MEET THE TEAM
Board of trustees:
Gillian Dare OBe, 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.
Edna Fernandes, Co-Founder & Trustee
Edna is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Conflict, formed in January 2018 in response to testimony from Iraqi refugees whose mental health was impacted by war. Since 2018, she has run the operational side of the charity, which has supported projects in Iraq, Ukraine, the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, and Israel. She was a former foreign correspondent and journalist for the FT, Reuters and Associated Newspapers. Edna is author of the books Holy Warriors, The Last Jews of Kerala and The Hollow Kingdom; and is a patron of Stop Trafficking, an NGO which works to assist victims of human trafficking.
www.ednafernandes.com
www.stoptrafficking.co.uk
Dr Kishan Manocha, Vice Chair
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 Edmund Newell LVO, Co-Founder and Trustee
Ed was a founding trustee and the first Chair of Beyond Conflict. He is Leadership Development Director of the Windsor Leadership Trust. Before, he was 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, security and inter-faith dialogue. He is former Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral and Sub-Dean of ChristChurch, Oxford.
Adam Perkins, Treasurer, Trustee
Dr Abda Mahmood, Trustee
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, Trustee
Operational Team:
Edna Fernandes, Director/Co-Founder
Edna is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Conflict, formed in January 2018 in response to testimony from Iraqi refugees whose mental health was impacted by war. Since 2018, she has run the operational side of the charity, which has supported projects in Iraq, Ukraine, the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, and Israel. She was a former foreign correspondent and journalist for the FT, Reuters and Associated Newspapers. Edna is author of the books Holy Warriors, The Last Jews of Kerala and The Hollow Kingdom; and is a patron of Stop Trafficking, an NGO which works to assist victims of human trafficking.
Golam Abbas, Advisor and
Partner on Bangladesh Project
Golam Abbas is special advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel prize winner. Abbas is advising the government and coordinating its response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. He 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 37 years 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.
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.
Luke Manning, Strategic Advisor
Luke is the Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange Group Foundation (LSEG) and leads the group’s community investment programme globally. Luke joined Beyond Conflict as a strategic advisor. He specialises in developing core business strategies with tangible commercial, reputational and social impact. Prior to his current role, Luke worked with a range of global organisations in senior leadership and consulting positions, including Thomson Reuters, Balfour Beatty, Barclays Bank, Refinitiv and Kier Group.
Simon Wright, Strategic Advisor
Simon is a seasoned entrepreneur and advisor in the creative services industry, having built several major businesses, including a communications consultancy which advised FTSE 100 companies. He joins Beyond Conflict as a strategic advisor. Simon works with leaders to help achieve maximum growth. In recent years he has been Chair of fast growth businesses in Europe, Africa and been Finance Director in positions in Denmark and the UK. He has been a trustee with numerous UK charities and voted CEO of the Year, with Freedom of the City of London.
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.
Tom Wright, Head of Social Media
The head content lead at Burning River, a social media production agency based in London. Specialising in content production and podcast recordings, Tom works alongside the Beyond Conflict social media team, creating meaningful and impactful content for our social pages, helping support and further our mission and goals.
Catherine Crabtree, Project Coordinator
Catherine is undertaking a Psychology and Trauma MSc at University College London. Catherine joined Beyond Conflict as Project Coordinator. Catherine is an experienced program coordinator with over 8 years’ experience, including at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Catherine led and delivered complex law enforcement and military capacity building projects in challenging and hostile environments globally.
Jaime Stewart, Policy Coordinator
Jaime graduated with a BSc in Psychology from King’s College London, with a particular focus on the wellbeing of young people. While researching childhood and adolescent adversity, he observed that many existing frameworks do not fully capture the challenges faced by those who have lived in conflict zones. This insight strengthened his commitment to support mental health initiatives tailored to displaced and conflict-affected communities.Alongside his academic work, Jaime has pursued a broad range of interests, including research at the University of Oxford’s Responsible Technology Institute, where he contributed to the ethical risk assessment of robotic technology.
Richard Owens, Events Planner
Richard works in the aviation industry and resides in the Barbican. Since moving to the UK from Dublin in 2021, he’s been actively involved in projects supporting communities locally. He’s currently the Head of Events @ London Irish Business Society but has also delivered meals for those in need in deprived areas in Hackney through Made in Hackney and coached football in dis-advantaged children in West London. He’s excited to deliver events that spread the word about Beyond Conflict, driving donations and exposing these important topics to the wider public.
Oswald Almeida, Volunteer
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.
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 Enquiries and Fundraising:
Contact our Co-Founder Edna Fernandes:
ednalouisa@gmail.com
07971 667553
Social Media and Podcast:
Contact our Head of Social Media Tom:
tom@burningriver.co.uk
