National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee – Member Biographies

Professor Anthony Heath, CBE, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College

Specialist topics:

• social mobility,
• class and educational opportunity,
• nationalism and identity

Anthony was the founding Director of the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford and Professor of Sociology at Manchester University. He has interests in social mobility, ethnicity, religion, refugees and migrants and non-household population groups. As a member of the Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF) Anthony was particularly interested in ethnicity and religion, and data on residents of communal establishments. Anthony proposed the development of a ‘social contract’ (recommendation 1.1 from the IDTF) and advocated for the harmonisation of socio-economic background. He also works closely as an Adviser to the Social Mobility Commission.

Tina Chui, Director of the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics, StatsCan

Specialist topics:

• gender,
• diversity and inclusion statistics (including from an National Statistics Office perspective)

Tina is the Director for Diversity and Sociocultural Statistics at Statistics Canada. She is currently responsible for a team of over 120 people who develop, compile, analyse and disseminate on a variety of topics on equity and diversity issues for different population characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, disability, immigrant and ethnocultural groups. She also directs the General Social Statistics Program within the organization which develop data on family, victimization, time-use, volunteering and giving, dynamics between work and home, social identity as well as caregiving and receiving.

Tina has experience working on every aspect of the statistical process: statistical consultation on data needs, content determination, data processing and certification, as well as analysis and dissemination. She also has experience in data integration by combining administrative data with household data (Canadian Census and other household surveys). Her past portfolio includes managing statistical programs on topics such as income, education and tourism.

Tina holds a doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Waterloo and a master’s degree in Demography from the University of Alberta. Tina lives in the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People, also known as Ottawa.

Sam Freedman, Education Partnerships Group, Ark

Specialist topics:

• education

Sam is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and writes regularly on politics and policy for Prospect, New Statesman, TES, FT, Guardian and Sunday Times. Previously he was CEO of Education Partnerships Group, which supports governments in sub-Saharan Africa to develop education policy and was an executive director at Teach First. He worked at the Department for Education as a senior policy adviser to Michael Gove between 2010 and 2013. Sam is also a senior adviser to the education charity Ark; Vice-Chair of Ambition Institute; and a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust and Teacher Development Trust.

Professor Uzo Iwobi, OBE, CBE, Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru

Specialist topics:

• ethnicity,
• justice

Uzo is Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru, Lead for Black History Wales and Coordinator for Black Lives Matter Wales Collective following the completion of her contract as Specialist Policy Adviser to Welsh Government.

Professor Iwobi became the first international chair of diversity at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has been appointed to the following Boards: University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Academi Wales at Welsh Government and Chinese in Wales Association.

Uzo also became a Wales representative Board Member of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (which includes Oxford and Cambridge Universities) and was made an Honorary Fellow of Bridgend College.

Originally from Nigeria, Uzo holds a law degree from the University of Nigeria and she qualified as a solicitor and a barrister and was called to the Nigerian Bar.

Uzo has also served with the Police National Diversity team, based at the Home Office, where she was involved in developing national policies on race relations and diversity.

Professor Evelyn Collins, CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Equal Rights Trust

Specialist topics:

• gender equality,
• equal rights,
• equalities law in Northern Ireland

Professor Evelyn Collins CBE is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Equal Rights Trust and a Trustee on the Board of the Abraham Initiatives UK. Since May 2023, Evelyn has been an Honorary Professor at Queen’s University Belfast where she contributes to the work of its School of Law. She was appointed as Chair of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland in January 2024.

Evelyn was Chief Executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland from March 2000 to February 2023 and Chair of the Board of Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies, from October 2013 to October 2017.

Evelyn is a law graduate of Sheffield University and has Masters’ degrees from the University of Toronto (Criminology) and Queen’s University Belfast (Human Rights and Discrimination Law).

Evelyn has worked on equality issues since the 1980s, mostly in Northern Ireland but also as a national expert working on gender equality in the European Commission in Brussels and more widely through her engagement with Equinet and various EU projects.

Evelyn was a member of the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men from 1992 to 2020, serving as its President in 2005.  Evelyn also served on the Board of the Chief Executives’ Forum in Northern Ireland from 2014 to 2020 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Evelyn was awarded the CBE in 2008, for services to the public in Northern Ireland.

In July 2014, the University of Ulster awarded Evelyn the honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LLD) for her contribution to the promotion of equality and good relations.

Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh

Specialist topics:

• data ethics,
• data innovation,
• technology and data ethics,
• intercultural digital ethics

Shannon is the Baillie Gifford Professor in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. She serves as Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute and is a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute. Professor Vallor’s research explores how emerging technologies reshape human moral and intellectual character, and maps the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and artificial intelligence (AI).

Professor Vallor’s work includes advising academia, government and industry on the ethical design and use of AI. Her current projects examine responsibility gaps in the governance of autonomous systems, as part of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016) and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (2022). She is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and public engagement, including the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics and the 2022 Covey Award from the International Association of Computing and Philosophy.

Professor Jenny Gibson, Chief Scientific Advisor & A Fairer Start Mission Director, Nesta Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge

Specialist topics:

• ethical research,
• robust methodological innovation,
• neurodiversity,
• education

Jenny leads Nesta‘s A Fairer Start Mission, aiming to reduce inequality related achievement gaps in the UK. She is also Chief Scientific Advisor to Nesta, supporting our teams in responsible research practices, ensuring rigour and leading methodological innovation. Jenny also holds a professorship at University of Cambridge where she leads the Play and Communication Lab (PacLab), a team investigating the role of play, language, cognition, and neurodiversity in human development.

Jenny completed her undergraduate studies and PhD at University of Manchester School of Psychological Science before going on to do postdoctoral research at University of Cambridge Department of Developmental Psychiatry. She joined the University of Cambridge in a permanent academic post in 2014 and was part of the founding team establishing the LEGO Foundation funded centre for research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL).

Jenny is passionate about supporting impactful research that is rigorous, ethical, participatory and transparent.

Sir Tom Shakespeare, CBE, Sociologist and Bioethicist, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Specialist Topics:

• disability,
• communications,
• health

Tom trained in social and political sciences at Cambridge University and subsequently studied for an MPhil and Phd. He has taught and researched at the Universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle and East Anglia. From 2008 to 2013, Tom was a technical officer at the World Health Organisation, Geneva, where he co-authored and co-edited the ‘World Report on Disability’ (2011) and ‘International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury’ (2014).

Tom’s books include: ‘The Sexual Politics of Disability’ (1996); ‘Disability Rights and Wrongs’ (2006; 2014); ‘Disability – the Basics’ (2017).

Tom was a member of Arts Council England (2003 to 2008) and Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2013 to 2019). Tom is chair of Light for the World UK, and vice-chair of Light for the World International. Tom is a regular contributor to BBC Radio and writes regularly for The Lancet.

Mahlet (Milly) Zimeta, Head of Public Policy, Open Data Institute

Specialist topics:

• inclusive data,
• AI,
• data science

Prior to joining the Open Data Institute (ODI) in September 2020, Milly was Senior Policy Adviser at The Royal Society, the independent scientific academy of the UK, where she led the Society’s policy programme on data and Digital Disruption including projects on data governance, data science skills, and privacy enhancing technologies.

Milly was previously Programme Manager at the Alan Turing Institute, Britain’s national institute for data science and AI, where she managed the Turing’s research partnership programmes in Health and in Finance/Economic Data Science.

Milly has also worked at the Medical Research Council and served on an Advisory Group at Chatham House. Milly holds degrees in philosophy from Oxford, Cambridge and York (UK).

Si Chun Lam, Head of Research, Intelligence and Inclusive Growth at West Midlands Combined Authority 

Specialist topics:

• Inclusive growth, 
• Public health intelligence

Si Chun is the Head of Research, Intelligence, and Inclusive Growth at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), tasked with bringing together the research and intelligence expertise across the West Midlands to build a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener and healthier West Midlands. 

Before joining the WMCA, Si Chun worked for Coventry City Council in a variety of roles, most recently, leading Coventry’s research, insight, and intelligence function. In this role, Si Chun transformed the Council’s approach to insight, analysis, and data through the development of a citywide intelligence hub and a ‘One Coventry’ approach to performance management. Through nurturing partnerships with local universities, Si Chun championed the development of a flourishing research and intelligence ecosystem in the city.  

Si Chun has contributed to the national conversation on the power of research and intelligence to make a positive impact on our society. Outside of paid employment, Si Chun is part of the Economy of Francesco, a global movement of economists, entrepreneurs and change-makers working to create an economy that works for everyone, with nobody left behind.  

Si Chun completed a master’s degree in Social Sciences Research at Loughborough University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Development at the University of Bath.  

Si Chun is originally from Hong Kong and is proud and passionate about the amazing potential of the West Midlands. In the past year Si Chun volunteered as a City Host for Coventry’s year as the UK City of Culture, and as a performer for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies

Lela Kogbara, Director, Black Thrive Global

Specialist topics:

• equality,
• inclusion,
• employment

Lela is currently a director of Black Thrive Global and has a lifetime of experience designing and implementing policies, practices and funding regimes that address structural inequality. Lela was a senior leader in the public sector for 25 years, 16 of which were in Islington where she was Assistant Chief Executive with responsibility for a range of services including corporate policy and performance, equalities, community safety, adult and community learning, arts and culture and voluntary sector grants.

Lela led on the Islington Fairness and Employment Commissions, which included engaging communities in new models of delivery and resource allocation. She worked part time as Director of Employment Programmes for NHS England until July 2018, which included increasing the number of people with learning disabilities employed within the NHS and setting up the first Individual Placement and Support (IPS) trial to extend employment support beyond mental health to other health conditions.

Lela was adviser to the Department for Education on improving access to apprenticeships for disabled and BAME people. Lela follows her passion for equity and social justice through her work and as chair of Health and Employment Partnerships (a social purpose company within Social Finance that helps people with health conditions and disabilities secure, sustain and retain fulfilling work), a trustee and treasurer of Ballet Black and Bernie Grant Arts Centre, and as trustee of DFN Project Search.

Nitesh Prakash, Partner at Bain & Company

Specialist topics:

• equality,
• inclusion,
• sustainability,
• energy and natural resources

Nitesh Prakash is a partner based in Bain & Company’s London office, where he is a leader in the firm’s Energy and Natural Resources and Sustainability practices.

Nitesh has accumulated a wealth of international experience advising and leading clients across the UK, Australia, India, the Middle East, South Africa and the US.

Beyond his client work, he plays an important role as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D, E&I) Leader at Bain & Company in the UK, and sits on the UK D, E&I steering committee. Nitesh is passionate and keen to further the agenda on DE&I, and is active in furthering the Racial equity agenda.

He currently mentors several minority ethnic professionals, and is involved with BITC to collectively push forward the agenda on creating equal opportunities for Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse individuals seeking to enter and thrive in the UK workplace. Further, he is actively pushing the agenda on Equal Parental Leave in the UK workplace.

Dame Julia Cleverdon, DCVO, CBE

Specialist topics:

• education,
• business,
• community

Julia is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities.

During her tenure as Chief Executive of Business in the Community from 1991 to 2007, Julia worked closely with the President HRH The Prince of Wales in building a movement of 850 member companies. Julia later served as Special Adviser to The Prince of Wales’s Charities and focused efforts on disadvantaged communities.

Julia co-founded Step Up To Serve (#iwill), a campaign which was set up to make meaningful social action a part of life for young people across the UK. As Chair of Teach First from 2007 to 2014, and now Vice Patron, Julia has pioneered efforts to address educational disadvantage. She serves on the Careers and Enterprise Company and Youth Futures Foundation boards, is Deputy Chair of the Fair Education Alliance, and has just stepped down as Chair of the National Literacy Trust. Julia also chairs Transform Society, which aims to inspire a generation towards public service. She is Patron of Right to Succeed and chairs Place Matters.