GSL FESTIVAL @Home | SPEAKERS | Day 1

[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] A while ago Jason found himself at a junction in his life where he was asking, why do we believe in the negative thoughts of who we are, instead of believing in our inner true power, and how can we access this potential all the time. Jason’s first steps too answering these questions came after a long and painful period in his life Jason slowly began to understand that this painful period was not the end but the beginning of stepping into his own daily power.
Jason is a wellbeing writer, advisor, and mentor, he is also a theatre director and had an earlier career as an actor appearing in several West End musicals. Jason has written and created mindfulness and wellbeing programmes, courses, and workshops for schools and organisations in the UK, Norway and China. Jason teaches mindfulness to children and adults by bringing daily wellbeing practice into people’s lives. Jason’s meditations are available on YouTube, he has written for the Evening Standard and the journal Soul Hub Jason also has a YouTube series called “Short Shorts” an interview series proving how wise we all are.
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] David Edwards, housemaster of the Picton at Wellington College spent 6 weeks over the Christmas holidays and Lent Term rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua, as part of the 2019 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
Despite having no previous rowing experience (in common with the entire crew of the ocean rowing boat “Mrs Nelson”) David undertook the challenge as part of the ‘Felix Five’ team – a five-man team comprising former Master of Wellington College Julian Thomas, James Wadsworth and David Jarman (both Army offers specialising in bomb disposal) and Ian Holdcroft an entrepreneur behind the Shackleton clothing brand.
In addition to being a classic adventure and the opportunity to realise a lifetime’s ambition, David and the team aimed to raise awareness and support for the Felix Fund which supports EOD (bomb disposal) personnel and their families on their return from high-intensity operational tours.
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Alicia is a member of youth parliament for Thurrock, however she is more well known for being a young carer activist and raising awareness for young carers! She started out by using twitter to express life as a young carer and the fact adults didn’t listen.
Alicia sits on the ministerial steering group for carers where she represents the voices of young carers nationally as well as helping shape policy for young carers.
Alicia believes all young people should be able to voice there opinion and have the opportunity to speak out about issues that matter to them
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Alex grew up daydreaming out of his classroom window in Cornwall, overlooking the clay pit that became the Eden Project. He’s been a dreamer in education ever since and now daydreams for a living, about how school could be.
After 30 years successfully leading schools across London , Alex founded Portland Education in 2014, an international education consultancy helping school leaders and young people to dream big with education possibilities.
Portland Education is co-founder organisation of a number of award-winning and globally recognised innovations in education. These include https://hundred.org/en/innovations/xtalksworldlistens – a global coaching programme and platform promoting youth voice from Malawi to Barbados to Bhutan. Also www.LinkOnlineLearners.org a global afterschool cultural exchange club recently cited by www.OECD.org as part of ‘Six Big Ideas in Education’ for 2020. And www.ThisIsOurChance.Education – the world’s first free online film festival on education.
Alex was named one of the top 100 education innovators in the world for 2020 by HundrED.org and Forbes magazine. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and was awarded Freedom of the City of London in 2019. He is also proud father of his sons’ GSL Goals shortlisted social enterprise https://hundred.org/en/innovations/one-small-candle
http://linkedin.com/in/alex-bell-frsa-fcct-bb9031b9
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Tess Peters is the Founder and CEO of Been There a new Mental Health Mentoring App for young adults.
Tess has “Been There” herself with eating disorders and finding a mentor transformed her life hence her passion and commitment for creating Been There.
The App enables young adults to connect to a relevant, trained and vetted mentor to support and guide them through the specific issues and challenges they identify with.
Her vision is a world where the value of an ongoing mentee-mentor relationship to support mental health and enable young adults to realise their potential is accessible for all.
Tess’s background is in the hospitality industry on super yachts. However being furloughed from her Formula One job has given her the opportunity, with a team of eight volunteers, to accelerate the launch of Been There.
Been There is progressing to the next level of funding and development with charitable status currently pending from the charity commission.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/been-there—the-mentoring-app-for-young-adults
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Matthew T. Lee is Director of Empirical Research at the Human Flourishing Program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. He is co-author of “The Heart of Religion” and co-editor of the forthcoming volume “Measuring Well-Being,” both with Oxford University Press.
He is also a Distinguished Visiting Scholar of Health, Flourishing, and Positive Psychology at Stony Brook University’s Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics and he previously served as Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity. His research explores pathways to human flourishing, benevolent service to others, and the integration of social science and the humanities.
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Edward Brooks is the Executive Director of the Oxford Character Project. His work joins research in virtue ethics, leadership and character development to the design and delivery of leadership and character development programmes at the University of Oxford and other universities and commercial partners in the UK, Europe and Hong Kong.
At Oxford, he founded and directs the Oxford Global Leadership Initiative, and is the director of a new three-year research project on culture, character and leadership in the business, finance, law and technology sectors. Amongst current writing projects, he is editing a book on The Arts of Leading: Perspectives on Leadership from the Humanities and Liberal Arts, and finishing another book on the virtue of hope: What May I Hope For? Modernity and the Augustinian Virtue of Hope. He holds a PhD from the University of Oxford.
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”]Dr Hazel Harrison (Clinical Psychologist) set up ThinkAvellana with a mission to bring psychology out of the clinic and into workplaces and schools. Harnessing her belief that prevention is better than cure, she develops and delivers keynotes and training workshops on a range of wellbeing and mental health topics.
Hazel is a freelance presenter and writer for the BBC, finding creative and engaging ways to help children, young people and families understand some of the key psychological theories that can improve our mental health. During the pandemic, Hazel has been creating the wellbeing lessons for the BBC Bitesize Daily Shows. Hazel also presents The Brain Lab for BBC Teach.
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Dr Ogbanga is a development activist, acadapreneur and a multiple award winning social worker committed to the achievement of the SDGs. She has over 20 years experience working from the MDGS to the SDGs and building capacity to ensuring target stakeholders can be a part of their own development process.
Dr Ogbanga is a Graduate of several local, national and International Institutions including Cambridge University UK. She is currently a member of the Higest CSO coalition on SDGs in her home country, the African Rep of the A4SD and the National Coordinator of the UNSDSN Nigeria in Partnership, Policy and Programs.
An author and artist, she has led many policy reforms on the MDGs and SDGs and will bring to bare lessons learned in the sustenance and management of After Schools SDGs Clubs in Africa
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[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read More ” less=”Read less”] Zander is an advocacy, communications and campaigns consultant with over a decade of experience in Foundations, NGOs, international organisations and politically parties. He grew up doing youth empowerment work with his parents’ charity Peace Child www.peacechild.org. He rebelled against this musical theatre by going to work for the Tories in the EU and went on to work for Oxfam, the ONE Campaign and Gates Foundation in Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Zander is a co-founder of United for Global Mental Health, the world’s first global campaign on this important issue
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Nick has more than 35 years’ experience in education and, three years ago, was awarded the Fellowship of the Institute of Development Professionals in Education, having also served as a Trustee and Chairman of this national institution. In 2019 Nick was presented with the Institutes highest honour, their Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nick trained as a Graphic Designer, before running his own company, specialising in brand development and point of sale material for businesses across Europe. During his design career, he visited friends in Ethiopia, which set him on a path of development, philanthropy and social transformation. After helping to establish two educational NGOs in Ethiopia and a UK based charity, focused on educating disadvantaged young people, he renewed his business career operating at board level in three national and international companies.
Nick is CEO of Meris Education a UK based virtual education and e-learning start-up, addressing the ‘work and future ready’ gap in the current school curriculum for 15 to 18-year-old students.
His company specialises in recruiting top academic students from mainland China into independent schools. More recently, has introduced high-level Chinese investors to UK Independent Schools who wish to establish a franchised brand in other nations.
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