SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Christine Bell is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Edinburgh. She has been
active in non-governmental organizations, and was chairperson of Belfast-based Human
Rights organization, the Committee on the Administration of Justice from 1995-7, and a
founder member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission established under the
terms of the Belfast Agreement. In 1999 she was a member of the European Commission’s
Committee of Experts on Fundamental Rights. Her research interests lie in the interface
between constitutional and international law, gender and conflict, and legal theory, with a
particular interest in peace processes and their agreements.
Robert Black -From 2000 until 2012, Robert Black was the first Auditor General for Scotland
and the head of Audit Scotland. Through Audit Scotland, he arranged for the financial audit
of most public bodies in Scotland and for a rolling programme of performance audits which
were reported to the Scottish Parliament. In his earlier career, he was chief executive of
Tayside Regional Council and Stirling District Council. He is currently a lay member of the
Court of Edinburgh University, a board member of the British Library, and a public interest
member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
Alice Brown - Professor Alice Brown is a former Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh,
having taught economics and politics in her academic career, and also served as the Scottish
Public Services Ombudsman. Alice was an active figure in the development of devolution in
Scotland, including, being a member of the Consultative Steering Group that developed the
procedures for the Scottish Parliament, and promoting the equal representation of women
in the Parliament. She was awarded a CBE in 2009.
Fiona Buckley is a lecturer in the Department of Government, University College Cork (UCC),
Ireland. She specialises in gender politics, the politics of the Republic of Ireland and the
scholarship of teaching and learning. Fiona is currently guest editor along with Prof. Yvonne
Galligan (QUB) of the 2013 Irish Political Studies' special issue - 'Women and Politics in
Ireland'. She is co-founder of The 5050 Group, a group established in November 2010 to
promote women's involvement in Irish politics.
Yvonne Galligan is Professor in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy,
Queen's University Belfast. She is also the Director of the University's Gender Initiative and
the Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics. Her research interests are in gender
politics, with a primary focus on candidate selection, electoral systems, party systems and
comparative studies. Yvonne has written extensively on questions of political and
parliamentary representation and is also a member of the McKay Commission convened in
January 2012 to look at the issues raised by the West Lothian Question.
Thorvaldur Gylfason is Professor of Economics at the University of Iceland and Research
Fellow at CESifo (Center for Economic Studies) at the University of Munich. A Princeton
Ph.D., he has worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., taught
at Princeton, edited the European Economic Review, and published some 150 scholarly
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articles and 20 books as well as 700 newspaper articles plus several songs for mixed choir.
He was one of 25 representatives in Iceland‘s Constitutional Council in session from 1 April
to 29 July 2011, elected by the nation and appointed by parliament to revise Iceland’s
constitution.
Ann Henderson is Assistant Secretary at the STUC (Scottish Trades Union Congress). She has
previously worked in the Scottish Parliament, and on the railways in Scotland. Ann has had a
long and active involvement in the trade union movement and the women's movement, and
is currently Secretary to the STUC Women's Committee. She is currently co-organising a
programme of seminars (2012/13), Constitutional Futures: Gender Equality Matters in a New
Scotland, funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute, to inform public debate in the
run up to the 2014 Independence Referendum.
Kate Higgins is a founding member of Women For Independence and political blogger and
commentator. She is passionate about the possibilities independence offers to create a
different Scotland which works to provide a better future for women. She works in public
affairs for a Scottish charity.
Niki Kandirikirira is currently the Executive Director of Engender in Scotland. Much of her
work over the last 28 years, in Africa and Scotland, has been as a practitioner focusing on
institutional sexism and gender relations as the nexus of racism, ethnocentrism,
homophobia and transphobia, and age and disability discrimination, and other forms of
social, economic and political exclusion. She continues to work in Africa as a consultant,
most recently conducting a programme review and redesign of 'Changing the Lens' a
programme working on gender ethnic identity, sustainable livelihoods, law and land in
Karamoja, Uganda for RLP Makerere Univeristy and the Open Society Institute East Africa
and training UNHCR Uganda staff on social economic exclusion analysis. She also developed
the National Action Plan for Gender Based Violence for the government of Sierra Leone.
Meryl Kenny is Visiting Fellow at the School of Social and Political Science, University of
Edinburgh and Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New
South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She is a regular contributor to the University of Edinburgh
Gender Politics blog, and has published widely on gender, political parties and political
representation in the United Kingdom. She is the author of Gender and Political Recruitment
(Palgrave 2013), as well as articles published in Parliamentary Affairs, Publius, Scottish
Affairs, and Politics & Gender, among others.
Carolyn Leckie participated keenly in the People's Gathering. She works for a Women's Aid
Collective and is a part time law student. She was previously an SSP MSP, Midwife & Trade
Union Branch Secretary. She campaigned for 50/50 representation in the SSP - both
internally and for political representatives. She has a keen interest in constitutional
questions, democratic revival and how women's liberation can be advanced by these means.
She helped to form and launch Women For Independence.
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Fiona Mackay is Professor of Politics at University of Edinburgh. She writes, teaches,
researches and campaigns about women and inequalities in political and public life in
Scotland and beyond. She led the ESRC project on gender and devolution in the UK (200003). She is currently research co-organising a programme of seminars Constitutional Futures:
Gender Equality Matters in a New Scotland, funded by the Scottish Universities Insight
Institute, to inform public debate in the run up to the 2014 Independence Referendum.
Alan Miller is Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. Professor Miller has a
combination of experience and expertise in the field of human rights grounded in 25 years
involvement with the legal, academic and voluntary communities within Scotland. He
previously ran a law practice in Castlemilk, Glasgow and is a past President of the Glasgow
Bar Association and former Director of the Scottish Human Rights Centre. He also teaches
human rights on the LLM programme at the University of Strathclyde, where he is a member
of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law. He brings an international perspective and
insights gained from engagement with the United Nations and other bodies in capacitybuilding initiatives in 20 countries around the world. This has included working with Iraqi,
Sudanese and Palestinian lawyers as well as being adviser to the Global Business Leaders
Initiative on Human Rights led by Mary Robinson, former UN High commissioner for Human
Rights.
James Mitchell is Professor of Politics at University of Strathclyde. He is Fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh and Member of the Academy of Social Sciences. He has published
widely on Scottish and territorial politics, and devolution and constitutional change. He was
a member of the Christie Commission on public services in Scotland. His latest book (with
Rob Johns and Lynn Bennie) is The Scottish National Party: Transition to Power (Oxford
University Press 2011).
Dave Moxham is the Deputy General Secretary of the Scottish TUC. Dave joined the STUC in
2004 as a Research Assistant, became an Assistant Secretary and was latterly appointed
Deputy General Secretary in 2009. Dave was formerly a Councillor with Glasgow City Council
and for a long numbers of years Parliamentary Researcher to George Galloway. As STUC
Deputy General Secretary, Dave has policy responsibility for the public sector and is leading
the organisation in the STUC’s “There is a Better Way” campaign.
Catherine O'Rourke is Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law and Gender Research
Coordinator at the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster. Her forthcoming
monograph Gender Politics in Transitional Justice (Routledge, 2013) examines feminist
engagement with, and gendered outcomes of, transitional justice in Chile, Northern Ireland,
and Colombia. The author¹s research with Christine Bell on the impact of UNSC Resolution
1325 on peace agreements is being used extensively by the United Nations and women¹s
NGOs in the measurement and evaluation of the UN¹s Women, Peace and Security agenda.
She is active in local feminist advocacy in Belfast and is a member of the steering group of
the Irish feminist peace initiative Hanna¹s House.
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Lesley Riddoch is an award-winning journalist, writer, broadcaster, PhD student, campaigner
and podcaster. She is co-founder of Nordic Horizons – an Edinburgh-based thinktank
exploring Nordic policy and the lessons it provides for Scotland.
Muriel Robison After qualifying as a solicitor, and a short spell in private practice, Muriel
Robison worked for the Equal Opportunities Commission from 1993 as the Director of Legal
Affairs in Scotland, and thereafter as Head of Legal at the Equality and Human Rights
Commission until December 2009. In October 2009, she was appointed a part-time
employment judge. She now combines the role of employment judge with lecturing at
Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities on employment law, equality law and human rights. She
also provides ad hoc consultancy and training on equality issues, and co-edits Greens
Employment Law Bulletin.
Carmel Roulston is Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Ulster. She has been involved in
women's groups and projects for many years and was involved in campaigns for women's
political participation in the run-up to devolution in the 1990s. She has written chapters and
articles on feminism and the women's movement in Northern Ireland.
Nan Sloane is Director of the Centre for Women & Democracy (CFWD). She has wide
experience of democracy and politics as well as the task of involving more women in them
both. She held local public office and worked in a senior role for a political party; before
setting up the Centre for Women & Democracy to campaign to improve women's presence
in public life across the board. CFWD has published research on women in elections at all
levels, women in political leadership roles and women in wider public decision-making roles.
Yvonne Strachan - is Head of the Equality, Third sector and Communities Unit, in the
Scottish Government. Prior to joining the Civil Service Yvonne was a senior full-time official
with TGWU and was its first Scottish Women’s Organiser. Her previous public positions
include membership of the Board of Scottish Enterprise and Director of WISE Group. Yvonne
was also chair of the STUC Women’s Committee, a member of the advisory Committee of
EOC in Scotland and a member of the advisory group on women’s issues to the Scottish
Minister for Women. Yvonne received an OBE in 1997 for services to industrial relations and
equal opportunities.
Juliet Swann works as Campaigns and Research Officer at the Electoral Reform Society
Scotland. Previously she was Head of Projects and Campaigns at Friends of the Earth
Scotland. Her degrees in politics and law stimulated an interest in democracy, justice and
equality, which she is lucky to be able to satisfy in her day job.
Stephen Tierney is Professor of Constitutional Theory and Director of the Edinburgh Centre
for Constitutional Law. He has held visiting professorships in International Law at Seton Hall
Law School, New Jersey (2010 and 2011) and in Political Theory at Pompeu Fabra University
in Barcelona (2010). Professor Tierney teaches and researches at the interfaces
between public law, international law and constitutional theory. Current research interests
include the legal accommodation of national identity, comparative constitutional law and
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theory, and the use of referendums in the settlement of constitutional questions.
Tània Verge is Lecturer at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat
Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain). Her research focuses on gender and politics and political
parties. Current projects include the study of gender power dynamics within parties and the
study of the impact of political decentralization on party organization. Her work has been
published in Party Politics, West European Politics, Publius, and Journal of Women, Politics
and Policy. She is the local organizer of the 3rd European Conference on Politics and Gender
(UPF Barcelona, Spain).
Margaret Ward is Director of the Women’s Resource and Development Agency, a regional
organization for women, based in Belfast with a mission to ‘advance women’s equality and
participation in society by working to transform political, economic, social and cultural
conditions.’ She was a member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and worked as
policy advisor for the party during the 2003 Assembly elections. Her publications include
Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish nationalism, first published in 1983 and
more recently, (with Louise Ryan) edited studies of Irish Women and nationalism and Irish
Women and the Vote and (with Myrtle Hill) ‘Conflicting rights: the struggle for female
citizenship in Northern Ireland’ in Breitenbach and Thane (eds) Women and Citizenship in
Britain and Ireland in the Twentieth Century (2010).
Georgina Waylen is Professor of Politics at the University of Manchester. She is on the
editorial board of Politics & Gender, and the ESRC Peer Review College. She is a co-director
of the Feminism and Institutionalism International Network (FIIN) and a member of the
Academy of Social Sciences. Her main research interests lie in the fields of comparative
politics/political economy with a focus on gender and politics, international political
economy, transitions to democracy, and governance and institutions. She is author of the
award winning book, Engendering Transitions: Women's Mobilization, Institutions and
Gender Outcomes (Oxford University Press, 2007). She has recently been awarded a
European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant for a five-year project entitled
'Understanding Institutional Change: A Gender Perspective'.
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