New Fellows

Ashok Gupta is Chair of New Capital Consensus, a coalition of Chatham House, the Financial Systems Thinking Innovation Centre (a working group within the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries), University of Leeds and Radix Big Tent. The project aims to identify how the UK investment system could be rewired to better address the country’s societal and environmental challenges. As Chair of a Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association Taskforce, he led a review of UK defined benefit pensions, and has played key roles in building several financial services businesses including The Phoenix Group, Quilter and St James’s Place. Previously, Ashok was Joint Deputy Chair of a Bank of England Working Group on Procyclicality and Treasurer/Trustee of the Ethical Journalism Network.

Leisha Beardmore is the Global Senior Specialist on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support and Gender Based Violence at the International Medical Corps. They are the Founder of Art House Collective, a global residency programme for interdisciplinary art and creative practice, and Founder and CEO of Cadre, a non-profit organisation focused on trauma recovery and healing after human rights violations. Leisha is also a Research Fellow and Senior Researcher at Stanford University working across the Department for Psychiatry and the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, and volunteers in New York City at Bellevue Hospital Program for Survivors of Torture.

Fiona Curran has been Chief Executive of prison arts charity Koestler Arts since June 2023, having been its Director of Arts, responsible for awards and showcasing, from 2009 to 2023. Koestler Arts brings together artists, the criminal justice system and arts organisations, so that thousands of people in challenging settings such as prisons and high-security hospitals can access the benefits of the arts. In 2024, the charity’s ongoing partnership with London’s Southbank Centre produced its 17th exhibition, entitled No Comment. The charity’s yearly awards programme, the Koestler Awards, receives submissions that span 53 art forms.

Adrian Kuah is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at James Cook University Australia, Singapore Campus, where, in 2017, he founded its Circular Economy and Sustainability programme. In a career spanning three decades, he has overseen several infrastructure projects, including Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System. Adrian has also served on Singapore’s National Committee for Circularity of Materials and as Head of Delegation at several of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) circular economy meetings. In 2024, he was appointed an ISO International Expert, helping developing countries in Asia transition towards the circular economy.

Nina Nannar is currently Arts Editor of ITV News, having originally joined Independent Television News (ITN) in March 2001 as the media and arts correspondent. Additionally, for the past three years Nina has hosted the ITV News podcast Unscripted, in which she speaks to guests from the world of arts and entertainment. Among many other appointments, Nina is a member of Bafta and the Brit Awards Voting Academy, voting for both awards programmes, and serves as an Ambassador for the King’s Trust and the British Asian Trust and is a mentor to fellow journalists from ethnic minority groups.

Indro Mukerjee has led large public sector organisations and supported skills development in industry. His business leadership experience spans publicly listed and multinational corporations, venture capital and private equity-backed technology companies, working extensively across Asia and the US. He served for 3.5 years as CEO of Innovate UK, previously having co-founded and chaired the UK Electronics Skills Foundation, a charity that aims to connect employers and students across industry, the public sector and education. He was also on the board of the UK’s Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. Indro is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Sara Rosberg is the Founder and CEO of Transforming Textiles, a developer of a patented Sense-Tex smart yarn technology combining style-function and sustainability. Her creation received a Seal of Excellence by New York consultancy Material ConneXion for its sustainable applications. In 2022, Sara was a finalist in the European Space Agency’s Nordic Launch programme, with Sense-Tex fabric recognised for its durability in extreme environments. Transforming Textiles’s new project, Re:Weave, focuses on creating hybrid textiles for space exploration and is supported by AI-driven technologies. Sara’s fashion brand, Modality, uses Sense-Tex fabric, and had its debut at Milan Fashion Week 2024.

Divya Marie Kato is Director and CEO of Atelier Kato Tokyo: an art studio and drawing school where she teaches her drawing programme, When In Doubt, Draw. Working in Japan since 2005, Divya is a passionate advocate of art education, visual literacy and painting anything larger than five metres. Her work encompasses community murals, theatre backdrops and The Big Draw Japan drawing festival. Divya is a Reggio Emilia inspired Atelierista and art specialist across the school and university network. These experiences revealed her ikigai (reason to live): sharing the universal language of drawing with as many as she can.

Anna Wakefield is the Founder and CEO of Ianthe House, a peer-supported programme and accommodation provider that helps adult women who are in recovery from eating disorders. Her background lies in building and scaling social-purpose companies, most recently Wavepaths, an AI-powered therapeutic music platform increasing the safety and efficacy of psychedelic medicine in Western clinical settings. Anna co-founded The Burlington Clinic in London, integrating ketamine and somatic therapies. She is a passionate advocate for scalable, regenerative solutions that transform mental health care.

Dave Bowden is a former prison officer and governor, who served 36 years in Northern Ireland and the British Overseas Territories, operating in several complex custodial settings around the world. A Churchill Fellow, his main passion is the development and leadership of established operational teams. Recently retired, Dave has continued with his passion as a volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager based in Northern Ireland. He also continues to develop his academic qualifications, along with prison-based consultancy around suicide prevention management in Northern Ireland prisons.