Project Contributors 

 

Rosie Bell, Writer & Researcher - 'Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times'

Rosie Bell is a writer and trainee mindfulness teacher. A regular contributor to Mindfulness Initiative content, she has also worked for numerous mindfulness and wellbeing innovators including Mindfulness at Work, PSYT and headspace.com. 

Watch Rosie during the online launch of 'Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times' here.

 

Dan Nixon, Researcher -  'Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times', Writer - 'Mindfulness and the 21st Century economy'

Dan Nixon is a freelance writer, researcher and consultant. A former senior analyst at the Bank of England, his recent writing includes an essay on the attention economy that was featured on the front page of The Sunday Times, in The Economist, FT, Mail Online, Express and Evening Standard, and was discussed on Talk Radio and BBC Radio 4. Dan has also written about mindfulness and what it means for economics and consumerism, which was picked up by the FT, Times, Guardian, Quartz and CityAM.

Hear Dan Nixon discuss why we should think of mindfulness as a 'foundational capacity' for a flourishing society in this talk.

  

Jasmine Isa Qureshi (They/She), Researcher, Climate Youth Resilience Project

Jasmine Isa Qureshi (They/She), has restructured herself countless times and continues her path as a marine biologist, writer, naturalist, storyteller, poet, speaker, wildlife film-maker, activist and consultant. Her articles feature in Gay Times, Gal-Dem, Birdwatch and BBC Wildlife. She has worked as a wildlife television/media researcher at Wild Space Productions on a Netflix series, BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Earth, and Sound Off Films. She is an Ambassador for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Engagement Officer for the youth led organization A Focus On Nature, and Advisor for RSPB England, forging links between worlds as an intersectional queer ecologist and writer.

Pilar Puig, Project Manager & Thought Partner

Pilar Puig is a mindfulness teacher and strategic thinker working with leading organizations in the mindfulness field. She teaches Mindfulness-Based Programs to the general public, in both Spanish and English, and is a trainee teacher trainer at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. She holds a Masters in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) from the University of Oxford. Before becoming a mindfulness teacher, Pilar was a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.

 

Advisors

 

Cross-sector

Professor Ruth Baer

Ruth Baer is an internationally esteemed clinical psychologist, recently retired from a career as a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky and now working at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Her interests in mindfulness include research, teaching, training, supervision, and practice. 

 

Madeleine Bunting

Madeleine Bunting is a writer and journalist. She founded the Mindfulness Initiative in November 2013 with Chris Cullen, and is an associate of the Oxford University Mindfulness Centre. She has written five books and is a regular commentator and broadcaster for amongst others, the Guardian, BBC and the Tablet. 

 

Vidyamala Burch

Vidyamala is co-founder and Director of Breathworks - an international mindfulness teacher training and delivery organisation specialising in mindfulness for pain, illness and stress. She has published several books and is internationally regarded as an expert in the field of mindfulness for pain given she draws on her own experience of pain following spinal injuries.

 

Dr Joanna Cook

Joanna Cook has written and lectured on the Anthropology of Ethics, Asceticism, Religion, Buddhism, Fieldwork Methodology, the Gift, Gender, and Medical Anthropology. Dr. Cook's current research examines the introduction of meditation techniques into therapeutic practice in the UK focusing on questions of ethics, well-being and the dialogue between religion and therapy.

 

Dr Rebecca Crane

Rebecca Crane directs the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) at Bangor University and has played a leading role in the development of the centre since it was founded in 2001. Prior to this she worked for 15 years in the mental health field as an Occupational Therapist and an integrative counsellor.

 

Prof Willem Kuyken

Willem Kuyken is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford University Mindfulness Centre. His work is focused on mood disorders and evidence-based approaches to mood disorders. His research and teaching are primarily on mindfulness-based approaches.

Elizabeth Mpyisi

Elizabeth is a Barrister of good standing and served the United Nations Refugee Agency as a Senior Protection Officer (Human Rights). As a BAME Mindfulness Practitioner and Teacher, she will provide valuable insights and momentum to the discussion around Race and Healing Together. Similarly, as an active member of the Mindful Workplace Community her international legal perspective shines a light on the impact of Safeguarding, Code of Conduct and Ethics on vulnerable populations in particular.

Heather Regan-Addis

Heather began training in mindfulness meditation in 2004. She is a co-founder and director of the Mindfulness Association, a leading mindfulness teacher-training organisation based in Scotland. She leads the team that developed and delivers the Mindfulness-Based Living Course.

 

Dr Jonathan Rowson

Jonathan is the former director of The Social Brain Centre at the RSA. A chess Grandmaster, Jonathan was British Champion for three consecutive years 2004-6. He recently founded Perspectiva, a think-tank examining complex problems in the external world from the perspectives of our inner worlds; integrating systems, souls, and society for the common good.

 

Dylan Schlosberg

Dylan is an experienced and successful digital and internet entrepreneur. He is active in charitable work which seeks to support mindfulness research and reach people who could benefit most from mindfulness practice.

 

Prof Mark Williams

Mark Williams is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Clinical Psychology. He co-developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for prevention of relapse and recurrence in major depression.

 

Health Policy

 

Dr Jonty Heaversedge

Jonty is a GP in southeast London who sees patients, is a writer and broadcaster, and chairs the Southwark clinical commissioning group. His television work includes programmes on smoking, organ donation, healthy lifestyles and mental health. 

 

Prof Lord Richard Layard

Richard Layard is Well-Being Programme Director (Well-Being) at the Centre For Economic Performance, London School of Economics. He is one of the first economists to work on happiness and a member of the House of Lords. 

 

Dr Bridgette O'Neill

 

Dr Florian Ruths

Florian Ruths is a consultant psychiatrist in adult mental health at the Maudsley hospital in London. He is clinical lead for mindfulness-based therapy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Dr Clara Strauss

 

Education Policy

Prof Guy Claxton

Guy Claxton is emeritus Professor of the Learning Sciences at the University of Winchester, a post he took up in September 2008 together with the role of Co-Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning (CrL).He previously held the same title at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education.

 

Fergus Crow

Fergus is the CEO of child bereavement support charity, Winton's Wish, and formerly Director of Partnerships at the National Children's Bureau. The focus of his work over the past twenty-five years has been on the social and emotional development and well-being of children.

 

Amanda Bailey

Amanda is the Executive Director for Finance and Operations at Star Academies. She led the education strand in the Mindful Nation UK inquiry and teaches mindfulness in schools.

Richard Burnett

Richard is co-founder of Mindfulness in Schools Project and co-wrote .b. MiSP's flagship course, as well as other MiSP curricula. He is a teacher at Tonbridge School and has taught mindfulness to well over a thousand adolescents, as well as to many school staff and school parents.

  

Workplace Policy

Michael Chaskalson

Michael a pioneer the of mindfulness to leadership and other workplace contexts. He is the author of the agenda-setting book The Mindful Workplace and the bestselling Mindfulness in Eight Weeks, and has co-authored Mindfulness for Coaches and Mind Time. Michael  shares his insights and research with audiences worldwide as a keynote speaker, coach, consultant, and teacher.

 

Marion Furr

Marion Furr was Director of Ministerial Business and Parliamentary Accountability in the Department of Health until July 2016, and led the DH staff health and wellbeing programme. She trained as a mindfulness teacher with both Bangor and Oxford universities and has introduced mindfulness to over 3000 civil servants.

 

Rachel Lilley

Rachel has worked for over 20 years in social and environmental change as Director of a social enterprise, trainer, consultant and communications expert. She has developed and delivered consultancy and training interventions for Welsh Government, WWF, Ceredigion County Council, Ogilvy Mather amongst others.

  

Dr Tim Lomas

Tim Lomas is a lecturer in positive psychology at the University of East London, where he is the associate programme leader for the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology. Tim has published numerous papers and books on topics including positive psychology theory, mindfulness, linguistics, and gender.

 

Dr Susan Peacock

Susan Peacock is a Chartered Psychologist, Coach and Mindfulness trainer. She worked at the University of Surrey for 10 years where enhancing wellbeing amongst the 15,000 members was part of her remit. Prior to that, she spent 10 years working in corporate advertising environments.

 

Dr Jutta Tobias

Jutta Tobias Mortlock, PhD, is a social psychologist with over 20 years of work experience in organisational development and capacity-building in six countries on three continents. Jutta’s research interest is focused on behaviour change initiatives in workplaces geared at generating sustainable wellbeing and performance.

 

Ivor Twydell

Ivor is a highly experienced leadership coach and facilitator with a background in senior and executive level roles in the UK police service, having served as the Assistant Chief Constable for the Gloucestershire Constabulary. He now specialises in conscious/mindful leadership. 

  

Tessa Watt

Tessa Watt is a mindfulness teacher and consultant and a founding director of Slow Down London in the UK. She is the author of Mindful London and Mindfulness: Your step-by-step guide to a happier life.