Andrew Neal, Chair
Andrew Neal was born in Hastings and graduated from the University of York with a Masters degree in political philosophy. He went on to train as an accountant and is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Between 1987 and 2003, he worked for Unilever in the UK and the Netherlands in a variety of finance and management roles. Andrew then worked for Lancaster University between 2003 and 2012, first as Director of Finance and Resources and then as Chief Operating Officer. He is currently an independent consultant.
Andrew was appointed as a Trustee of JRSST-CT in October 2008. He became Vice Chair in 2013 and was appointed Chair in 2017. Andrew is also the Chair of JRRT.
Christopher Carman
Christopher is the Stevenson Professor of Citizenship at the University of Glasgow. He has previously taught at the Universities of Strathclyde and Pittsburgh. His research focuses on political representation and its alternatives (e.g., public petitions systems), elections and electoral processes, public opinion and public (environmental) policy. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as co-authored several books examining politics, elections and representation in the United States, Scotland and the wider United Kingdom.
Christopher joined the Board of Trustees of JRSST-CT in 2019.
Roger Clarke
Roger began his career as a community development worker in the west of Scotland. He has been CEO at the Youth Hostels Association and a Director at the Countryside Agency and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. He has served as Chair of Friends of the Earth and the Civil Society Advisory Board at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Vice-Chair of the international development charity Practical Action.
Roger is a board member of the Foreign Policy Centre. He has also been a board member of various environmental organisations, including Natural England, the Peak District National Park Authority, the National Forest Company, the Woodland Trust, and The Conservation Volunteers.
Roger has a BA in geography from Oxford University and a PhD from McGill University, Montreal. He is married with two sons, and lives in Derbyshire. Roger is a member of Bakewell Quaker Meeting and has served on various national Quaker groups.
Roger joined JRSST-CT’s Board in September 2018. He also sits on the Board of JRRT.
Jess Garland
Jess Garland is Director of Policy and Research at the Electoral Reform Society. A former Senior Political Adviser to a Shadow Cabinet Minister, Jess has several years’ experience working in the Westminster parliament and has worked on political and constitutional reform issues for over a decade.
Jess has a PhD in Politics from the University of Sussex and holds a Research Masters (MRes) in Government, Policy and Politics from Birkbeck, University of London and a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from UCL. Jess has research expertise and interest in political participation, political party organisation, elections and electoral systems.
Jess joined the Board of JRSST-CT in March 2021.
Alison Goldsworthy, Vice Chair
Alison (Ali) Goldsworthy is CEO of The Depolarization Project and co-author of Poles Apart which will be released in 2021 with Penguin Random House. The focus of her work is to reduce political polarisation when it reaches pernicious levels. Previously Ali was Head of Supporter Strategy and Engagement at the consumer champion Which?, oversaw the successful campaign to introduce opt-out organ donation in Wales and worked in Parliament and the Senedd. Ali joined the Board in 2012 and became Vice Chair of the Board five years later. Ali is also Vice Chair of JRRT.
In 2016, Ali moved to California to study as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University and continues to divide her time between the US and UK. She lives with her husband and in her spare time is a mediocre powerlifter.
Duncan Hames
Fighting corruption by day, studying audit reports by night… Duncan leads the public policy, business integrity and research teams of Transparency International UK, the British chapter of the worldwide anti-corruption movement. A chartered management accountant, he also served as a Non-Executive Director of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, chairing their audit committee. He recently completed an MA in Conflict, Security and Development in the War Studies department of King’s College London.
A former Member of Parliament, in addition to his constituency work, Duncan was the parliamentary aide to the Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Nick Clegg MP. He was a board member of the UK Foreign Office’s Great Britain China Centre and a member of the policy advisory board of the Social Market Foundation. Previously elected as a local councillor in Wiltshire, he served on the board of the South West of England Regional Development Agency, chairing its audit committee. Duncan was also a Non-Executive Director of the regional cultural consortium for the South West of England, and served as a governor of local schools.
Duncan joined the JRSST-CT Board in December 2023, and also sits on the Board of JRRT for whom he chairs the Finance Committee.
Beth Knight-Yamamoto
Beth has a background in Campaigns and Advocacy in the third sector, and currently works in Public Affairs at the Royal College of Nursing. Beth began her career in politics working in the Houses of Parliament in the UK as well as in Washington DC where she also gained her MA in Political Management from George Washington University. Beth has a particular interest in participation in civic life and democracy, particularly for women in marginalised communities having worked on projects in Southern Africa, Myanmar and the United States. Beth currently serves as member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, a volunteer emergency response unit in London.
Beth joined the Board of JRSST-CT in 2019.