Amanda Coffey joined the University of the West of England, Bristol in April 2020, as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost. This is a key strategic leadership role, working closely with, and deputising for, the Vice-Chancellor. Amanda has oversight of the academic portfolio of the University including the quality and enhancement of academic programmes, research and enterprise ambition, partnership working and UWE’s core commitment to inclusivity.
Prior to joining UWE Bristol, Amanda was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience and Academic Standards at Cardiff University. She joined Cardiff University in 1990 as a lecturer, and was awarded a personal chair in 2006. She held a number of senior leadership positions at Cardiff, including Dean for Education and Students in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Head of the School of Social Sciences. Amanda is an experienced school governor and charity trustee.
Rachael Fleetwood was appointed Finance Director at UWE in October 2018, following five years as Deputy Director of Finance for the University. Prior to that, she was Assistant Finance Director for the University of Bristol for twenty years.
Rachael studied Accounting and Finance at the University of Plymouth.
Ellen Harrison is Head of Creative Programmes for Historic England and has worked for the heritage organisation since 2010. Her work focusses on public programming, exhibitions and artist commissions to help a broad range of people positively connect with community and place, improving their wellbeing, contributing to regeneration and quality of life in the process. She directs a series of high profile programmes, including the largest ever publicly funded community-led arts and heritage programme, the High Street Cultural Programme; History in the Making, a national youth-led heritage programme that invites young people to celebrate local history in meaningful ways; and a national commemorative plaque scheme, that finds new ways to commemorate people with co-productive methods.
Ellen’s background is in campaigns, communications and public engagement. She is an alumni of the prestigious Oxford Cultural Leaders programme and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Natalie Hyacinth is Researcher and Research Manager on the ERC funded Sonic Street Technologies project at Goldsmiths, University of London. Natalie’s research is intersectional and interdisciplinary, incorporating themes from Cultural Geography, Black Studies, Philosophy and Afrofuturism. Natalie has worked on a number of academic projects including as a Senior Research Associate on the Bristol based ESRC project Everyday Integration, as a Doctoral Researcher on the AHRC Making Suburban Faith research project, as well as publishing a report on Black Archives in the UK for the Race in the Geography group for the Royal Geographical Society. Natalie is a founding member of the Black Music and Cultures Research Group London that seeks to centre Black female writings and thought on diaspora Black music and culture and makes and thinks about sonic worlds as part of the Sonic CyberFeminisms Collective. Natalie inherited a large collection of vinyl records from her father including many Dub and roots reggae records. As part of her heritage and cultural and spiritual lineage she believes it is important to share this music and message of love and unity through the music through DJing and radio shows, as well as continuing the sonic explorations of her Caribbean forebearers by experimenting with new sounds and sonic technologies, a creative practice she explores under the name The Black Astral.
Asim Ilyas has been involved in many aspects of law and personal finance for more than 20 years. His experience in banking and debt advice in commercial and not-for-profit settings has allowed him to gain a great breadth and depth of experience about the relationship between people and money. He’s been employed by a community advice agency, Citizens Advice, The Institute of Money Advisers and worked under the supervision of an Insolvency Practitioner for Grant Thornton. Sim is Business Development Manager for Bristol Credit Union and he runs a freelance consultancy practice specialising in advice work. He has served as a trustee for three charities prior to his involvement with Arnolfini. He aspires to one day be a chef in his own pizza restaurant.
Glen Maxwell-Heron has been a Director of Belmont Leisure Ltd since 2017, and Managing Director of St. Andrews Consulting since 2008. Prior to that he was a Director of My Future Direction, and held project management roles with Halifax Bank of Scotland, the Nationwide Building Society, and ICL. At the beginning of his career, he spent 13 years as an Engineer Officer with the Royal Navy.
Glen has a BA in Engineering from Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Anja Quinn works as a freelance Digital Designer with a keen interest in using art and design to inspire a knowledge-informed and critical public. Returning to academia, she is currently studying a Masters in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London and is interested in metropolitan subjectivity. She was previously the founding and lead Graphic Designer for Nawr, a magazine publishing Welsh art, literature, and philosophy.
Lizzie Shannon-Little is the Global Head of Communications and Marketing for Oxford Policy Management, an international development consultancy working to reduce poverty and disadvantage through public policy reform. She specialises in brand development, digital marketing, and organisational reputation and crisis communications, having worked across the academic, media, government and policymaking, arts, not-for-profit, and private sectors. She is a mentor for the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Bloom, a networking organisation for women in the communications and marketing industry. She has acted on the Boards of both WOA Gallery in Oxfordshire and for the Oxford Policy Fellowship, a not-for-profit that places early career lawyers in governments in low-income countries. She is a practicing artist and writer.
Prince Taylor is a Creative Producer currently co-leading the Rising Arts Agency’s ACE funded BEIT Programme, critically disrupting ideas of leadership with 10 aspiring creatives. With experience in managing projects centred around accessibility, equity and equality, his creative work speaks to representation and community.
