Nick has over 25 years experience of engaging the public and stakeholders, whether for public service, social or commercial purposes. He has supported health bodies, Councils, developers, airports, Fire and Rescue Services, NGOs, publishers, third sector organisations and consultancies in their consulation persuits.  Nick was CEO of the Consultation Institute until 2018.

Lucy Farrow is one of the UK’s leading deliberative research and engagement practitioners with 15 years’ experience involving citizens in the decisions that affect their lives.  Alongside her role at Thinks Insight & Strategy she is a Fellow of Lancaster University, focusing on participatory climate policy making as part of the Climate Citizens initiative.

Lucy has designed and delivered some of the UK’s largest and most complex consultation and engagement projects from self-driving vehicles, to health service reform, water industry pricing to data sharing policy. She is also committed to developing the field of deliberative engagement, from designing one of the early citizens assemblies on climate change, to training civil servants to use deliberative research and participatory engagement methods to transport planners.

Chloe is a creative Chartered Manager with a wealth of experience delivering communications, engagement and consultation strategies on a range of projects from active travel and public realm to large infrastructure DCO projects.

Experienced in helping clients gain consents on projects through extensive two-way dialogue and use of engaging techniques. Chlose has a keen interest on digital and innovative tools to ensure engagement reach is high and people feel informed and inspired.

Reema is an independent researcher and practitioner with expertise in deliberative and participatory approaches. She currently works on the Digital Good Network, Public Voices in AI, and the Global Climate Citizens Assembly led by Iswe Foundation. She is also an EDI associate to the Wellcome Trust, advising them on the development and implementation of their equity framework.

She has been a People Powered mentor on two democracy accelerators, and she serves on the stakeholder panel for the EU Horizon consortium INSPIRE (Intersectional Spaces for Participation), which she helped establish. Reema co-founded the Ada Lovelace Institute. She is steeped in the practice of participatory processes, working at the RSA, Ipsos, and Involve. Most recently, she was Research Director and Head of Deliberative Engagement at Ipsos — specializing in complex, multi-country citizen engagement programs such as the Global Science Partnership for climate action as part of the UK’s COP26 Presidency.

Jessie Ashmore is the EMEA Head of Customer Strategy at Delib, the company behind Citizen Space and other innovative digital tools that help governments run democratic, accountable processes online. Jessie is responsible for strategy and service delivery across the full customer journey and experience in EMEA. Notable projects include the UK Covid Inquiry, Homes for Ukraine, and a range of meaningful, high-impact community engagement initiatives at the local level.

Clare Davies, about her 20 years’ experience working within public engagement in an evolving local authority.  Clare is particularly skilled in transport (public transport and infrastructure) related consultations.

Oliver Deed is co-founder and Director of ECF. Oliver is a talented communications and engagement practitioner with over 10 years of experience in the UK and across Australia.   His knowledge of public and political relations as well as his expertise in strategic communications provide him with the tools to design innovative solutions for a range of projects. He has worked on small and large scale residential, construction and infrastructure projects. 

He has led the team in delivering on a wide range of projects for clients including BeFirst, Camden Council, CityFibre, Community Health Partnerships, Crystal Palace Football Club, Enfield Council, Haringey Council, Mid Sussex District Council, TOWN and U+I PLC.

Paul has 20 years’ experience of involving people in policy and service change by creating relationships and supporting dialogue between underrepresented people and the people who make decisions that affect them. He has supported dozens of organisations through high-profile, public service change projects, with a special interest in health and social care service transformation. He specialises in identifying, planning for and managing the risks of conducting public consultations on contentious proposals.

A history of working with people who live with disabilities, people who have English as a second language, and people who are deaf, blind, or deaf and blind have given him a broad perspective on the benefits of engaging people and communities who some services describe as ‘hard to reach’.

Kester has overall responsibility for the research team and he leads the majority of our complex, and often controversial, consultations