Dr Yusuf Çiftçi is a lived experience expert specialising in co-production and engagement with people with lived experience of the UK asylum and migration system. He currently works at the Refugee Council as the Head of Refugee Involvement, leading the organisation’s journey to put lived experience at the core of everything they do. Yusuf previously led coproduction projects at British Red Cross and Doctors of the World (Medecins du Monde).

Yusuf is a Clore Social Leadership Fellow (completing the Leading Beyond Borders programme in 2021). Passionate about lived experience leadership, he founded Experts by Experience Employment Initiative to help establish leadership pathways for experts by experience (refugees and migrants) through equitable employment in the refugee and migrant charitable sector. Yusuf published resources on equitable recruitment for the refugee sector and advised recruitment processes of several organisations.

He holds a PhD in International Relations, and he has contributed and co-authored peer-reviewed publications on working with migrant and refugee communities in a meaningful way and on co-designing health intervention measures for migrant communities.

Rebecca is the Refugee Resettlement and Asylum Dispersal Lead for Lancashire County Council and coordinates the housing and casework provision for over 700 refugees. She has previously worked in refugee camps in both Greece and France and founded Lancaster and Morecambe City of Sanctuary in 2015 upon return from one of her trips to ‘The Jungle’ in Calais. Rebecca previously managed Marsh Community Centre which was awarded The Guardian Charity of the Year Award for its community integration work. Rebecca is a Qualified Social Worker and previously specialized in Criminal Justice, holding jobs in London as a Gangs Worker and in New Orleans as a Mitigation Investigator on Death Row. She has written two books: Starting Social Work: Reflections of a Newly Qualified Social Worker and A Taste Of Home: Home-Cooked Recipes from Syrian Refugees Living in the UK and was a Contributor for The Guardian from 2010 to 2015. She is a Mother to three children and in November 2020 her husband received refugee status after three and a half years of navigating the asylum system in the UK.

Andrew is a retired chartered accountant, and has been treasurer of City of Sanctuary since 2015.

Bal currently works as a Trusts and Foundations Manager at The Children’s Society. She a strong background in the charity sector, with her career beginning at the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, igniting a passion for supporting individuals seeking sanctuary. She has consistently championed the rights of children and families, making a meaningful impact through their work with organisations such as Women’s Aid, Action for Children, and NYAS. In her current role, Bal focuses on cultivating partnerships and securing funding for impactful projects that support young people – specialising in supporting refugee and migrant communities. Her expertise lies in creating innovative initiatives and advocating for vulnerable individuals and communities. Bal lives in Birmingham and has two daughters.

Ben has been campaigning on issues of migration, climate change and development for more than two decades including as campaigns director with international coalitions. He previously ran a smallholding in Norfolk teaching permaculture and welcoming people seeking sanctuary on short breaks and courses. The smallholding (The Grange) because the first recognised ‘Home of Sanctuary’ and Ben went on to develop the Gardens of Sanctuary stream. He was part of the City of Sanctuary stream for 2 years during which he led a consultation on our work with Local Authorities and established the universities and gardens streams. Ben was interim director of The Climate Coalition including at COP26 in Glasgow and is now a consultant working for domestic and international NGOs on issues including finance reform, climate and migration. Ben lives in Norwich and has two children.

Alice has lived experience of seeking sanctuary and has spent over 20 years advocating for refugees. She is an activist, speaker and author. She has volunteered at the Reading Refugee Support Group, was a trustee and then a chairperson. She is the Reading City of Sanctuary trustee, Vice-Chair for the Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality (ACRE), and specialist Ambassador for the Global Female Wave of Change. In the City of Sanctuary, she also plays a role in the Universities of Sanctuary and Local Councils of Sanctuary. She has been featured in a BBC educational documentary about refugees and a narrative story produced for the British Library. Alice also talks and advocates for breast cancer awareness in women after surviving breast cancer and wrote a book, Dear God From Your Poached Egg Breast.  

Alice has a PhD in Human Geography. She works as a Community Researcher at the University of Reading and is part of the Racial Implementation Team. She has been a Labour and Cooperative Party Local Councillor for Whitley Ward, Reading, since 2021.

Alice was given the Grassroots Community Award for the Community Education Award for outstanding contribution to Race Equality, the University of Sanctuary, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in 2022; the most inspirational refugee women Driver’s Award in 2020. She nominated the Reading Refugee Support Group for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, which was awarded in 2019. At Poole’s ceremony, she was given an Honorary Masters of Universities by the Open University in 2014 for her services to refugees, communities, education, and civil services. She was presented with an award from the then President of Mozambique after writing about working in Maputo while working as a diplomat.

For more information about Alice and her work, please visit https://www.alicempofucoles.com/

Richard is passionate about building a culture of welcome in Brighton and has been involved in his local City of Sanctuary group since its inception and is currently Chair. He is a proud Trustee of the Hummingbird Refugee Project, which supports young refugees in the Brighton area.

Professionally, he is a consultant specialising in asylum and migration in Europe, building on his earlier experience of policy and advocacy work at the Refugee Council and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) in Brussels. As a director of MigrationWork CIC, he helps people in European cities learn from each other about how to make migration work for everyone.

He moved to the voluntary sector in 1988 from a career in broadcast journalism, by way of a horizon-expanding year studying under Lord Young at his newly established School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Inderjit founded City of Sanctuary, alongside Craig, in Sheffield in 2005. He is a leading Theologian and Methodist Minister; a former President of the Methodist Conference and former Leader/CEO of the Corrymeela Community.

Inderjit was born into a Sikh family in Nairobi and came with them in 1964 to live in Dudley, West Midlands. He took his first Degree in Manchester and then his Masters Degree in Oxford.  Inderjit lived in Wolverhampton for 8 years where he helped to establish one of the first interfaith groups in UK and was Co-ordinator of the Group between 1984–1987. Inderjit then lived in Sheffield where he worked in Multi-Faith inner city contexts. He established a Christian–Muslim Group out of which grew the Sheffield Interfaith Group. He has also organised Christian–Muslim Peace walks in the City. Inderjit helped to start Sheffield’s ‘Homeless and Rootless at Christmas’ (HARC) project. This has involved several hundred volunteers.

For more information about Inderjit and his work please visit his website.

Sabir, a former refugee from Afghanistan, is the Chief Executive of Scottish Refugee Council. He used to be the Centre Director of Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC), an organisation that once helped Sabir through his own settlement in Coventry. He is also chair of the Coventry Ethnic Minorities Action Partnership (CEMAP) and he previously managed the Migration Impact Fund locally. He also led ‘Sorted’ a major improving financial confidence programme at Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau. Sabir’s knowledge of the difficulties faced by refugees is strengthened by the practical experiences of going through the asylum system and by researching the subject of refugee integration through his MA studies at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University.