Annemarie has extensive international experience. She has worked for over 8 years in the fields of governance, youth development and refugee resettlement. She holds a Batchelor of Arts in International Relations and is currently completing a Master of Science in Management in International Business. She has been actively involved with organisations such as Oxfam, where she held the position of a member of the youth board for London and South East England, leveraging her skills and expertise to empower youth and promote social integration. Annemarie’s dedication and passion for working with vulnerable populations is evident in her professional achievements.

She currently manages all the social media platforms and communications for ConnectFutures.

Carys has 10 years experience working in communities and with young people in third sector organisations. Her specialism is the design of interactive programmes that seek to challenge, integrate and develop confidence in the attendees. She has extensive youth work experience, most notably in alternative education settings that encourage social integration and community-led development. Carys has a first class Masters degree in Terrorism and Political Violence from the University of Birmingham where her specialisms were far right extremism, gender and terrorism and countering violent extremism. She is a PhD researcher, studying under the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, her research focus is education, extremism and utopianism. Carys has written papers on the constructions of gender in public responses to women who engage in terrorism, as well as chapters on intersectional responses to all violence and the incorporation of a contextual safeguarding approach to CVE projects in educational environments.

Craig is an experienced project manager and facilitator, working across a range of groups including young people, newly arrived communities, and those with additional support needs.

With over 10 years working in the third sector supporting individuals, he is passionate about making a difference and building skills within people. Alongside this, he has supported and led on projects aimed to build integration within communities and break down stigma around differences between people.

Laura is a passionate advocate of whole community approaches to social challenges. Her academic background combined with practitioner experience is rooted in harnessing research to inform best practice, using collaborative, asset-based methods.  

She has worked to promote equality, diversity and inclusion since 2003 and has extensive experience in innovative, critical enquiry, programme design and evaluation for policy, private sector, practitioner and community-based organisations. She is focussed on understanding and developing proactive, practical and inclusive approaches to the stickiest topics – especially dis/misinformation, exploitation and hate – to create positive change.

Laura is an expert speaker, and enjoys engaging with a wide range of audiences including government, corporate, third sector and community organisations. She holds an Honorary Research Fellowship at the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology, University of Liverpool and is trustee of Carnegie UK.

Jacob is a passionate and experienced speaker, engaging powerfully on the toughest topics. Drawing from challenging lived experiences, he understands the pathways into and out of gangs, serious violence and radicalisation. Jacob works as a facilitator for both St Giles Trust and ConnectFutures, bringing insight and presence to the fore.

Malik is a professional hip hop artist, producer and lyricist and has toured with artists including Jay-Z, Mark Ronson, Professor Green and Wiley. 

Malik is a highly skilled facilitator, performer and public speaker. These skills he has developed through music and therapeutic spoken word.

He has worked with at risk young people within secure units, PRU’s Alternative Provisions and other institutions for over 15 years.

His work with ConnectFutures includes national delivery of our Fake News, BRAVE, Racial Justice, Contextual Safeguarding programmes in primary, secondary and college settings in an assembly format with a specialism in PRUs and SEND schools. This includes delivery of large-scale workshops, targeted mentoring programmes and 1-2-1’s.

Nathan is a skilled and experienced facilitator, specialising in engaging young people with SEMH and complex contexts. His lived experience brings credibility and realism to his role, with a deep understanding of the field of criminal justice, and working with teenagers caught up in exploitative and criminal activities. Nathan has experience working with large third sector organisations, schools, colleges, PRUs and community settings, and has a teaching level 3 through St Giles Trust.

Paddy is an experienced facilitator and mentor, drawing on his expertise and lived experience. He has autism, epilepsy and dyslexia and is extremely passionate about supporting other neurodivergent and disadvantaged people. His experience comes from his own life and neurodivergent family members, and through his work in both mainstream and private education as a Learning Support Assistant for children with special educational needs. He is a creative and charismatic person who enjoys communicating and sharing experiences with others. 

Paul is a skilled facilitator who draws on his lived experiences to deliver expert training focused on preventing youth involvement in exploitation and criminality. He focuses on challenging harmful mindsets to steer young people away from street-involved lifestyles. Paul is passionate about opening up honest conversations about the realities and long-term consequences of these paths, and helping individuals build a more hopeful and constructive future. He is an engaging and experienced public speaker, known for his direct and relatable approach.

Lynn Davies is Emeritus Professor of International Education at the University of Birmingham, UK Head of Research at ConnectFutures. She has worked extensively in the area of education and conflict and for the past 15 years specifically in education, extremism and security.  

Major books in the field have been Education and Conflict: Complexity and Chaos (2004), Educating against Extremism (2008) and Unsafe Gods: Security, Secularism and Schooling (2014).  Research has included interviewing former extremists (far right and Islamist) about their backgrounds, evaluating the Home Office funded Way Out project: Supporting Muslims in Prisons, and research for the West Midlands Counter Terror Unit, exploring local trust and confidence in counter terror policing. 

She has conducted international reviews on education and extremism, for example

the research study Review of Educational Initiatives in Counter-Extremism Internationally: What works (University of Gothenburg, 2018) which looked at 21 different types of initiatives in 23 countries, and Education and Radicalisation Prevention: Different Ways Governments can support schools and teachers in P/CVE (Radicalisation Awareness Network, Amsterdam, 2019) which explored the policies on counter extremism in 27 EU member states.  

She has acted as a senior consultant for a number of international agencies in the area of counter extremism, including UNESCO, UNICEF, OECD, GIZ and Club de Madrid as well as the EU RAN Radicalisation Awareness Network.  

In 2014 she was given the Sir Brian Urquhart award for service to the UN and its goals by a UK citizen, and is an invited Member of UNICEF UK. In 2021 she acted as an expert witness in the Inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing.

Rebecca is a PhD student in the Marketing and Strategy Department at Aston Business School. Her research falls within the realm of strategy and specifically strategy-as-practice, which is the doing of strategy. She is particularly interested in exploring how strategy work takes place in real-world settings. At ConnectFutures, Rebecca collaborates with the team to creatively strategise in unconventional ways, drawing on different tools and materials.

Savannah Hanson is Youth Engagement Officer at ConnectFutures, where she leads work on embedding youth voice into the organisation’s decision-making. She has established ConnectFutures’ first West Midlands – based Youth Advisory Board, bringing together young people aged 14-20 to shape local and national programmes, challenge divisive narratives and influence positive social change.

She is also an international speaker and facilitator (BBC News, TEDx, Radicalisation Awareness Network) known for helping people navigate brave, honest conversations across disagreement and complexity in social and political issues. Savannah centres curiosity, radical empathy and values-based leadership.

Before joining ConnectFutures, Savannah held several leadership roles in higher education spaces, including Trustee, Education Officer, ACS President and BAME Committee Officer at the University of Sheffield Students’ Union. During this time, she led campaigns on equity, inclusion, digital inclusion and curriculum decolonisation – experiences that continue to shape her commitment to helping young people move into leadership roles that haven’t always felt open to them.

Savannah works with audiences ranging from school pupils to elected senior leaders, and is committed to fostering genuine intergenerational dialogue – creating spaces where young people and adults alike feel heard, valued and able to contribute meaningfully. She is passionate about showing that courage, community and curiosity can open doors to new opportunities and lasting change.

Si is an experienced and engaging youth worker with a wealth of knowledge in multiple areas of youth work. He has a passion for working with young people, and has dedicated his career to helping them overcome the challenges they face. Si’s expertise lies in a number of areas, including serious youth violence, radicalisation, criminal exploitation, poverty, drug abuse, mental health, and child-to-parent violence and abuse. He has worked with young people from a wide range of backgrounds, and has developed a deep understanding of the complex issues that can impact their lives. Si’s approach is compassionate, trauma informed and pragmatic. He understands that each young person is unique, and tailors his support to meet their individual needs. He is skilled at helping young people to identify their strengths, build confidence, and develop the skills they need to succeed.

In his spare time, Si is a renowned musician and rapper with over 20 years worth of experience in the UK hip hop industry.

Yasin is a skilled youth worker, focussed on mentoring and facilitation with high complex needs young people, as well as designing summer school programmes and transitions into secondary schools, with deep experience in grassroots youth work. He has a passion for crime prevention and rehabilitation, who studied criminology at Birmingham City University, and is currently undertaking his MA in Mental Health and Psychology at the University of Birmingham with an Aziz Foundation Scholarship. Yasin is committed to working with youth  and making communities safer.

Founding Director of ConnectFutures – a female-led social enterprise founded in 2013 which delivers training and research around disinformation, extremism, anti-racism, hate and violence. She previously worked for over 15 years in the public sector as a senior member in a wide variety of local, national and pan-European policy-orientated policy and management work. She helped develop an operational accredited mentoring programme on behalf of statutory agencies and partners vulnerable to violent extremism during a two-year assignment with West Midlands Police Counter Terrorism Unit.  

Zubeda is a Clore Social Fellow (2014/15), an alumni of the IVLP programme (Dept of State, USA) and was invited to the White House Countering Violent Extremism (President Obama) summit in Washington in February 2015 as a result of the specialist work of ConnectFutures in developing community and schools based programmes. She currently sits as an Advisory Board Member on the PREPARE project/EU Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network expert and is on the Board of Governors at Birmingham City University.

She is a regular commentator in the media (BBC, ITV, Newsweek, Channel 4 News and other networks)

She graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA in Politics and Modern History and MA in Middle Eastern Studies.