Keynote Speaker Profiles
Prof. Norma Daykin is Professor of Arts in Health at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where she leads the Arts and Health Research Programme within the School of Health and Life Sciences
Having spent many years researching social aspects of health, Norma's current research focuses on the role of music and arts in health care. Norma's current projects include a three year study of the impact of music making on young offenders' health and attitudes to reoffending; a study that uses creative arts as a medium for engaging families and children with speech and language difficulties in research; and a two year Knowledge Transfer Partnership with arts consultants Willis Newson to provide training and develop capacity for arts and health evaluation.
Norma is also Executive Editor of Arts and Health: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice. She is a Trustee of Arts and Health South West and a member of the Society for Arts in Healthcare. In 2008 Norma received the Royal Society for Public Health Award for Arts and Health Research. http://hls.uwe.ac.uk/Profiles/Profile.aspx?id=431
Nicki Evans has an interest in groupwork and has co-facilitated community based groups such as: The Writing Group (for people with an interest in the therapeutic benefits of writing and poetry), Thinking about Medication (where the pros and cons of psychiatric medications are explored) and has been both a member and organiser of Walk and Talk. She has found that involvement in groups and having a sense of purpose within the local community have been significant contributing factors to improvements in her own wellbeing, and have helped recovery from the isolating feelings and experiences that can accompany mental health diagnoses.
Sue Forsyth is Programme Manager for the IMPROVE programme at Peabody, London. Peabody provides and manages 20,000 affordable homes for over 50,000 Londoners. The purpose of the IMPROVE programme is to deliver environmental and infrastructure improvements on Peabody estates in order to create community development opportunities, address resident needs, increase biodiversity, maximise use of space, address safety and security concerns and encourage residents to enjoy themselves in their neighbourhoods.
Having worked previously in the South Downs National Park, Countryside Agency and subsequently Natural England, Sue has now worked for Peabody for a little over two years and has delivered three environmental improvement projects and has a further three projects at various phases of delivery.
Sue is also a Green Flag Judge.
http://www.peabody.org.uk/
Dr. Guy Holmes is a clinical psychologist with a specialist interest in critical psychology, alternatives to psychiatry and community-based groupwork. He co- edited This is Madness and This is Madness Too and has published over 30 papers in these areas. His latest book, Psychology in the Real World: Community-based groupwork describes how to set up community projects that have psychological and social impacts beyond those of therapeutic benefits of group membership.
www.shropsych.org/guyholmes.htm
Dr. Satish Kumar is a campaigner for land reform working to turn Gandhi's vision of a peaceful world into reality. As a young man Satish undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without money and delivering 'peace tea' to the leaders of the four nuclear powers. At the age of 50 he undertook a 2,000 mile pilgrimage to the holy places of Britain in a celebration of life and nature.
Satish teaches internationally on reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity. He has held the Editorship of Resurgence magazine since 1973, is the founder of the pioneering Small School in Hartland (ages 11-16) and is a Visiting Fellow at Schumacher College for the study of ecological and spiritual values. In 2001 he was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.
In 2008 Satish presented a BBC documentary about the landscape of Dartmoor and eastern philosophy, which was watched by over 3.6 million people. Satish holds three Honorary Doctorates and has written four books, including his autobiography, No Destination, which has sold over 50,000 copies.
http://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/
Ruth Reed, BA, DipArch, MA, RIBA is President of the RIBA 2009 - 2011 and is currently Course Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Architectural Practice at the Birmingham School of Architecture. She has practiced as an architect in a variety of practices, running her own practice Reed Architects from 1992 to 2005 which specialised in sustainable rural design particularly for self-builders. Between 2002 and 2004 she also acted as a fee-paid planning inspector determining built environment appeals. She is now partner in Green Planning Solutions an architectural and planning consultancy specialising in unusual rural casework.
Her involvement at the RIBA stretches over fifteen years in a variety of roles, including between 2003 and 2005 as President of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales.
http://www.ruthreed.co.uk/
