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SaFest 2026 speaker information
My background is in education, I graduated from a teacher training specialist university (Bishop Grosseteste) with a BA in education studies, I then went on to work with SEND students in mainstream school settings working in a hybrid pastoral/educational role within SEND departments with large autistic student populations.
I run a nonprofit focusing on digital harms particularly around my community (the neurodivergent community) as well as the intersection with young people and gambling harms. We are partnered with a number of prevent organisations and local authorities throughout the UK including being a member of Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership.
My major areas of focus lie on shining a light on the content generation alpha consume online and how their lived experiences are fundamentally different to our own.
Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang is the Founder and Director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust (LPT), a charity dedicated to providing high-quality children’s homes for children in the UK care system. LPT also delivers qualifications, training, and leadership development for professionals working in the sector. A former participant on the Teach First Leadership Development Programme, Emmanuel’s experience teaching in Birmingham inspired his focus on improving outcomes for children in care. His approach is rooted in the Danish model of social pedagogy, which integrates care and education in a holistic way. He has contributed to major sector reports, including the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2025 for services to social enterprise and young people. Emmanuel is also a Churchill Fellow (2019), Acumen Fellow (2024), and Visiting Fellow at King’s College London Policy Institute.
Tuesday
Lawrence Jordan is the Deputy CEO of the Maire Collins Foundation. This is a specialist charity that looks to improving the outcomes for children sexually abused through the use of technology and provides resources, training, and support to professionals on this subject.
Lawrence has worked in a range of children social care sectors for over 20 years with the last 10 years specialising in children who have been exploited or trafficked. During this time Lawrence received 2 awards, firstly relating to his work with children and families, and secondly a police commendation for his exceptional work with children who are exploited, go missing or have been trafficked
Lawrence continues to be a registered social worker as well as being a visiting senior fellow in safeguarding within the Institute of Social Justice and Crime, University of Suffolk. Lawrence is a member of a number of national strategic safeguarding panels relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Alexandra Burgess: Alex has a strong background in criminal justice; housing, homelessness and systems change. Alex is a researcher at Together for Childhood’s Plymouth site, focussing on child sexual abuse prevention. In addition to working with Together for Childhood Alex is carrying out PhD research into sexual abuse prevention with a focus on primary and secondary prevention work with adults who may be at risk of sexually harming others.
- Dr Claire White - Claire has a background in forensic and developmental psychology and began working on the Together for Childhood project in Plymouth in 2017. She has extensive experience of designing and carrying out quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation with children and young people, adults in the community, and professionals (using traditional, participatory, and creative methods), helping to build an evidence base of what works to prevent child sexual abuse in a place-based initiative.
- Shelley Shaw- Shelley has been working for the NSPCC for 8 years and is privileged to work on the amazing child sexual abuse prevention programme ‘Together for Childhood’. Shelley’s background is background is in community development and this theory and practice underpins Together for Childhood’s work. Shelley has also worked in commissioning and this approach enables her to maintain a ‘helicopter view’ and identify opportunities for different parts of systems to work together. Shelley is committed to the values of social justice and collaboration is her favourite way to achieve this.
- Alice Dutton: Alice Dutton has been evaluating Together for Childhood since the start of the project. Alice leads the local evaluation in Stoke-on-Trent and has conducted various research and evaluation with young people around topics such as consent and online safety. Alice has also led on the Young People’s Knowledge Attitudes and Behaviours research, which was conducted across all four of our Together for Childhood sites.
- Ashika Thomas: Ashika is a researcher at the Together for Childhood Stoke on Trent site working on preventing child sexual abuse in the area. She has completed her masters in Development Studies at the London School of Economics and has experience in mixed methods research. Ashika has also led several ethnographies with children, young people and adults from migrant and minority communities in India and is interested in ensuring children across different social backgrounds are safe from abuse and neglect.
Lin joined the NWG in 2022 with more than 40 years of safeguarding/investigation experience gained from an extensive career in the Police and as an independent safeguarding consultant/trainer.
Lin has worked as part of a team who investigated one of the earliest historical Child Abuse enquiries. She has been an advocate for a Bedfordshire Homelessness Charity and was a ‘Regional Practice Co-Ordinator’ within Barnardo’s National Counter Trafficking Centre where she advocated for children who had been trafficked and exploited within the UK.
Lin is the Police and Justice Lead and her role involves supporting and empowering Safeguarding partners/families to disrupt and tackle the exploitation of children and young adults.
Sukhdev Rathore joined the NWG in 2022 and is a qualified youth worker with extensive experience in the youth and community sector. I have worked in both statutory and third-sector organisations, including a previous role as a practitioner at Barnardo's. In this position, I supported survivors of child exploitation and modern slavery. Also providing advice and guidance to communities, professionals, and various organisations on other safeguarding issues. My career has provided me with opportunities and the privilege to enhance my knowledge of working with diverse communities and organisations.
As the Exploitation, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead at the NWG, I collaborate with practitioners, strategic leaders, community leaders, and policymakers to ensure marginalised and minoritised communities are part of the solution and effort to combat child exploitation. Part of my role includes hosting forums and webinars that give practitioners and managers a platform to better understand the complexities of supporting child victims and survivors from diverse backgrounds. I have also developed resources to assist practitioners in supporting children and families from all communities.
Wednesday
Lewis Webb is an experienced school leader and former Senior Safeguarding Practitioner, having worked across both small and large rural school settings as a Class Teacher, Deputy Head, and Head of School and numerous years as a DSL. His recent time in schools gives him first-hand insight into the challenges faced in education today.
Now leading Inclusion and Learning across the Exeter and East area, Lewis brings a strong commitment to equity, opportunity, and success for all young people. He is passionate about embedding safeguarding into the curriculum and fostering cultures where all staff share responsibility for keeping children safe.
Lewis is known for his proactive and collaborative approach, engaging stakeholders across education to drive improvement and share best practice. He values positive challenge within safeguarding teams and champions the wellbeing of educators, recognising their vital role in helping children thrive.
Hi, I’m Penny. I’ve been a teacher for 13 years and currently split my time between two roles which I’m really passionate about. I work at Devon Virtual School as the Education Lead for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), and I also continue my role as a Deputy Head Teacher in a primary school two days a week.
In my role with UASC, I support young people in finding a place in education and then work to ensure that the support and provision they receive is not just adequate, but excellent—so they can settle, succeed, and exceed expectations. I’m really enjoying the challenge and impact of this work, and I’m constantly inspired by the resilience and potential of the young people I support.
Penny Goldsby-West
Education Lead for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
Amit is the founder of For Working Parents, a company that helps organisations become more inclusive for their working parents and employees. A former Deputy Headteacher, Amit uses his experience and his training as an ICF Coach to create an environment in the workplace that is more empathetic and human and where parents and carers can thrive both at work and at home. Amit focuses particularly on the digital world and helping parents decode online language, manage screentime, understand social media dangers, and keep their children safe online through building positive relationships and asking the right questions. Amit’s LinkedIn profile and Instagram page provide regular digital advice and guidance for parents and his recent periodic table of emojis went viral, with schools, organisations, and media from around the world requesting copies of it to share with their communities. Amit also speaks publicly about his own personal story, having lost his mother to ovarian cancer, becoming a parent to a daughter born with three holes in her heart, and being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.
Harriet is Head of Policy at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner; this is a statutory body responsible for promoting and protecting the rights of children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The office has a particular focus on the most vulnerable children – those who are living away from their families in care, mental health institutions, or youth offending settings and those children who have a social worker. Harriet has worked in children’s policy for think tanks and charities, and also spent two years working as a child protection social worker.
Gemma was the Head of Policy and Public Affairs for CEASE UK where she led on political advocacy, legislative reform, campaigning and alliance building. She is an expert on the continuum of sexual exploitation including pornography, prostitution and trafficking, as well as the policy, legislative, educational and cultural changes that are needed to curb the harms of the commercial sex industry.
Thursday
Alice biography:
Alice Ayres is a social worker within the Therapeutic Fostering Team. Prior to this Alice was a social worker in the D-BIT Emotional Well-being Team which was set up as a pilot project, this involved completing solution focused work on a 1:1 basis with young people with emerging emotional well-being difficulties. In April 2023 this project came to an end and Alice moved to work in the Mid D-BIT Core team. In this team Alice predominantly completed solution focused work with families in various contexts such as where children are on the edge of coming into care, or when children had an unplanned episode in care. In addition to this, Alice also supported with upskilling other’s within her team and new starters in the service in solution focused practice.
Paul biography:
Paul Wiggins has been practicing Solution Focused with a focus on family relationships for the past seven years. In 2019 he completed BRIEF’s SF Diploma. In 2020 Paul became the Practice Supervisor for DBIT North, responsible for upskilling others within his team and service in Solution Focused practice in addition to his ongoing work with families. In 2022 Paul developed the Intermediate Certificate in Solution Focused Practice which he has delivered since it’s onset. In 2021 Paul also became accredited by the UK Association for Solution Focused Practice.
Aside from SF practice, in 2019 Paul obtained the Level 3 Award in Education which speaks to his capability in training and facilitating adult learning.
Paul is proud to be a part of the Essex Solution Focused Centre.
Greg has over 20 years of experience as a qualified Social Worker working with neurodiverse teenagers, young offenders, care leavers and triaging referrals into social care. Throughout those roles, Greg has had experience managing a team and providing supervision in a way that supports practice development while also maintaining high standards of practice. Over the past 13 years, he has been working in various teams within the Divisional Based Intervention Service (DBIT), which is a therapeutic Solution Focused intervention Service within Essex County Council (ECC) Social Care. During this time, Greg’s enthusiasm for the Solution Focused approach and for maintaining high standards of practice has led him to becoming a member of the United Kingdom Association for Solution Focused Practice (UKASFP) and becoming co-lead for Solution Focused Accreditation through the UKASFP.
Greg is currently serving as a Practice Supervisor in the Essex Solution Focused Centre, the formalised training arm of the DBIT service. In his current role he is responsible for developing and facilitating training courses, which has involved providing solution focused training for Essex staff as well as for charities and other local authorities. Greg’s passion is to support people to find a way to bring Solution Focused practice into their work alongside the challenges and expectations of their respective roles. He also continues to provide direct Solution Focused interventions and support for young people, parents and families open to ECC Social Care, which helps keep his training grounded in the reality of the work that people are doing.
Joe Clay - UK programme Manager- Safeguarding Partnerships
Joe oversees Railway Children’s Safeguarding Action Groups across the country and leads the organisation’s training provision for Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and British Transport Police (BTP). With over 18 years of experience supporting young people—as a frontline practitioner, outreach youth worker, and later as a project manager for a large national charity—he brings extensive expertise in direct youth engagement, the rail industry, and multi-agency collaboration.
Joe plays a key role in strengthening contextual safeguarding systems to protect children at risk, working closely with rail industry partners, law enforcement, and community stakeholders to develop and embed effective safeguarding practices. He leads on Railway Children’s support for the Safeguarding on Rail Scheme, ensuring that frontline staff across the transport sector are equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify, respond to, and support vulnerable young people.
His work is instrumental in building safer environments for children and young people, ensuring they receive the right support at the right time.
Natasha is the CEO and Founder of Bold Voices, an award winning social enterprise that prepares and empowers educational communities to recognise and tackle gender inequality, misogyny and cultures of gender-based violence. Since 2018 the organisation has worked with over 250,000 young people, staff and parents in over 200 schools across the UK and abroad, delivering knowledge about gender inequality, creating spaces for critical thought and discussion, and building the courage to challenge gendered issues. Natasha has an academic foundation in issues of gender and equality with an MSc in Gender and International Relations from the University of Bristol. She has facilitated workshops and delivered lectures on gender equality, feminism and women's rights at multinational investment banks, start ups, schools and universities across the UK.
Friday
Emma and El are both highly specialist Speech and Language Therapists working within the Bridges team. They specialise in working with the intersection between speech, language and communication; trauma and SEMH. Their role is to ensure that language and communication are considered at every stage of the Bridges model of support and to advocate for young people with language and communication needs across their wider systems. Talking about safety with the young people they work with is a key part of their role.
5WAVES is a US-based, lived experience led charity that provides Worldwide Awareness, Voice, Education, and Support specific to sibling sexual trauma and abuse (SSTA). Maria is a survivor and Brandy is a parent of SSTA. In addition to the websites, educational materials, and numerous personal appearances around SSTA, Maria and Brandy have coauthored published research on the subject, in collaboration with Hebrew University.
James Simpson. Housing Resolutions Coordinator, Young Devon.
I have always had a strong sense of social justice and am glad I am in a position where I can affect positive change in disadvantaged people's lives. I have worked with homeless young people for twelve years, mainly with Young Devon. Our team work with 16-17 year olds and Care Experienced young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Jenny Lynch - Youth Work Project Manager Young Devon
Hi I’m Jenny, I have been working with Young Devon since 2013 leading the Homeless Prevention team covering East Devon, Exeter and Teignbridge. At Young Devon our strap line is ‘Changing the Odds in Favour of Young People’, I feel so privileged to work alongside and support young people every single day, doing all we can to make sure a young person’s first experience of homelessness is their last.
