Fellows

Prof Dame Carol Black is Chair of the British Library and Chair of the Centre for Ageing Better and holds high-level policy advisory positions on health and work, such as leading a Home Office review into drugs and serious violence.

A medical practitioner, she was Head of Rheumatology at the Royal Free Hospital and maintains an interest in research into connective tissue diseases. A former President of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Black was also Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge – one of the few remaining single-sex higher education institutions in the UK – until 2019. She was in the 2013 BBC Woman’s Hour Power List of 100. Head girl at her grammar school, she says:

Perhaps my earliest achievement was to defy limited family expectations. I was meant to stay living in my home town and work in a shoe factory or shop; but I had a stubborn belief that more was possible… In order to have this sort of career, I’ve had to get over low expectations of what women could do and be. It took me a while to realise that it was perfectly all right to want to be a Medical Director or lead a unit. As a result I’m very interested in mentoring women towards leadership positions and I actively encourage them to simply have a go… With my own career, it matters to me terribly that I try and that I take risks. I would rather say, ‘I had a go and it didn’t work’, than look in the mirror and realise I didn’t put myself in the race.

Susan (‘Sue’) Catherine Campbell trained as a physical education teacher, taught in Manchester and lectured at Leicester and Loughborough Universities. During this time, she represented her country as a player, a coach and a team manager. She then went on to spend four years as a regional officer with the Sports Council (now Sport England) before moving to the National Coaching Foundation (NCF).

Following 11 years as the Chief Executive of the NCF, she became Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust and thereafter its Chair from 2005 to 2017. In April 2005 she was appointed as Chair for UK Sport, following 18 months as the Reform Chair. Sue held this position for two terms until April 2013, during which time she presided over Team GB and Paralympic GB’s incredible performance at the London 2012 games.

In December 2008 Sue was appointed to the House of Lords as an independent Crossbench Peer.

Sue was appointed Head of Women’s Football with the Football Association in March 2016 and Director of Women’s Football in 2018.

Her many honours include 11 honorary doctorates and Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards. For her services to sport, she was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2003 and, in the 2020 New Year Honours, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Baroness Brown is a British engineer and crossbench member of the House of Lords with a distinguished background in academia and business.

A former member of the Board of the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, Julia regularly advises Government on education and technology issues. She is Chair of the Carbon Trust, Deputy Chair of the UK Committee on Climate Change, and for 10 years she was the UK’s Low Carbon Business Ambassador. She is Chair of the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, a Non-Executive Director of the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, a Council member of Innovate UK and also a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.

Julia’s previous roles include a decade as Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics, Principal of the Engineering Faculty at Imperial College, London, and a series of senior business and engineering posts at Rolls-Royce after 16 years as a researcher and university lecturer at Cambridge and Nottingham universities.

Julia was elevated to the Peerage in 2015. She was educated at Godolphin and Latymer Girls’ School and Murray Edwards College (New Hall), Cambridge, graduating from the University of Cambridge with a first degree in Natural Sciences, followed by a PhD in fracture mechanics.

Nusrat – Pinky – Lilani is an author, motivational speaker, food expert and women’s advocate. She has spoken at global conferences on subjects as diverse as racism and success. She is a passionate supporter of the empowerment of women and has founded a variety of awards and initiatives recognising and championing women from across the UK.

The Women of the Future Programme is “a platform to unlock a culture of kindness and collaboration among leaders”. Pinky also founded the annual Asian Women of Achievement Awards, of which she is Chairman. Her awards have celebrated the tremendous contribution of Asian women to British business and public life for the past decade. It is her vision that, through these initiatives, women can help each other by building relationships and nurturing the talents of the next generation.

Pinky has an honours degree in Education and English from Calcutta University and a postgraduate diploma in Social Communication Medias from the University of Bombay. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007 for services to charity, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015 for services to women in business.

Sir Anthony Seldon is one of Britain’s leading historians, educationalists, commentators and political authors. He is an authority on contemporary British history and education and Vice-Chancellor (to October 2020) of the University of Buckingham, the only independent university in the UK with a Royal Charter.

Formerly Master of Wellington College, Anthony is author or editor of over 40 books on contemporary history, politics and education and is the author on, and honorary historical advisor to, Downing Street. After gaining an MA at Worcester College, Oxford, and a PhD at the London School of Economics, Anthony qualified as a teacher at King’s College, London, where he was awarded the top PGCE prize in his year. He went on to be a transformative Head for 20 years, first of Brighton College and then Wellington College.

He is the co-founder and first director of the Institute for Contemporary British History, co-founder of Action for Happiness, honorary historical adviser to 10 Downing Street, UK Special Representative for Saudi Education, a member of the Government’s First World War Culture Committee, director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the President of IPEN, (International Positive Education Network), Chair of the National Archives Trust, founder of the Via Sacra Western Front Walk, and is patron or on the board of several charities. He was executive producer of the film Journey’s End and appeared on the Desert Island Discs in 2016. For the last fifteen years he has given all his money from writing and lecturing to charity.

Tanni Grey-Thompson is one of Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes and has amassed a remarkable medal haul of 11 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze over five Paralympic Games, together with 5 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals at the World Championships. During her sports career, she broke 30 world track records and has three times been voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

In 2005 she became ‘Dame’ Tanni Grey-Thompson for her services to sport. In March 2010, she was created a life peer and was conferred as Baroness Grey-Thompson, of Eaglescliffe in the County of Durham.

Tanni attended St Cyres Comprehensive in Penarth, where she first discovered an interest in sport and in particular Wheelchair Racing. In her last year as a junior athlete, she won the Junior National title over 100m and at 17 she became part of the British Wheelchair Racing Squad. She has a degree from Loughborough University as well as a number of honorary degrees and is Chancellor of Northumbria University.

Tanni continues to be involved in sport and physical activity and is a board member of the London Marathon, the Sportsaid Foundation, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards and Join In. As an Independent Cross-Bench peer in the House of Lords, Tanni has spoken on a range of issues including disability rights, welfare reform, and of course, sport.