Dave is a knowledge mobilisation specialist. He has a PhD in climate science and 10 years professional experience in environmental policy, policy-relevant climate mitigation research and leading on knowledge mobilisation activities for multi-year, multi-£million, multi-disciplinary and impact-focused research programmes.

Dave’s leadership at SPRE centres around how to support capacities for more ethical, equitable and effective systems and practices. He is particularly interested in how to applying insights from intersectionality, participatory action research and complexity-aware impact monitoring, evaluation and learning.

Dave also leads on knowledge mobilisation for a 7-year £3.7m research unit on the long-term economics of health and social care supply.

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Catherine-Rose is a researcher and knowledge mobiliser with 15 years’ experience across community development, social work, social care, public health, primary and secondary care. She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh and specialises in participatory approaches to research design and systems leadership. She also has specialist expertise in monitoring and evaluation for learning (specifically developmental evaluation and contribution analysis).

Her leadership and methods create a bridge between different kinds of knowledge, with a focus on blending lived experience, practice wisdom, policy know-how, and research evidence. She is also the Co-Chair for the Social Action Inquiry for Scotland, which focuses on what helps and hinders community-led change.

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Clare works as a Senior Lecturer Medical Microbiology & Head of Equality and Inclusion, at the School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University.

Freya is an early career researcher in the final stages of a social sciences PhD examining processes of racialisation and understandings of racism in professional education. She brings over a decade of practitioner experience in social care, mental health nursing and social work, and currently works as Programme Manager for improvement in children’s social work services in Shetland. Drawing on both her combined practitioner and researcher lenses, Freya is motivated by how research, policy and practice can be enabled to inform and challenge one another in meeting the challenges of our time. Freya joined SPRE as a Trustee in 2023.

I live in Stirling and I work as a coach and facilitator with people across the public and third sectors in Scotland. I am midway through a doctorate in organisational change with Hult International Business School (at Ashridge) using a participatory action research approach. My inquiries are around what it means and what it takes to work and learn relationally alongside each other. Over the past five years, I have co-convened (with my friend and colleague, Charlie Jones) weekly ‘Spaces for Listening’ over zoom, listening to and connecting with many hundreds of people across the UK and beyond.

Christine is Director of Research and Insight at the British Council. She has over two decades of experience of international working, with a focus on youth and civil society, and on connecting research with practitioners and policy makers for greater impact. She was formerly a journalist, and remains passionate about telling stories that make a difference to people’s lives. Christine is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Trustee of MND Scotland, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh.

Briana Pegado FRSA is a governance and anti-oppression consultant based in Edinburgh, and the founder of Good Trouble Co., supporting values-led organisations through disruptive leadership and strategic change. She is an award-winning social entrepreneur, activist and author with over a decade of experience as a senior manager across Scotland’s creative industries and third sector. She was the first President of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) in 2014 and helped establish the University of Edinburgh’s first Black History Month in 2010.

She has held leadership roles including Chief Executive of Creative Edinburgh, Co-Director of Creative Informatics (AHRC funded), and interim CEO of YWCA Scotland. She was a Co-Director of We Are Here Scotland and served as Creative Director of Fringe of Colour Films, both supporting Black and POC led artists. In 2018, She cofounded a ‘conductancy’ (Povo), to enable clients to engage with play and divergent thinking processes. In 2022 she was appointed Chair of the Scottish Government’s Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force. She is currently Cofounder of the Black Community Filmmakers Network (BFCN) in partnership with Glasgow Film Festival and a critical friend of NEUK Collective’s neurodivergent leadership programme Spectra. She was recently appointed the BFI and FilmHub Scotland EDI Champion for the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN).

Briana has served on the boards of the University of York and the University of Edinburgh, is a Data-Driven Innovation Ambassador for the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and is a long-time contributor to BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning Show. Her first book, Make Good Trouble: A Guide to the Energetics of Disruption, was published by Watkins in 2024.

Working at the intersection of health, wellbeing, and innovation, I have led digital health initiatives and innovation projects, co-founded a rural community research network, and supported knowledge exchange across academic and public sector ecosystems. With Master’s degrees in stratified medicine and health data science, my work focuses on real-world impacts, systems learning, and inclusive innovation. I am passionate about human learning systems, outcome-focused practice, and bridging the gap between policy, lived experience, and meaningful change. I currently hold leadership and advisory roles across national programmes, academic partnerships, industry, and research organisations.

Sam works as a Senior Lecturer in Environment and Development at the University of Edinburgh, where she engages with amazing students whilst helping to run the MSc in Environment and Development. Sam is a feminist political ecologist committed to environmental and social justice, and her work includes long-term engagement with rural villagers in Nepal, action-research with practitioners and policy-makers in Kathmandu, and recently started work where she lives in rural Northumberland. Having trained in ecology and worked in conservation around the world for 10 years before returning to academia to complete a PhD, Sam is committed to building meaningful relationships with practitioners.