Business leaders share their insight and experience in this series of events organised by UWE Bristol.

Bristol Distinguished Address Series Podcasts

In this episode of our Spring 2023 Bristol Distinguished Address Series, Aisha Thomas joins us in conversation with Dr. Craig Johnston, talking about her experience as Founder and Educational Consultant in her own organisation, Representation Matters Ltd.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Aisha Thomas, Founder of Representation Matters | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

Join us for the latest exciting event in our Bristol Distinguished Address Series, recorded live at the Watershed in Bristol. A conversation with Camilla Rigby and Rachel Mostyn, Co-Founders and CEOs of Bristol-based business the Women's Work Lab, as they explain how and why they are doing well by doing good.

Since launching, Women’s Work Lab has supported over 300 women – mostly single parents, many with experience of domestic abuse, children with SEN and their own health conditions – on their journey into work. Camilla and Rachel's shared vision is to become the UK’s biggest employability support for unemployed Mums.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Rachel Mostyn & Camilla Rigby, The Women's Work Lab | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this episode of the Bristol Distinguished Address Series, we hear from Danielle Mulder, who leads the BBC’s approach to sustainability across operations, programming, and communications. Named UK Green Business Leader of the Year in 2023, Danielle shares her insights on leadership, environmental sustainability, and the business case for biodiversity.

She has spearheaded the BBC’s “Nature Positive” strategy and shared insights on leadership, environmental sustainability and the business case for biodiversity.

A sustainability expert with more than 20 years' experience at firms including KPMG, Accenture and Carbon Intelligence, Danielle has worked on global sustainability initiatives including the London 2012 Olympics and the development of the Sydney Metro.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address?si=c9992592803c4d798647fe0524f40b35&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://youtu.be/2DGv_MuHJUU?si=tAKMuuBTMLuGyKaQ
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Useful links: 
https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/danielle-mulder 

Danielle Mulder, BBC Group Director of Sustainability | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

This special BDAS event celebrated the remarkable life and achievements of Dr Guy Bailey. Within this, Dr Roger Griffith MBE and guests shared the story of Guy Bailey, his pivotal role in the 1963 Bristol Boycott and who, after a degree at UWE Bristol, founded the first Black housing association in the South West. The evening was a tribute to Dr Bailey and proved a powerful demonstration of the value of community engagement in academia. 

The evening started with an address by UWE Bristol Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Steve West. A panel discussion followed, featuring UWE Bristol staff, Amy Saleh, Malcolm Richards and Professor Shaun Sobers, exploring how life-long learning in academia can empower communities. Current Student Union Presidents Lubyna Gardezi and Kolawole Olure then discussed their educational journey as international students, with former UWE Bristol student Xavier Baker, who is now a UWE staff member and engaged on community projects. Julz Davis CEO of Curiosity UnLtd then talked about the legacy of the Bristol Bus Boycott and his activism to engage young people. The evening concluded with UWE Bristol Professor Emmanuel Adukwu speaking on the Celebrating Excellence project. Finally, Miles Chambers paid poetic tribute to Dr Bailey's legacy. 

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Useful links: 

Dr Guy Bailey OBE Honorary Graduate acceptance speech video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYRyddF0jE4
Full news piece: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/news/guy-bailey
Black History Month 2024 further video content: https://uweacuk.sharepoint.com/sites/staff-intranet-internal-communications/SitePages/Black-History-Month--Steve-West-and-Roger-Griffith.aspx
Roger Griffith Blog: https://blogs.uwe.ac.uk/research-business-innovation/roger-griffith-a-journey-of-life-long-learning/

A celebration of the life of Dr Guy Bailey OBE | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this first Bristol Distinguished Address Series event of Spring 2025, Nick Hounsfield (Founder of The Wave) and Host, Maggy Blagrove (Founder of Open Minds Active) explored all things Blue Health. Nick shared his personal journey and vision for The Wave, the first inland surfing destination in the UK, a 26-million litre artificial wave pool powered by solar energy. Together with Maggy and guest adaptive surfer Stephen Lightbown, the three Speakers shared their fascinating insights about the positive effects that spending time in water can bring – and how more of us can (and should) access the benefits of Blue Health. 
 
Nick is the founder of The Wave - a 'slice of the ocean' in a field in Bristol, where anyone and everyone can surf all year round. It brings the physical and mental health benefits of water, waves and nature to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities - from a child stepping on a board for the first time, to a professional training for the Olympics.  
 
The project was 10 years in the making and Nick’s journey from osteopath with £500 and a vision, to making it a £35 million reality, is an inspiring tale of grit and resilience. Nick is on the board of Surfing England and has been particularly involved in supporting and growing the profile of the para-surfing community. This resulted in the English team winning a record number of medals at the World Adaptive Surf Championships and The Wave hosting the English Adaptive Surfing Open competition. Nick was also part of the prestigious UK Sport International Leadership Programme. 
 
Maggy is the director and founder of Open Minds Active CIC, a Bristol-based social impact organisation dedicated to making swim-based activities accessible across Bristol. The organisation helps people connect with nature in blue spaces to enhance mental wellbeing and reduce social isolation. 
 
Maggy holds a Master’s in International Development and has over 20 years of experience in sport and community development. Throughout her career she has led numerous sport-for-social-change initiatives across the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ireland and the UK, using physical activity to engage disadvantaged youth and marginalised communities in post-conflict settings. An experienced open water swimmer and coach, Maggy is passionate about tackling health inequalities and enabling more people to access and enjoy the outdoors. 
 
Stephen Lightbown is a Bristol-based poet, children’s author; yoga teacher and adaptive surfer. Stephen uses his poems to give a voice to his disability and is the author of three poetry collections; and in 2026 his first children’s picture book will be published. When he is not writing Stephen can be found surfing and is a passionate advocate for the power of blue health. He has represented England twice at the ISA World Para Surf Championships in California and helped Team England to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Championships.     
 
 
Links:    
Watch more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series:   Picture 2, Picture, Picture • The Bristol Distinguished Address Series     
Listen to the Bristol Distinguished Address Series podcast: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address  
Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-distinguished-address-series   
The Wave: https://www.thewave.com/ 
Open Minds Active: https://www.openmindsactive.org/ 
Stephen Lightbown: www.stephenlightbown.com 
Independent Bristol Bookseller, Arnolfini Bookshop: https://bookshop.arnolfini.org.uk/ 
Arnolfini, Bristol: https://arnolfini.org.uk/

Nick Hounsfield, Founder of The Wave, Bristol Distinguished Address Series

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Two seemingly unrelated organisations are finding innovative ways to support youth in vulnerable situations, and promote community safety. Watch and listen again to this very pertinent BDAS event, where we heard from a youth boxing therapy charity from Bristol and an office for violence prevention from Edmonton, Canada – both working to reduce violence an ocean away.

Empire Fighting Chance uses a powerful combination of non-contact boxing and intensive personal support to challenge and inspire young people aged 8 to 25 to realise their unique potential.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a non-profit agency that acts as a hub for coordination, action, and focus on community safety and well-being. (Think of them as the ‘glue’ that brings and holds collaborative partnerships together.) They’ve been touted internationally for their work as an office for violence prevention, which is an entity whose central mandate is to prevent different forms of violence.

After meeting at an urban peace conference in Columbia, the two organisations are bringing international lessons to improve support for youth in their respective cities. Now, Bristol is on the brink of creating its own office for violence prevention inspired by REACH. And in Edmonton, local not-for-profits are banding together to build a youth boxing program modeled after Empire Fighting Chance.

The panel was led by Alex Beresford, TV presenter and Empire Fighting Chance Ambassador, and included: Martin Bisp (Co-Founder & CEO, Empire-Fighting Chance); Jan Fox (Executive Director, REACH Edmonton); Dr Craig Johnston (Senior Lecturer in Criminology, UWE Bristol); and Mariella Miller-Davies (Fundraising Assistant and Youth Voice Ambassador, Empire Fighting Chance).

About the organisations

Empire Fighting Chance delivers four psychologically informed non-contact boxing programmes that help young people get back into education, exit gangs, and reduce youth violence. They also share the impact and methodology of their programmes to a network of boxing clubs, mental health services, and community based organisations across the UK and the world. And, they fight alongside their network for political and policy change to reduce social inequality and amplify the impact and success of early intervention sport based programmes.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a highly-trusted organisation in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that brings together community, service agencies and government to get things done, with the ultimate aim of preventing violence to create safer communities. REACH plays a convening role, leading or supporting more than 30+ community partnerships in areas that have an upstream effect on community safety and well-being such as child, youth and family well-being; and mitigating addiction and mental health problems.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-distinguished-address-series

Useful links: 

Martin Bisp, Empire Fighting Chance: bit.ly/4kn9Glb
Empire Fighting Chance Team: https://empirefightingchance.org/who-we-are/our-people/
Jan Fox: https://reachedmonton.ca/staff-board/jan-fox/
REACH, Edmonton: https://reachedmonton.ca/
Dr Craig Johnston, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/CJohnston
Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

Empire Fighting Chance & REACH Edmonton | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this special collaboration with Bristol’s 2025 Festival of Nature on the theme of ‘Water’, we heard from an expert panel about rivers as the ancient ‘gut health’ of our planet. They explored the crucial role of rivers in the carbon cycle and our ecosystem, the research work and citizen science that is being carried out to learn more about them, the campaigns to keep our waters clean - and what we can be doing to nurture and enjoy rivers in our cities and beyond.

Our panel was led by Professor Darren Reynolds, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research & Knowledge Exchange, UWE Bristol, and included guests, Emma Brisdion, Communications & Campaigns Manager, The Rivers Trust and UWE Bristol Alum; Dr Eva Perrin, Research Fellow in River Pollution, University of Plymouth and UWE Bristol Alum; Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments; and Mehbooba Ferdoush, a cold water swimmer. We also had a special screening of the trailer for the Bristol-made documentary film, ‘Rave On For The Avon’, courtesy of EightySita.

The post-even drinks included a special rivers-themed exhibition by Devon-based photographer and artist, William Templeton, curated watery texts from Bristol independent bookseller, Bookhaus, and stalls from ‘Rave On For The Avon’ and water-testing organisation, MolEndoTech, who demo’d their rapid water quality analysis device with the audience.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series 

Useful links:

Festival of Nature 2025: https://www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/
Professor Darren Reynolds, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DarrenReynolds
Emma Brisdion, The Rivers Trust: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-brisdion/?originalSubdomain=uk
The Rivers Trust: https://theriverstrust.org/
Dr Eva Perrin, University of Plymouth: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/eva-perrin
Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedvig-lyche-4a433710/
Additive Catchments: https://additivecatchments.com/
Rave On For The Avon: https://www.eightysita.com/raveonfortheavondocumentary
Photographer William Templeton: https://williamjoshuatempleton.com/
Bookhaus: https://www.bookhausbristol.com/
MolEndoTech: https://molendotech.com/
Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

Aisha Thomas, Founder of Representation Matters | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

UWE Bristol

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