Our Teachers
Farzana Baduel
Farzana Baduel is the CEO of Curzon PR. She has been appointed as the Resident Public Relations expert and Ambassador for the Oxford Foundry, the University of Oxford’s entrepreneurship centre. As a passionate advocate of strategic communications, she champions the power of PR as a dynamic force for building bridges and unifying the world’s voices into a global narrative. She set up Curzon PR in 2009, having previously served as Vice-Chair of Business Relations for the UK Conservative Party.
Farzana is a PR expert working across government, corporate, consumer and arts & culture. She is both Chartered at the Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and holds a Fellowship at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). She regularly lectures around the world and is a media commentator on PR, diversity and women leadership. She is a trustee at The British Asian Trust, a charity that tackles poverty, inequality and injustice in South Asia. She has won awards including Entrepreneur of the Year at WPO, Businesswoman of the Year at the Muslim Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards and the Media Professional of the Year at the AMA Awards.
Jon White
Jon is a chartered psychologist and a chartered member and Honorary Fellow of the CIPR. He began his career in communication roles with the Government of Alberta, Canada, progressing through university positions in Canada and the UK to independent consultancy for organisations including large corporations and international government organisations.
The author of two books on public relations, he holds a doctorate in psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a Visiting Professor at Henley Business School, University of Reading and Honorary Professor, Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture.
Stephen Waddington
One of the co-founders of Socially Mobile, Stephen is a professional advisor to agencies and communication teams, author and teacher. His agency clients include: Allegory, Don't Cry Wolf, Lynn PR, Miramar Group, SourceCode, and Story Comms. He has also delivered projects for the Government Communication Service and the NHS.
Stephen is the author of the UK’s leading blog on communication and has written numerous books on marketing and PR including Exploring PR and Management Communication, Brand Anarchy, Share This and Chartered Public Relations. He is a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University and a former President of the CIPR.
Sarah Waddington CBE
One of the co-founders of Socially Mobile, Sarah is a director of Wadds Inc. and an experienced PR and management consultant helping organisations to articulate their purpose and optimise performance.
A pioneer of best practice, she was awarded the CIPR’s Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for exceptional achievement in public relations and is the winner of the PRCA’s Outstanding Contribution in Digital Award.
Sarah is a Past President of the CIPR, a PRCA Fellow and an IoD Ambassador.
In 2015 she launched #FuturePRoof to reassert the role of public relations as a management function as part of her give back to the industry.
Professor Anne Gregory PhD
Professor Anne Gregory PhD is Chair of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield, and a member of the CIPR’s #AI inPR Panel. Anne teaches all around the world on public relations leadership, planning, ethics, evaluation and capability, including for the UK Government and the EU.
She is author of over 100 books, book chapters, academic and popular journal articles including Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns, a best seller in the Kogan Page series of books, and co-author of the CIPR’s Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence in PR, published last year.
Anne is also an international researcher having developed the Global Capability Framework for the profession in conjunction with academics and practitioners worldwide. Professor Gregory is former Chair of the Global Alliance of Public Relations and Communication Management, past President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, holds the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for her outstanding contribution to the profession and the US Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Pathfinder award for research.
Alison Clarke
Alison has over 30 years‘ consultancy experience working with some of the world’s best known global corporations advising on reputation, the effective implementation of multi-market strategies, CEO counsel and crisis and issues management.
Alison now runs her own consulting business working as NED, board advisor and mentor to a range of companies helping them grow and develop a more successful and profitable business.
Alison is a Fellow and former Chairman of the Public Relations & Communications Consultancy Association and a Fellow and former President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. She is currently Chairman of the PRCA CPD board and is the UK representative on the global ICCO board. Alison was awarded the prestigious PRCA Mark Mellor Award in 2017 for outstanding contribution to the PR and communications industry.
Andy Barr
Andy founded 10 Yetis in 2005. Prior to starting the agency, he worked in-house on multi-media campaigns for the likes of AXA, Unilever, First Group, Whitbread and Midlands Electricity Board. His talents span effective crisis communications, award-winning media campaigns and creating highly engaging content across video, social media and PR. He has advised the UK's two largest political parties on digital campaigns and worked with Chinese Government delegations on reviewing their approach to communications.
He regularly speaks at conferences around the world about PR, video, social media, SEO and wider marketing practices and has written for publications such as The Drum, Guardian, Vice and many others about these subjects. He is truly an expert in his field with more than 25 years' experience. Andy is at the forefront of the changing face of creative digital marketing. The agency has run successful campaigns for the likes of IKEA, Superdry, Water Aid, Confused.com and many, many more.
He has built a team of more than 25 skilled individuals at the agency and dedicates any time that he has to growing the business and delivering great results for clients. Andy has many leather-bound books and his house smells of rich mahogany.
Kate Hartley
Kate Hartley is the co-founder of Polpeo (www.polpeo.com), a crisis simulation company that helps some of the biggest brands in the world prepare to deal with a crisis as it breaks and spreads over social and digital media. She is the author of ‘Communicate in a Crisis’ (Kogan Page, 2019), a book that explores the changing way people behave in crisis situations, and how organisations respond.
Kate has 25 years’ agency-side experience in crisis and reputation management and corporate PR, and is a trainer in crisis communications for the PRCA, the UK’s PR industry association. She has spoken at and run workshops on the impact of social media on crisis management at international events including SXSW, The Global PR Summit, PR Week’s Crisis Comms, and Social Media Today’s Social Shake Up. She is a member of the CIPR and the PRCA, and sits on the PRCA’s digital steering committee which is designed to shape digital best practice in the PR industry.
Advita Patel
Advita is the Managing Director of CommsRebel, an internal communication and employee experience consultancy based in Manchester, U.K. She's also the co-founder of A Leader Like Me, a global membership programme which helps underrepresented women of colour succeed further in their career.
Advita helps organisations take the leap and revolutionise the way they communicate with their workforce by using effective measurement techniques and creative tools. She is also a qualified coach/mentor and works with teams and individuals to help them achieve their goals with confidence.
Advita has spoken at various events and appeared on several podcasts where she speaks about internal communications, measurement, DEI and imposter syndrome. She is a chartered PR practitioner, a Board Director and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. In 2020 she was named on the Northern Asian Top 100 powerlist and on the top 101 list for Inspiring Workplaces as one of the global influencers for employee experience.
Paul Stollery
Paul Stollery is the co-founder and Group Creative Director of Hype Collective and Hard Numbers.
Throughout his career, the majority of Paul's client experience has focussed on start-ups or established technology companies such as Twitter, PlayStation and Deliveroo.
In 2017 he co-founded Hype Collective, a youth marketing agency, and in 2020 he co-founded Hard Numbers, a B2B communications agency. He oversees creative output, content production and marketing for these two companies.
Shayoni Lynn
Shayoni Lynn FCIPR FPRCA CMPRCA is CEO and Founder at multi-award-winning strategic communications and behavioural science consultancy, Lynn PR. Shayoni is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and Chair of PRCA Cymru.
In 2021, she was listed in the PRWeek Power Book – the definitive list of the most influential and respected communications professionals in the UK. In the same year, she was listed in the PROPEL 100 – a list of the most influential PR agency professionals in the world.
She represents Wales at the UK PR Council where she is leading a workstream on ethics and is a founding panel member and Vice-Chair of CIPR's Behavioural Insights Interest Group, and a committee member for CIPR Education & Skills, and the Government Communication Service (GCS) South West and Wales.
Shayoni is a regular industry awards judge (CIPR, PRCA, CASE, PR Week, SABRE) and speaks on the use of data, behavioural insights, and measurement & evaluation at conferences globally.
Shayoni is an Associate Lecturer on the MA in International PR and Global Communications Management at Cardiff University. In 2019, she was recognised in the WalesOnline 35 under 35 list of top young businesswomen in Wales.
Karan Chadda
Karan is a digital communications and marketing leader at a global consulting firm. He previously managed online reputation, content, and social media for one of UK’s largest insurance companies. Karan formerly founded Evolving Influence, a digital and brand consultancy, providing strategic advice and building digital and messaging frameworks for a range of corporate clients. He is a Media for All role model.
John Brown
John Brown is a dad to two, a husband to one and the founder of Don't Cry Wolf, the B Corp certified brand activism agency. He is a relentless advocate of businesses being a tremendous part of solving some of societies biggest problems. John is also an Ambassador for the B Corp movement and advises brands on their ESG approach. He's worked with brands such as Virgin, Green Chef, Elvie, Flight Club and Meridian on campaigns and strategy.
Richard Bagnall
Richard is the co-managing partner of CARMA International and chairman of AMEC , the global communications effectiveness professional body
Richard has advised international clients on the best ways to measure the effectiveness of PR and communications for 25 years. He has built or led some of the world’s best-known communications measurement consultancies, including Metrica, Gorkana and PRIME Research. Richard began his career in public relations with roles at Saatchi and Saatchi’s PR consultancy, The Rowland Company, and medical charity the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Richard has been a board director of AMEC for 12 years and has served as chair for the last 5. He has contributed to several business books on measuring communications and is an active long-term member of the UK Government’s GCS / Cabinet Office Evaluation Council. In 2013 he co-authored the UK government’s Capability Review of Digital Communications.
Richard is a Fellow of the PRCA and member of its PR & Communications Council, a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, an Honorary Lifetime Fellow of AMEC and was inducted into PR News’ Measurement Hall of Fame in 2017.
Rachael Marshall
Rachael has over a decade of experience managing the finances of businesses across the creative sector (Hard Numbers, Hype Collective, Mediaworks Online Marketing, Glock Agency, bp-tv). She started working from the age of 16 as an apprentice in an accounts admin role, because college wasn't paying enough EMA support to get by month on month and she needed to work. She quickly grasped hold of the book-keeping side of things and started her AAT qualification, funded by her employer at the time.
Through her business Magic Digits Ltd, Rachael focuses specifically on servicing creative agencies and small start-ups which don't require a full-time finance manager but require the support to know how to grow their business in the right direction from day one.
In her spare time, you'll usually catch Rachael down by the beach in Bournemouth with her two beautiful children or trying out a new IPA or an exercise class (but not at the same time).
Ann-Marie Blake
Ann-Marie has over 20 years’ experience as a business communicator. She’s spent the majority of her career working in large global firms across a number of disciplines including PR, marketing, corporate affairs, media relations, change and internal communications.
A keen mentor and executive coach she’s passionate about helping others build their confidence so they can reach their full potential
Ann-Marie holds Chartered PR Practitioner status. She is a founder board member of PRCA REEB and sits on the IABC International Executive Board
Deborah Edwards
Founder of Raised Up Finance, a business finance mentoring and education organisation, Practice Director of Harland Accountants and Director of Crowdfunded UK, it’s fair to say that there’s not much Deborah doesn’t know about effective financial management that leads to clarity, freedom & prosperity.
Deborah is a chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and has been supporting business founders, owners and entrepreneurs for over 20 years.
Graham Goodkind
Graham is the founder and chairman of Frank, one of the UK’s most legendary consumer PR agencies, which he set up in September 2000. He is the person responsible for inventing, and subsequently trademarking the word ‘Talkability’ and has been behind many of the high profile and award-winning creative campaigns that have made Frank famous.
He is a non-exec chairman of both Look After, a full-service creative agency for ethically-minded brands, and Noise Media, a social media agency. He advises a coterie of other early-stage marketing services agencies as a Dutch Uncle™, a new term for a straight-talking, no-nonsense advisor, and is a trustee to The Growth Project, a non-profit organisation helping charities to maximise their impact on the world.
Fenella Grey
Fen is Managing Director and Chair of Porter Novelli EMEA where she is leading the firm’s vision to be the communications partner for the stakeholder era. She is also partner of ONE HUNDRED in EMEA, a coalition of agencies united to drive sustainable change.
Fen has multi-sectorial experience in helping organisations and brands find, live and tell their authentic purpose to create global impact. Fen builds high performance teams to deliver and is a firm believer of ‘culture eating strategy for breakfast’. She is an innovator in the field bringing fresh strategy, high level partnerships, service offerings and measurement programmes to market. More recently she has consulted Mars, Sainsbury’s, Beiersdorf, PepsiCo, eBay, J&J, UPS, SSE and The Almond Board of California.
Fen is a founding member of Omniwomen UK and an advisor to The Valuable 500, Theirworld, UNESCO and NOcado the community campaign fighting air pollution. She sits on the London mayor’s children’s obesity taskforce and mentors a number of female entrepreneurs in the lifestyle sector.
Rachel Picken
Rachel Picken is an Agile coach and Chartered PR consultant based in Cornwall, UK. Having worked with Agile methodologies since 2012, she developed and delivers training for the Chartered Institute of PR on Agile application to public relations and communications.
A former newspaper journalist, she has worked in public relations for 15 years and runs strategic consultancy Agile PR, working with world-leading organisations including University of Oxford. In 2019, she won the CIPR Excellence Award for Outstanding Independent Consultant. She combines Agile training and coaching with strategic communications for complex programmes and organisations, from Government departments to UKRI funded research programmes.
She and Claire Eason-Bassett created 80% Awesome, a community for people striving for a life that’s not 100% perfect. Together they created the Lean Life Canvas and FamBan, applying Agile coaching to personal and family life. Together, they presented the Operating at 80% Awesome and the Lean Life Canvas at the 2019 Scrum Alliance Global Gathering in Vienna.
Dr. Jane Brearley
Dr. Jane Brearley is Founder and CEO of Intent Health, a healthcare communications agency founded on diversity, inclusion and representation. Named as one of PR Week’s Agencies to Watch in 2021, Intent Health has grown from two employees to a team of 20 in just under a year, specialising in rare diseases, mental health and serving a portfolio of pharmaceutical companies and social enterprises.
Jane’s career spans over 24 years in healthcare communications, working with agencies such as Portland, Publicis Resolute, Waggener Edstrom and Red Door Communications on behaviour changing healthcare campaigns. Jane was the winner of Communique Healthcare Communications Leader 2019 and featured in the PR week Power Book 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Jane believes that without empathy and humanity, we can’t create relationships founded on trust and respect. Her vision for Intent Health is to create a community where difference is celebrated, where everyone has a true voice, and one that is heard.
Louise Watson
Lou is the founder of Idea Scout, an integrated communications specialist, having spent more than 25 years advising some of the world’s brightest brands around progressive, joined-up communication. She has held global leadership roles in agencies including H+K Strategies, Ogilvy and Weber Shandwick, where she was chair of its EMEA Consumer Marketing practice for several years, before forming Idea Scout in 2020.
A creative strategist at heart, Lou operates in the space where corporate and consumer communication needs meet, and has been supporting clients including Kellogg. Microsoft, Lotus Bakeries, Quintain Living, XPRIZE and euronews on aspects of strategic storytelling, creative content development and campaigning.
Ever restless to challenge the status quo, Lou is an executive-level mentor, trainer and consultant, helping teams of all levels to increase their impact. She is a member of the PRCA and CIPR, holds a First Class (Hons) degree in Communication and leads marketing for TEDx Kingston – one of the UK’s largest and most favourably-rated TEDx events.
Naomi Jones
As Communications Director for SUEZ, Naomi has responsibility for both the communications and marketing teams for the UK and Sweden.
From starting her career in agency life working in public affairs, she became a specialist in sustainability communications, crisis management and corporate communications, with experience spanning industries from retail to banking. In 2009, she became SUEZ group’s youngest ever head of department, aged 28.
Naomi has been instrumental in numerous projects during her 11 years at SUEZ, including increasing SUEZ’s media share of voice in the waste management sector from fifth, to first position. In 2015, she project managed the group’s rebranding and repositioning in both the UK and Scandinavia, and has overseen the employee engagement programme resulting in the company being awarded the Sunday Times Best Companies’ ‘Best 25 Big Companies to Work For’ accolade in 2018 and again in 2020, for a predominantly operational and dispersed workforce.
Naomi has co-authored the book 'Managing a Crisis: A Practical Guide' (2006, Palgrave Macmillan).
Is a Chartered member of the CIPR and is a member of the CIPR’s STEM committee.
Andrew Bruce Smith
Andrew Bruce Smith, FCIPR, is a renowned expert in artificial intelligence and its applications in digital comms, social media, SEO, and analytics. With a foundational education in Philosophy and Mathematical Logic from the University of Edinburgh (1981-1985), he developed a keen interest in AI early in his career. Andrew further honed his skills in AI programming languages in the late 1980s, a time when AI was still nascent.
Pioneering the adoption of AI content tools such as Wordsmith in the early 2010s, Andrew has consistently stayed at the forefront of technological innovation. This, coupled with his leadership as the Chair of the CIPR’s AI in PR panel, makes him a much sought-after speaker and commentator on the impact of AI in comms and PR.”
Nik Govier
Nik is the CEO + Founder of Blurred, a B Corp, which launched October 2018, which blurs the line between management, sustainability and consultancy.
Blurred delivers strategic and creative work with depth that drives positive impact for our clients, people, and the planet. Its client base is predominately FTSE 150 / Fortune 500 multinationals.
Blurred's area of focus is ESGP (ESG + Purpose). It helps companies understand their negative footprint and address material ESG risks so they can become truly Purposeful forces for positive impact.
It helps businesses be better, and then ensures everyone knows about it from investors and employees to policy-makers and the public.
Prior to Blurred, Nik co-founded multi-award winning agency Unity, and remained at its helm for 12 years. Whilst at Unity, Nik was named one of the Sunday Times 35 under 35. Management Today also featured her on its cover and in an exhibition of business leaders.
Nik co-founded / invested in agency Tin Man and has stakes in a number of other businesses including Allbright, the group behind London's first private members club for working women. She is also an advisory board member of BME PR Pros.