Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu
Mental Health Researcher + Psychiatric Epidemiologist
Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu MD, PhD is a Senior Lecturer, Psychiatric epidemiologist and MQ Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the Makerere University College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine.
Her research funded by Grand Challenges Canada and MQ Transforming Mental Health has focused on developing and strengthening the evidence for culturally appropriate Group Talk Therapy as a first line treatment for depression in people with HIV in rural areas.
Presently, she is training community health workers to deliver group therapy in villages.
Jerome Okolo
Director of Safi Africa Energy
With 25 years of experience leading cross-functional and multinational teams to deliver solutions in Energy, Manufacturing, Environmental Services, Agriculture and Healthcare to international standards, Jerome Okolo has consistently succeeded in skilfully achieving groundbreaking successes as an entrepreneur and Global citizen.
He believes that Nigerians deserve a better quality of life and is committed to contributing to the progress that needs to be made.
Poet + Writer
Born in Egypt and raised in the North of England, Salma El-Wardany returned to Cairo just in time for the Arab Spring. Between protesting and fighting in the revolution, she started a blog to document her experiences as a young woman in Cairo while discussing ideas of womanhood and how gender identities manifest in today's world. Returning from Egypt she entered the corporate world in London, only to find it far less fulfilling than revolutions and writing, and so eventually left to peruse poetry and novels, while also setting up her own marketing business.
Since then, she's worked with Edinburgh University on the Dangerous Woman Project, writes for various magazines, is working on her debut novel Burkas & Bikinis and performs her poetry across the U.S and U.K, and on BBC radio, while also running an international business.
You can find her drinking tea, fighting for a new narrative around Muslims, eating cake and dressing down the patriarchy at every available opportunity.
Writer + Producer + Poet + Performer
Siana Bangura is a writer, poet, performer and producer hailing from South East London, now living, working and creating in the West Midlands. She is the author of critically acclaimed debut collection, 'Elephant', a book of poetry meditating on Black British womanhood and life growing up in London and the founder and former editor of No Fly on the WALL, a platform centring the voices and experiences of Black British women and Black women living in the UK. Siana is the producer of '1500 & Counting', a documentary film investigating deaths in custody in the UK.
Siana’s past contributions as a producer in theatre include ‘Fierce’ (Camden People’s Theatre), ‘Othello’ (English Touring Theatre), and she is currently an artist in residence at the Birmingham Rep.
With experience in indie publishing, journalism, and campaigns under her belt, Siana’s wide portfolio of work focuses on bringing voices on the margins to the centre.
Catch her tweeting and Instagramming at @Sianaarrgh