Who we are

Aditi jointly leads the development of Protection Approaches’ research portfolios, policy programmes with Co-Executive Directors, Dr Kate Ferguson and Andy Fearn, creating strategic advocacy plans and identifying opportunities for policy engagement that bring together PA’s domestic and international work. As a member of the executive leadership team she will work together with the Board of Trustees, to set the organisational and fundraising strategy for the next era of PA’s work, ensuring we lead by example in establishing equitable, inclusive and human-centred organisational and HR policies.

Aditi is an accomplished policy analyst and strategist with a proven track record in advocacy, research and consensus-building across military, government, humanitarian, and civil society communities. She is an Executive Board Member at Airwars. Through her roles as Deputy Director of the UK chapter of Women of Colour Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS-UK) and now as co-Founder of the Minorities in Peace and Security (MPS) network, Aditi is a recognised leader in the fight against intersectional inequalities endemic in the professional fields of peace, security and prevention. 

Before joining PA, Aditi Directed the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones and Modern Conflict where she led the Group's strategy and activities in Parliament, working with MPs and Peers to improve the accountability, transparency and oversight of the UK's use of force and military partnerships. Aditi holds a First Class MSc. in Global Politics and Civil Society, awarded by the London School of Economics. 

“People of colour and minorities are disproportionately affected by bad policy—but are largely left out of dominant research, policymaking and practice. This means that most policy solutions are incomplete, and therefore, flawed. I firmly believe that work combating systemic inequalities and tackling prejudicial assumptions is indivisible from creating sustainable and equitable policy solutions. PA’s transformative work on identity-based violence tackles these issues head-on, working with communities both in the UK and across the world to incorporate intersectional analysis. By building consensus across borders and across sectors, we can forge powerful coalitions to change shape policies that will build a more peaceful and equitable world.” 

aditi.gupta@protectionapproaches.org

Andy heads our UK Stronger Communities programmes working with communities, civil society organisations, and local and national decision makers, to increase understanding of the processes that lead to prejudice, marginalisation and identity-based violence, and to strengthen local and national responses. Andy also leads on managing MEL and Operations.

Andy has more than a decade of experience working with communities to build community resilience and supporting individuals to develop the practical skills, knowledge, confidence, and networks to positively and sustainably confront prejudice and hate. This includes designing and co-leading national cohesion building projects in Rwanda funded by DfID, as well as delivering community-based hate prevention programmes in London with the UK Home Office. Andy holds and MA in Human Rights from Kingston University, London. 

“Creating a just and equitable world is the responsibility of all of us and with greater privilege comes greater responsibility.”

andy.fearn@protectionapproaches.org

Callie works alongside the policy team on Protection Approaches’ research portfolios and policy programmes, assisting the Director of Policy, Aditi Gupta, in identifying opportunities for political advocacy and civil engagement that bring together PA’s domestic and international work. She builds and maintains Protection Approaches’ relationships with a variety of elected representatives, policymakers, and civil society organisations. She is also responsible for delivering communications and maintaining Protection Approaches’ presence across online platforms.

Callie has previously worked for HM Opposition in UK Parliament in positions across the Shadow Defence, FCDO and Leader of the House teams. She has a background in policy research, political communications, and stakeholder management. She holds a MArts in Religion and Theology from the University of Bristol and McGill University, and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Callie’s research interests include religion as a global political interlocutor, historical interventions and “state-building” in the MENA and Asia Pacific regions, and community-led approaches to peacebuilding and post-colonial reconstruction. 

“In an age of increasing insecurity and impunity, the need for upstream prevention and resilience building in communities, at home and abroad, has never been more pressing. As top-down policies continue to fail people on the ground, UK foreign and domestic policy must be forward thinking and preventative; developed in conversation with those whose identities we have the responsibility to protect.”

callie.lewis@protectionapproaches.org

Derek works as part of our Stronger Communities team. He supports the organisation, delivery and monitoring, and evaluation of a range of work including the active bystander, hate crime awareness, and community builder training and the provision of tailored support to key partner organisations. 

He has over a decade of civil society experience, in particular working in civilian protection, violence monitoring, and conflict resolution with a wide range of people, from teenagers in London to Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in rural Nepal. He holds a PhD in Education and Social Justice from Lancaster University, an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management from City University, and a postgraduate certificate in Conflict Resolution from Coventry University. 

“I believe that we all, individually and collectively, hold responsibility for understanding and combatting violence on both direct and systemic levels. Helping more people feel able to meaningfully act on that responsibility, and to support those subjected to violence, wherever they may be in the world, is a constant source of education, inspiration, and motivation for me.“

derek.oakley@protectionapproaches.org

Dilia Zwart is advising the PA team and contributing to our education programme. She managed PA's education programme from 2019-2021 and authored our report 'Building stronger communities through critical and compassionate schooling.'

She has nearly ten years of experience managing education programmes and researching how educational systems can create more inclusive, democratic, and peaceful societies. She has worked on peacebuilding and atrocity prevention in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In September 2021 she began a PhD in International Education at New York University. Dilia holds a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard University and an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London.

“Schools are communities and can play a key role in inspiring young people to be positive changemakers. During one of our education programme's focus groups on the future of education in 2020, students said they wanted their schools ‘To teach the future [generations] how to respect themselves and others [and] to care for a world that is constantly changing.’ Centring youth voices and ensuring that they have the tools they need to care for themselves, others, and the planet is at the heart of building stronger communities resilient to identity-based violence.”

dilia.zwart@protectionapproaches.org

Farida manages and coordinates Protection Approaches’ Queering Atrocity Prevention programme, looking at LGBTQI+ groups’ unique risks and vulnerabilities to mass atrocities and the ways in which programmatic interventions and risk frameworks can respond to them efficiently and swiftly, in pursuit of safer and more inclusive societies. In her work, she engages a wide variety of stakeholders to ensure cross-sector commitments to centring LGBTQI+ groups in atrocity prevention efforts.

Farida has previously worked with Doria Feminist Fund on supporting women’s rights and LGBTQI+ rights groups in the MENA region and ensuring that they have access to more and better resources to support their human rights work and their communities. She has a background in journalism where she focused on LGBTQI+ rights and freedom of speech in the MENA region, as well as youth initiatives. Farida holds a BA in Anthropology from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Human Rights from University College London. She was born and raised in Egypt.

“Queer populations around the world face unique risks of mass atrocities based on their identities, yet programmatic interventions and conversations on atrocity prevention often overlook their experiences, their needs and the factors that make them more vulnerable to violence. I believe that all atrocity and conflict prevention frameworks must account for and respond to these risks if they are to contribute to more just, peaceful, inclusive and equitable societies that leave no one behind."

farida.mostafa@protectionapproaches.org

Jess works with Protection Approaches on queering atrocity prevention. In this project we are researching atrocity prevention with an LGBTQI+ lens. There are specific forms of persecution of LGBTQI+ people which are often overlooked when thinking about identity-based violence from the perspective of ethnic or religious minorities. We aim to bring together communities and organisations working on atrocity prevention with those working on LGBTQI+ rights. 

Jess is a queer academic at the University of Manchester where she researches atrocity prevention and United Nations decision-making processes. She has over a decade of experience working on atrocity prevention, starting with her PhD within the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, in Brisbane Australia. Jess has published widely in academic journals and her research has been featured in the Guardian and the Economist. At the University of Manchester, she leads modules on the United Nations at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her forthcoming monograph Inside the UN Security Council: Legitimation Practices and Darfur will be published by Oxford University Press 

“We know that LGBTQI+ people have been specifically targeted as part of mass atrocity crimes as far back as the Holocaust and yet modern approaches to atrocity prevention – as envisaged through the principle of the responsibility to protect – have largely neglected the persecution of queer people. The current backlash against LGBTQI+ rights in many parts of the world makes this all the more important, as does the current culture war against queer, and particularly trans, people in the UK.” 

Julia is part of our Stronger Communities Team, delivering on various programmes including school-based education workshops, community builder trainings, active bystander trainings, and engagement activities. 

Julia grew up in Latin America before continuing her studies in the UK. They previously worked in the University sector supporting international admissions, integrating students into the education system and liaising with students and their communities. They hold a BA in International Relations from the University of Kent and an MSc in International Development Practice from the University of St Andrews having focussed on diaspora communities throughout her studies.

“Having moved around a lot as a youngster, I have seen the effects of discrimination and exclusion but also saw the difference that informal community support can make to people’s lives. I see Protection Approaches community projects as a way to build bridges, break down the walls of prejudice and provide the support for inclusion that so many people deserve.”

Kate heads our research and policy work, establishing evidenced, equitable and creative pathways to structural change. This includes undertaking, commissioning, and coordinating research, providing technical advice to policy stakeholders, and creating opportunities for knowledge exchange. She leads our political engagement strategy, developing working groups and building constituencies of influence in the UK and abroad. She manages PA’s fundraising portfolio for our research and policy programmes, including Stronger Communities and Atrocity Prevention. Kate is also responsible for a lot of our HR including PA’s ongoing efforts to create human-centred processes of recruitment, employment, and working culture. 

Kate is an experienced analyst and strategist driving a prevention-first approach to foreign policy and the cycle of crises. She is a regular commentator on domestic and international issues relating to identity-based violence in the press and continues to publish academic writing. Her book, Architectures of Violence: The Command Structures of Modern Mass Atrocities, was published in 2020 by Hurst and Oxford University Press. 

Before founding PA, Kate worked in political strategy and research across a number of roles in the third sector, academia, the UK parliament, and as a private consultant. Between 2012-2018 she lectured on subjects relating to the histories of rights and violence at the University of East Anglia. She was a founding Editor of Refugee History, where she helped develop the concept and online platform. She received her PhD in 2015 from the University of East Anglia on devolved structures of modern mass atrocities and has an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford. Kate was made inaugural Chair of Policy at the European Centre of the Responsibility to Protect in 2018 where she works with the executive team to identify strategies for academic impact and is an occasional guest lecturer. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia.

“At the heart of Protection Approaches’ work is the pursuit of a more just, equitable and inclusive world. This means that we are part of a vast global movement for change that connects us to our local communities here in the UK and also to allies on the other side of the world – all of us making different contributions that help to push against division, greed and violence. I truly believe that we can achieve more together than we can alone and that through empathy and collaboration we can transform ourselves as well as the forces of oppression we exist to dismantle. I can think of no greater privilege than the work I am lucky enough to do, creating connections across our movement, helping to open access to power, and learning all of the time from others how to do that better.”

kate.ferguson@protectionapproaches.org

Roda is leading the casework coordination of On Your Side. She coordinates the support delivered by 5 part-time casework advocates based at East and Southeast Asian community partner organisations, who are trained in advocacy, trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, domestic violence, cultural competencies and hate crime awareness. She directly supports the caseworkers in providing efficient handling of all cases referred into On Your Side, and oversees all cases that have been referred, ensuring that cases are being allocated appropriately. ,

Roda has previously worked as a refuge and community independent domestic violence advocate for Oasis domestic abuse service, in which she supported people who had experienced domestic abuse, and assisted those seeking refuge. She also worked as a High Support Needs Independent domestic violence advocate and MARAC IDVA (multi-agency risk assessment conference) where she represented high-risk cases. She was also a representative for Vulnerability Panels within the Ashford area, for cases where complex needs and disability made the victims/survivors of domestic abuse a target for alleged perpetrators. Additionally, Roda She also has experience managing an increasing number of service users with a multitude of adverse experiences through the criminal justice system/civil procedures. Roda holds a BA in Politics & History from Swansea University and an MSc in NGO management & Development.

‘I have seen the long-lasting effects of racism and how we come to internalise degrading comments aimed at cultures/people who should be celebrated rather than disrespected/ignored or threatened with violence. On Your Side has offered a hub for those in need of support & I look forward to a change desperately needed’.

roda.ali@protectionapproaches.org

Szymon is responsible for developing, delivering, and leading on our various programmes including school-based education workshops, online and offline community builder trainings, hate crime trainings, active bystander trainings, and engagement activities with marginalised communities supporting them to lead on making positive change in their local communities. He also sits on the Senior Leadership Team alongside Kate, Andy and Aditi.

Szymon was born and raised in Poland to a traditional Roma-Gypsy family.

“I have seen my community being marginalized and denied basic human rights. It was hard for me to understand why some people are treated differently. I asked many Roma people: why don’t we do something about it? And very often I heard “We are used to things like that” this is why I decided to work with and for communities” 

Szymon has worked for the past 10 years with Roma-Gypsy communities in Poland and the UK supporting them to have their voices heard. His work includes being a teacher, learning mentor and mental health advocate. Szymon uses art as a tool to explore one’s identity. Szymon earned his MA in teaching and journalism in Poland. 

Szymon.glowacki@protectionapproaches.org

Victina is leading the day-to-day management and coordination of On Your Side. Her role extends beyond just coordinating the project delivery team, she also works to ensure that all partners and stakeholders receive attentive listening and the necessary support to meaningfully contribute to the service's smooth delivery and positive outcomes. Moreover, she carries the responsibility of devising new engagement, support, and sustainability strategies, as well as acting as the main representative of the service to coordinate communications and liaise with partner organisations and local statutory bodies.

Victina is an accomplished public relations and communication specialist with over 10 years of experience in project and campaign management, partnership development, and social responsibility. Her expertise extends beyond her role at PA, as she also serves as an advisor in the South East Strategic Partnership for Migration, the official Welcome Hub for BN(O) Hongkongers in South East England. Additionally, she contributes to the Hong Kong Business Hub, a newly established organisation dedicated to supporting and connecting Hong Kong entrepreneurs in the UK. 

"As a new migrant from Hong Kong, and a member of East and Southeast Asian communities in this country, I fully comprehend the challenges faced by minority groups and the overwhelming sense of helplessness that accompanies moving to a new land. Witnessing my community endure injustices, human rights violations, and trauma has made it abundantly clear to me that providing the necessary support to those experiencing racism or hate is of utmost importance. Through the On Your Side project, we are dedicated to ensuring everyone feels safe and secure, fostering understanding and empathy, and assuring every individual that they are never alone as we are steadfastly ON THEIR SIDE."

victina.tse@protectionapproaches.org

Alex is responsible for providing support for consortium partners of On Your Side – the UK wide support and reporting service for ESEA community members who experience racism or hate. In this role Alex leads on engagement with 12 Strategic Migration Partnerships and their BN(O) Welcome Hubs to foster collaboration and support for Hongkongers and wider ESEA communities in their regions.

Alex has 5 years of experience in working with migrants in the UK and Hong Kong. His expertise includes community work and employment issues. Apart from his role at PA, Alex also volunteers as one of the members of Greater Manchester Race Equality Panel, and contributes to support services under Hongkongers In Britain and Trafford Hongkongers CIC, which are newly established organisations dedicated to help new arrivals from Hong Kong in the UK. Alex holds a BEng in Computer Engineering and an MA in Humanities.

"Treat others the same way you would want to be treated. We are human after all."

alex.mak@protectionapproaches.org