Our Board

Maria is a co-Chair of our Board of Trustees.

Maria is Professor of European Law at the School of Law, University of Glasgow. She teaches and researches EU law, with a particular focus on the fields of migration, citizenship and criminal Justice and is active in nurturing and producing societal impact through collaborative civic engagement. Maria is a member of the GO Justice Centre (Glasgow Open Justice) in the School of Law whose mission is to drive social change through legal education and research. She is also co-lead of the Women in Law Project which seeks to uncover the hidden histories of women in law in Scotland and in so doing, advocate for a more diverse and equitable legal sector.

Maria has experience of governance in the charitable sector through her previous campaigning and chairing roles with a Glasgow community centre.

Annika is co-Chair of our Board of Trustees.

She is Chief Executive of Safe in Scotland (formerly Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers), a human rights charity that develops and delivers safe, dignified accommodation and trauma-informed support for people experiencing asylum-related destitution. She is also an active voice in advocating for the policy and legislative changes that would mean the organisation is no longer required!

Her professional background is in the development of museums and galleries that actively address their institutional history and practice of exclusion and exclusivity.

Zeno is our Treasurer. He is a lawyer working in Arnold & Porter’s antitrust group. He enjoys providing practical solutions to complex regulatory issues. He advises clients on UK and EU competition law and also maintains an active pro bono practice advising individuals, charities and NGOs.

Katharine is an Associate Professor in International Migration in the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University.

Working virtually from her home in Glasgow, she has been conducting advocacy-related migration research for over 20 years for the UN, NGOs and grant-making foundations. Katharine specialises in writing about employment rights for migrants, trafficking and forced labour, and business and human rights.

She is motivated by a passion for challenging the accelerating global precarity of migration. Katharine also serves as a Trustee for A Moment’s Peace, a socially engaged theatre company producing art, activism and solidarity; and for Bazooka Arts, which provides therapeutic arts for children and adults.

Sophie works in the governance department at SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and currently provides support to the Corporate Leadership Team and Agency Board.

Sophie previously completed a Young Leaders programme with the 2050 Climate Group and was SEPA’s lead on its Sustainable Growth Agreement with the Group.

Sophie is also a workplace union steward and women’s officer and is working to further women’s rights in the workplace by developing a gender-based violence policy collaboratively with SEPA’s HR department. 

Sam  is Head of the UK National Preventive Mechanism, a group of 21 organisations which inspect and monitor places of detention in the United Kingdom. Prior to this he was Human Rights Lead and Inspector for His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland, where he led on the application of human rights standards in the scrutiny work of the inspectorate.

Passionate and aspirational about human rights, Sam also sits on the Leadership Panel for Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights, helping to develop and direct practical actions to improve the realisation of human rights in Scotland. Sam has previously worked in research, law, and arts & culture.

He holds an LLB (Hons.) and an LLM (Human Rights) from the University of Edinburgh.  

Anisha is a strategy consultant who has worked with large clients and major programmes since 2016.

Her skills and experience are centred on helping organisations develop new strategic visions and plans, operating models, and implementation pathways, and exploring how strategy can be used to achieve sustainable development for businesses and societies.

Anisha is currently working on a masters degree in global strategy and sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, and is interested in exploring global and local environmental rights in the context of the movement for climate justice. 

Fayaz is originally from Kenya, and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Religion (University of Florida), a Master’s in Social Anthropology (University College London), and a PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (University of Edinburgh).

Fayaz is a Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) where he heads the Ismaili Heritage Project, a tripartite collaboration between IIS (London), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (Geneva), and institutions of the Ismaili community (Lisbon).

He also serves as a Trustee of Bruntsfield St. Oswald’s (St. Oswald’s Centre), a Community Asset Transfer where he leads fundraising and communication efforts, as well as of the Edinburgh Iranian Festival, which aims to increase the understanding of Iran’s culture, history, and people to audiences in Scotland.