Debbie works to promote social justice and equality for all groups, leading the Mayor’s work to support Londoners with the rising cost of living, working closely with all sectors to provide support to those arriving from outside the UK seeking safety and sanctuary in the city and championing London’s diverse voluntary, community and faith sector.  She chairs the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory group, as well as London’s Strategic Migration Panel, is co-chair of the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime’s Disproportionality Board and is a member of the London Policing Board. Debbie chairs a variety of expert groups to ensure the Mayor’s work is informed by lived experience and subject expertise.  These groups include the Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations quarterly roundtable, the Race Equality roundtable and Interfaith fora among others.  She is also Chair of Praxis, a charity supporting migrants and refugees and is a Distinguished Friend of the Migration Museum.  She formerly led the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s work on poverty and ethnicity, was Head of Research at the Runnymede Trust leading work on  inclusive curriculum development, education attainment gaps and school exclusion, community cohesion, race and criminal justice and youth transitions.  

Debbie has a PhD in Psychology and Sociology,  was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2023 and is an editorial board member of the British Journal of Sociology of Education.  

Asma is the Senior Community Care Solicitor and Head of Legal Aid Services at Disability Law Service. 

Asma has worked as a Social Welfare lawyer for over 15 years. She has a specialised legal knowledge and practice in Welfare Benefits, Housing, Community Care and Public Law. She has successfully represented clients in benefit appeals tribunals, county court possession claims, community care and public law Judicial Review challenges. 

Asma currently manages DLS’s Legal Aid contract and is a member of the management team. 

Ben Hickman is the founder and Research Director at Myriad Research. Having previously worked as a data analyst at the Local Government Association, he left to start his own social research company in 2014. Since then, his focus has been on research and evaluation work supporting charities and voluntary organisations, including projects for GamCare, Public Law Project, Doctors of the World, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, International Drug Policy Consortium, GambleAware and Reprieve. 

He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the NIHR Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, where he undertakes quantitative analysis relating to Social Care, Education and Health. Recent publications include an evaluation of post-proceedings support in Gloucestershire’s Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC), an evaluation of the Signs of Safety social work framework and a feasibility study on predicting abuse in CQC registered care homes. He is also the co-author of a book on the child protection role played by schools. 

He has recently completed a project examining pay, benefits and working conditions in the London Advice sector for the Advice Workforce Development Fund. 

Bruna Boscaini is the Director of the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO), a Brixton-based charity that has supported migrants in the UK for over 40 years, led by and for the Latin American community. Originally from Brazil, Bruna joined IRMO in 2019, initially delivering front-line services before progressing towards her leadership role in 2022. She has extensive experience in project and financial management, always guided by a strong commitment to social justice. 

At IRMO, Bruna leads a growing team working to ensure that Latin Americans and other Spanish and Portuguese-speaking migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, can access their rights, live free from poverty and discrimination, and build integrated futures in the UK. She oversees the organisation’s delivery teams, partnerships and advocacy efforts, ensuring that IRMO remains a trusted space for the community to access wrap-around support tailored to their needs, including high-quality advice and casework, and development opportunities for all ages. 

Eddie Coppinger is CEO at University House, which operates out of two offices in Tower Hamlets. It is situated in a poor and ethnically diverse community, which has the highest levels of deprivation among children and pensioners in London. The vast majority of its users have complex health and social needs. 

The Centre pre-dates the law centre movement of the 1970s and was formed back in 1886, originally out of the now dissolved University Settlement movement. Eddie has been at the centre for 18 years. 

Eddie has steered University House to have the capacity to deal with 1000s of complex cases each year. University House rarely refers anyone out, and prides itself in providing expert support to some of the most vulnerable in society. This is, in part, reflected in its use of new technology, of which it is considered a sector leader. 

“We embrace the use of new technology but in a way that is very mindful of the realities of our users’ lives. Our view on the use of technology is to use it to provide access to specialist lawyers, rather than in lieu of it.” 

University House has also taken a lead on the training of new lawyers and were the first from the sector to employ solicitor apprentices using the new SQE pathway. To date, they have trained over 30 new social welfare lawyers through their ‘grow our own’ programme. 

Emma Triggs is the Projects and Partnerships Manager at Rooted Finance, an East London based specialist debt advice and financial inclusion charity.

Emma joined the Rooted Finance in 2022. She has over 10 years’ experience of working for organisations with a focus on social welfare advice, health inequalities, public health and health research within the voluntary and community sector. At Rooted Finance, Emma leads business development and new partnerships, manages a portfolio of partnership and consortia led projects, oversee’ the delivery of the organisations non advice projects , and plays a pivotal role in communications and external relations at the charity.

Prior to joining Rooted Finance, Emma worked for several organisations that supported the community and voluntary sector response during the COVID 19 pandemic, focusing on leading a partnership in support of the public health engagement of Somali community for the COVID vaccination programme in London.

Phil Jew is a freelance consultant specialising in the social welfare advice sector. He works alongside organisations and partnerships across London and the UK to strengthen the advice workforce, improve access to legal rights and social justice, and support community-led responses to inequality and injustice. 

Phil currently serves as the learning partner for both the Advising Londoners Partnership and the Advice Workforce Development Fund (AWDF) programme. In these roles, he supports collaborative learning, evaluation and strategy development to build organisational capacity and improve workforce recruitment, retention, training and peer support across advice services. 

His career spans over four decades in the voluntary and community sector. He has worked in leadership and consultancy roles for national and local advice charities and infrastructure bodies. 

Phil brings a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing advice services, especially in the context of growing demand, workforce pressures and the need for more inclusive and sustainable support systems. He is passionate about surfacing insight from frontline experience and using it to shape better services, policy and funding approaches. 

Helen Lang is a strategic consultant and social entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience working with charities, social enterprises, and government bodies. She recently joined the Lloyds Bank Foundation as Regional Manager for London and the East of England, where she supports frontline organisations tackling complex social issues through funding and capacity-building. She is a passionate advocate for driving systemic cultural change, and her work focuses on bridging public, private, and voluntary sectors to deliver sustainable, innovative solutions at scale. 

She has advised global organisations, including the Dubai Future Foundation, convened cross-sector events with global leaders on migration and social cohesion, and led digital transformation research for Catalyst. Her expertise spans strategy, innovation, digital development, and user-led service design, training and supporting specialist organisations such as Crisis, the National Survivor User Network, and the Directory of Social Change. Her work has helped shape innovative, inclusive responses across the advice and support sectors. 

A published thought leader and contributor to The Guardian and the Get Wired report, Helen’s work includes co-creating award-nominated digital tools for survivors of abuse. She continues to champion inclusive innovation that empowers communities and transforms the future of advice and support services. 

James is Development Manager for London Citizens Advice and has been instrumental in creating the consortium of local Citizens Advice services across Greater London. Prior to this role he was Director of Policy and External Affairs for LawWorks. Other roles James has in the legal advice sector include Advocacy Manager for the Legal Action Group and the Low Commission, project Manager for Citizens Advice Core Cities project, and for 10 years he was justice policy lead for Citizens Advice nationally. He has also sat on the Boards of local Citizens Advice, Suffolk Law Centre and the Advice Services Alliance. Before joining the advice sector he worked for disability charities and in MPs offices. James also holds a doctorate in conflict resolution, and has been called the Bar (non-practicing). 

Julie Bishop is Director of the UK Law Centres Network (LCN), a post that she has held since 2008.

Prior to LCN, Julie was Director of the National Association of Community Legal Centres in Australia for over 5 years and worked in the legal aid sector in Australia at community level for almost 20 years.

Julie’s professional training is in IT. It was as an IT consultant that Julie first worked in legal aid. Before IT, Julie studied and taught Philosophy at the University of Sydney.

Katarzyna currently leads the Propel programme at Citizens Advice Wandsworth — a sector-changing initiative focused on building a more diverse, skilled, and sustainable advice workforce. She works closely with local Citizens Advice offices and grassroots community organisations to design and deliver person-centred training pathways that create real opportunities for people traditionally excluded from the sector.

With a foundation in life coaching and career development, she has supported individuals, including carers, people facing long-term unemployment, and those with lived experience of exclusion, to find their path, build confidence, and grow into roles where they can thrive professionally and personally.

Katarzyna’s work is driven by a belief in partnership, inclusion, and the importance of work-life balance. Whether mentoring a trainee, facilitating a workshop, or co-designing training with community leaders, she aims to create systems that empower people and transform the way we think about recruitment, retention, and progression.

Keely, Director of Peer Services at Inclusion Barnet, has worked in the sector for over 27 years. Beginning her career as a volunteer caseworker, her experience ranges from running a county welfare rights service to managing a busy statutory advocacy service.

At Inclusion Barnet Keely leads on advice, peer support, Healthwatch, youth engagement, forensic user voice and health projects. She is also safeguarding lead and chairs and co-chairs several groups in Barnet.

Keely is Disabled and practices and leads from a lived experience perspective.

Liz Bayram is Chief Executive of AdviceUK, the UK’s largest support network for independent advice services. She works with Trustees and staff to support the organisation’s 800 members, helping them deliver effective, high-quality advice, and campaigning for a policy environment that enables access to justice for all.  

Liz began career as a journalist before moving into campaigning and communication roles in both public and charitable sector. Prior to joining AdviceUK, she was Chief Executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY), where she championed support for over 18,000 childcare professionals across England and Wales. 

She has served as a Trustee of several other children’s charities and represented PACEY on a wide range of government, regulatory and research organisation’s strategic advisory groups. She has also given evidence to numerous select committees considering early education. 

Nezahat studied Business Administration and completed her postgraduate education in Management Studies. Having worked for the London Borough of Haringey in service development for a number of years, she then led multiple UK charities that specialised in providing free services to women fleeing gender-based violence. Nezahat helped create and led several partnerships, including Violence Against Women and Girls Consortia (VAWG) and European Social Fund projects.

Nezahat served on several boards and is currently a governor at the Cripplegate Foundation, a place-based funder in Islington, serving as a chair and vice-chair of the Foundation.

Nezahat currently serves as CEO of London Legal Support Trust, overseeing grant-making processes and organisational development programs as well as leading a large partnership with funders and advice sector representatives that works towards responding to the workforce crisis in London’s advice sector.

Raj Kapoor is an accomplished Chief Executive with over 20 years of leadership experience spanning the charity, health, housing, and third sectors. Renowned for driving organisational transformation, Raj specialises in financial turnarounds, strategic growth, and operational change in complex environments. 

As Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Brent and active board member of London Citizens Advice, Raj has led a major turnaround — moving the organisation from a significant financial deficit to a surplus within 20 months, while enhancing service quality and forging vital partnerships to support local communities. 

His previous roles include Chief Executive of Age Exchange, where he broadened the charity’s remit and secured its first national award in four decades, alongside senior leadership positions at Alcohol Change UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Mind, and the National Housing Federation. Across his career, Raj has consistently delivered commercial growth, service innovation, and meaningful social impact.