental health charities such as Beyond Conflict is necessary. Abi is our Social Media Manager, responsible for online platforms.

Oswald Almeida, Administration Manager

Oswald is looking forward to getting stuck in supporting an amazing, dedicated and talented team as an Administrator working on the social media, administrative and clerical side of Beyond Conflict. He is by day training as a solicitor and also volunteers at Restart Drop-In, a homeless charity/safe space every Friday at St Columbas’ in Knightsbridge, London. He has an interest in supporting mediation for conflicts around the world and innocent human beings caught up in those conflicts who become refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants through no fault of their own. He would like to use his legal knowledge to support Beyond Conflict, conflicts around the world and human beings caught up in those conflicts.

Robert Craig, Legal Counsel

Robert is a charity law specialist and consultant at Howard Kennedy, a leading law firm in London. Robert is a member of the Charity Law Association. While chairman of the trustees of one of London’s independent museums, Robert oversaw a major development project in the period 2005-10. He is now Vice President of the museum and trustee of a number of other charities.

Mairead Kenny, Advisor

Mairead is an independent non-executive director specialising in investment fund boards. Over her 25-years-plus career she worked in investment banking in New York and London, holding roles at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan. She held roles at a number of UK hedge funds, where she ran business development and was Chief Operating Officer. She also worked at a technology and energy company as head of client solutions and head of North America region. Mairead has a longstanding interest in humanitarian issues and has worked with the Refugee Support Network.

Dr Sheikh Ramzy, Advisor

Born in the Middle East, Sheikh Ramzy has lived in Oxford for more than 30 years and is the founder of the Oxford Islamic Information Centre. He works with the Muslim Council of Britain to promote better understanding if Islam. He is Ambassador of the Universal Peace Foundation and a member of the United Nations Association UK. Dr Sheikh Ramzy is an Islamic scholar and a campaigner on humanitarian affairs.

Yang-May Ooi, Podcaster

Yang-May Ooi is a bestselling author who has been blogging for over 10 years. Her cross-cultural blog Fusion View gained 10,000 unique views a month and was featured on the BBC. She is the co-author of the social media chapters of International Communications Strategy, published by Kogan Page and nominated for the FT Goldman Sachs Business Book Award. She currently runs Tiger Spirit, a multi-media blog on creativity. Www.TigerSpirit.co.uk

Patti McCarthy, Fundraising Advisor

Patti has more than 10 years of experience working in corporate sponsorship, including for Melbourne Theatre Company & Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She assessed proposals on behalf of potential corporate sponsors, designed and implemented fund-raising strategies, including developing corporate partnerships, setting up private giving programs and securing grant funding. In Melbourne, she was a volunteer English teacher to asylum seekers for 5 years. Currently she provides pro-bono fundraising consulting to Oxford Playhouse in the UK.

Jaipreet Kaur, Volunteer

Jaipreet is a philanthropy manager and fundraiser who has spent the last eight years working in the NGO sector. She is a Trustee at Binti International and she’s worked at NGOs such as Emergency UK, U.S. Human Rights Network,UNITED SIKHS, Action for Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians. Jaipreet’s unique funding style and success has helped her to share her experience with others at numerous charity conferences.

She has a strong passion for helping others, while also advocating and campaigning for change. Jaipreet has experience in meeting children and women in Palestine and Lebanon who have been mentally impacted by the atrocities of war.

CONTACT

Can’t find what you’re looking for?

Get in touch for information and inquiries regarding
mental health, fundraising, or volunteering for Beyond Conflict.

Send a cheque to Beyond Conflict, c/o our Legal Counsel Robert Craig at:

Beyond Conflict
c/o RDC
Howard Kennedy LLP
1 London Bridge
SE1 9BG

General Enquires:
Contact our Co-Founder :
ednalouisa@gmail.com
0797 1667553

Fundraising:
Contact: ednalouisa@gmail.com

Podcast:
Contact: podcast@beyond-conflict.co.uk

Registered Charity Number: 1176499