Meet The Speakers

Natural Hazards

Natural Hazards

  • Kate is an experienced geography teacher currently working as Trust Lead for Geography, Future Academies. In this role she works across eight schools to ensure that their geography education is the very best that it can be. She has taught A-Level geography for a decade and authored numerous resources including revision guides, online learning materials such as Seneca and textbook resources. Kate particularly enjoys helping students to develop their ability to think synoptically at A-Level and regularly shares ideas and resources for how to do this.

  • Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, integrating climate change into both. Three main areas are:

    (i) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy https://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/ ;

    (ii) island sustainability focusing on safe and healthy living and livelihoods https://www.islandvulnerability.org/ ; and

    (iii) risk education for health and disasters https://www.riskred.org/

  • Estella Carpi is an Associate Professor of Humanitarian and Migration Studies at University College London. She is presently a visiting senior scholar at the Lebanese American University. Her work concerns the identity politics and the moral economy of humanitarianism in Lebanon and Turkey. As a social anthropologist, she has worked in several academic and research institutions in the Middle Eastern region, such as the New York University of Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Trends Research and Advisory (UAE), Lebanon Support, UN-Habitat Lebanon, the American University of Beirut (AUB), UNDP-Egypt (Cairo), and the International Development Research Centre (Cairo). She is the author of The Politics of Crisis-Making: Forced Displacement and Cultures of Assistance in Lebanon (Indiana University Press, 2023).

  • Fiona Tweed is Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Staffordshire. Fiona’s main research interests are glacial processes and natural hazards; she is an international expert on glacier outburst floods. Fiona has over 35 years’ experience of field research, mainly in Iceland where she has led many research expeditions. Fiona was part of a team investigating glacial outburst flooding from the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland and she has a long-standing interest in ice-covered volcanoes.

    Fiona has led international ‘citizen science’ field research and is committed to raising the profile of earth and environmental science education. She is a regular speaker at national student conferences and regional Geographical Association branches. An enthusiastic educator and a leader in research-engaged learning in Geography, Fiona is an Advance HE Senior Fellow and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by Advance HE in 2016. She has also been awarded the Geographical Association prize for Leading Excellence in Geography twice, in 2020 and 2023. Fiona is an Editorial Collective member of the Geographical Association journal Geography.

  • Professor Dave Petley is a distinguished earth scientist and academic leader, currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, a position he has held since September 2022. Dave was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Geography from King's College London in 1990, followed by a PhD in Earth Sciences from University College London in 1995. He has held academic posts at the universities of Sunderland, Portsmouth and Durham, and leadership roles at the universities of East Anglia and Sheffield, as well as at Hull. Throughout his career, Dave has had a particular focus on landslide mechanics and their societal impacts.

    His extensive research has significantly advanced the understanding of landslide hazards, contributing to global safety and resilience efforts. He has authored numerous publications and maintains an active presence in the academic community, as well as writing the AGU Eos Landslide Blog.

  • Cameron Dunn is a Geography teacher (Years 7-13) with decades of classroom experience. Currently a senior examiner for a major exam board, he was an A-level Chief Examiner 2008-2018 and have helped develop specifications and assessment models for several GCSE, A-level and International A-level course. Cameron has authored and edited a number of A-level and GCSE textbooks for Hachette and OUP as well as many other A-level resources. He was also Associate Editor of Geography Review for many years. Over the years, Cameron has designed and delivered many online and face-to-face professional development course for both students and teachers. In his spare time Cameron is an avid traveller, hill-walker and geocacher.

    Cameron is an Associate Editor of, and author for, Geography Review. He also writes Geography Factsheets for Curriculum Press; and he's the author /editor of the Hachette / Hodder Pearson Edexcel A-level Geography textbooks

  • Dr Eslam Elbaaly is a Lecturer (Teaching) in Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management.

    Eslam has a decade of experience in international humanitarian affairs and field operations, including being a Senior Manager with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Egypt.

    He has a background in clinical medicine and public health, a Master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and over 3 years experience teaching Humanitarian Affairs in higher education settings in the UK.

Criminology

  • Dr Lyndsey Harris is an Associate Professor in Criminology and Inaugural Director of Linc-Eval (Health and Wellbeing Evaluation Unit) at the University of Lincoln. Dr Harris has taught at both post-92 and Russell Group Universities including: Ulster University; Birmingham City University (Programme Director for the suite of Criminology programmes) and University of Nottingham. Lyndsey has extensive qualitative research experience of conducting sensitive interviews with women. A committed feminist, Lyndsey leads the Lincolnshire Women and Girls Research Network. Lyndsey was part of the team of researchers who explored women’s experiences of the criminal justice system for Lincolnshire Office of Police and Crime Commissioner/Safer Lincolnshire Partnership in 2020. This research contributed to the development of Lincolnshire Women’s Strategy and the creation of a Lincolnshire Concordat.

    Dr Lyndsey Harris is a recognised ESRC Impact Leader and champions knowledge exchange and professional practice development; consequently, Lyndsey holds a number of positions in the East Midlands: For example, she is Vice-Chair of Lincolnshire Womens Strategy [Reducing women’s proximity to the criminal justice system] Strategic Group and since 2016, Lyndsey has chaired a multi-agency community of practice: Response to Complexity (R2C) Steering Group for Nottingham City Council as an independent academic. R2C seeks to take a co-ordinated multi-agency response in delivering a service for women survivors of domestic and sexual violence and abuse (DSVA) experiencing SMD. More recently, Lyndsey was invited by Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care SMD Partnership to chair the Women’s SMD Workstream. Her latest publication (2022) with Dr Lauren Hall has introduced a new concept, Desistance Emotional Work (DEW), which explores the gendered burden of desistance, and the resources women provide to their desisting partners.

    In her spare time, she combines her love of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (a season ticket holder) and her academic practice by chairing Wolves Equality Advisory Board and representing that group on the club’s Fan Advisory Board. Lyndsey hopes her research will help improve services for all women.

  • Dr Anthony Ellis is an Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Lincoln. Anthony has been researching violence and violent offending for almost 15 years. His first book, about the lives of violent men in the North of England, Men Masculinities and Violence was the winner of the British Society of Criminology’s Critical Criminology book of the year prize in 2016. Since then, Anthony has received funding from a variety of sources to research violence against women and girls, homicide prevention, and violence affecting children and young people. Anthony is the current lead of the University’s Violence in Society Research Group.

  • Justin Rollins is a critically acclaimed writer.  His autobiographical book The Lost Boyz  (Waterside Press, 2011) is currently studied nationwide within criminology degrees.

    Aged just fourteen and using the name ‘Sevens’, Justin went from being a bullied child to leader of the Warriorz, a group of London street kids involved in graffiti-tagging and other crimes including a series of violent encounters.

    Justin became determined to turn his life around, experimenting with many forms of therapy he did just that. Now unrecognisable from the person he once was Justin is a competent speaker, using his lived experience he lectures at universities and prisons, providing first hand expert knowledge, advise and opinion on the Criminal Justice System and associated social factors.

  • Professor Zoe Walkington is a psychologist who works at The Open University where she produces teaching material relating to investigative psychology (a part of forensic psychology which focusses on police investigations) and also the psychology of how we relate to fictional characters (for example in novels). She worked for over 20 years providing training and advice to police forces, and enjoys providing inspiration to young people considering careers within and around psychology.

  • Marisa Merico is an author, public speaker and having recently obtained a BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice from Lancaster University, works with academics researching crime and justice as a criminologist. She has also worked in the voluntary sector with women at women’s centres' in the North West of England.

    In her past life, Marisa was involved in 'organised crime’, with strong family ties to the notorious ‘Ndrangheta’, Mafia crime syndicate. She is the daughter of a former Mafia Crime Boss.

    Marisa ‘served time’ in prison in both England and Italy, and was released from prison 1998.

    Whilst in prison, she was a high security prisoner due to her ‘family connections’, which made her prison experience significantly different to the ‘typical’ journey other women experience when incarcerated.

    An advocate for prison reform, Marisa, is committed to changing the prison system and helping other women, who like her have experience the criminal justice system. She frequently talks about her unique experiences at events, using her expertise, to give her side of the story of ‘organised crime’ and the grim realities of ‘prison life’. Marisa has written a book about her life, and engages in media work, detailing her experiences of the ‘Mafia’ and prison.

Tudor History

  • Keith Milne has served in the classroom and also in leadership positions in a wide variety of schools for over thirty years. He has led very popular and highly regarded conferences and CPD throughout the United Kingdom and overseas and regularly runs focused revision sessions for schools and academy chains. He has written and advised on a number of A Level and also pedagogical books and contributes widely to the broader academic community. For many years, Keith has been a senior examiner for a major exam board at both GCSE and A Level and has been heavily involved in the launch, development, and review of a very wide range of examination specifications.

  • Tracy Borman is a best selling author, historian and broadcaster, specialising in the Tudor period. Her books include The Stolen Crown, Thomas Cromwell, The Private Lives of the Tudors and Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I. She has also written a number of historical novels and her latest is The House of Boleyn.

    Tracy is also Chief Historian of Historic Royal Palaces, Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust. She is Chancellor and Professor of Tudor History at Lincoln Bishop University. She is also an ambassador for The National Archives. Alongside her literary and heritage work, Tracy has presented history documentaries for Channel 5, including Inside the Tower of London and The Fall of Anne Boleyn. She is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and gives talks on her books across the country and abroad.

    Tracy was awarded an OBE for services to heritage in the King’s Birthday Honours 2024.

  • Melanie Vance is an experienced A-Level History specialist with over 20 years of teaching and leadership. She is currently the Head of Humanities at an outstanding Sixth Form College. She has been a trusted trainer for AQA, Hodder Education, and History Rocks, delivering professional development for teachers and student events across the country and Europe.

    As an author, Melanie has contributed to a range of resources for Hodder Education (Hatchette), including titles in the respected Access to History series, My Revision Notes, and has developed training materials to support new and experienced A-Level History teachers.

    In addition, Melanie serves as a Lead Examiner for a national exam board, she hosts the History Rocks podcast, where she shares practical strategies to help students achieve exam success. She is also an avid collector of historical jokes.

Psychology

  • Cara Flanagan is the author of many books for A level students, a conference, speaker, and is Senior editor of Psychology Review. She taught for 20 years and was a senior examiner for AQA. Cara has recently published the third edition of her textbook alongside Matt Jarvis and Rob Liddle called ‘AQA Psychology for A Level’, which has been thoroughly updated to match the latest AQA specifications.

  • Karen J Duffy is the principal university lecturer of Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. She taught A-Level Psychology for 15 years before this and has been assistant principal examiner for AQA since 1991.

    Recent Publications:

    Carney, C and Duffy K.J. (2022) Introduction to Personality & Individual Differencesin Lord J. (Eds) Psychology of Education: Theory, Research and Evidence-Based Practice London: Sage

    British Psychological Society (2020) Initial Teacher Education:Psychology :Duffy K.J., Hooper R, and Kitching H (eds) : Leicester Sept 2020