Our Team

Amir is an academic, currently working as a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Liverpool Management School. His research delves into the crossroads of service design, vulnerability, and well-being, with an emphasis on marginalised communities. Before joining academia, Amir worked in the UK not-for-profit sector, particularly in enhancing educational and employment opportunities for people from refugee backgrounds

Paul is Senior Advisor for Youth Development with Mercy Corps. His previous roles include as Global Programme Lead on Skills and Opportunities for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship with Plan International and Global Roving Youth Advisor and Youth Project Manager in Jordan with the Norwegian Refugee Council. Paul has a PhD in International Education, which was focused on participatory action research with youth education teachers in Sudan.

Victoria, a consultant, has advised education and finance ministers in countries like Pakistan, Lebanon, Türkiye, and Nigeria. She has worked in education research, serving as interim Managing Director of EdTech Hub and adviser to the What Works Hub. Since 2016, she has been a Trustee of the Eden Academy Trust, a leader in special needs education, becoming Vice Chair in 2022.

Elif is the Social Mission Manager for Ben & Jerry’s Europe, where she leads social impact programmes, including the refugee entrepreneurship program, and refugee hiring initiatives. She led Ben & Jerry’s co-creation projects with refugee entrepreneurs resulting in 2 unique ice cream flavours to support refugee justice. Additionally, she leads the UK Fund of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. Before moving to the private sector, Elif worked with various non-profit organisations, driving positive social change in Turkey, Germany, and the UK. In 2015, she launched Turkey’s first national Refugee Entrepreneurship Programme to support Syrian refugees.

Mike currently advises the Global Whole Being Fund, helping guide their global strategy, bringing deep insight into the structural barriers and untapped potential within community-led and locally-rooted humanitarian responses. Before joining the Global Whole Being Fund, Mike served as Division Director in the Office of the Vice President for Global Programs at the Open Society Foundations where he developed and deployed grantmaking strategies across Southeast Asia, East Africa and the Middle East. He also worked along the Thai-Myanmar border for nearly 10 years, supervising teams responding to crises and documenting rights abuses in Myanmar.

Bahman is an Afghan Fulbright Scholar, development practitioner, senior consultant, and peacebuilder with more than 10 years of experience working across public sector reform, international development, and humanitarian contexts. He currently serves with Acasus as a Project Director focused on Afghanistan and Mozambique, supporting government leaders and development partners to design and deliver large-scale reforms that improve public services for citizens. His work spans governance, health systems strengthening, outreach service delivery, and organizational development, with a strong focus on equity and access for underserved communities. Bahman holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship.

As the founder and Chairman of Cormack Consultancy Group (CCG) since 2005, Charles has built a specialist Higher Education Consultancy working with universities on international projects. Charles founded the UK/Ukraine University Twinning programme to support Ukrainian universities after the Russian invasion and the project aimed to bring international and Ukrainian universities together, and the project is now in its third year, and involves over 230 universities and has generated over £70 millions of support. He also serves on the Governing Board of Mariupol State University in Ukraine and is also a member of the Ukraine Government Commission tasked with selecting the Governing boards of several State Universities. He has an honorary doctorate from Bishop Grosseteste University for his work in Transnational Education.