Team

Partner

Ed Dorrell

Ed is a Partner at Public First. Before taking up this role, he was one of the most experienced and respected education journalists in Britain. He was deputy editor of the Times Educational Supplement (TES) for seven years, a role he combined with being comment editor and before that he was news editor for five years. Previously he was news editor of the Architects’ Journal, where he was a well known commentator on planning and regeneration. He has also written for most national papers including the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and the Independent. He is known for his sharp policy analysis, his wide ranging network in the media, and his skill at writing and shaping news and opinion from leading politicians, chief executives, high profile individuals, and large and small organisations. He offers high-value counsel and insight on media affairs, public opinion and policy formulation to many of Public First’s major clients.

Partner

Jonathan Dupont

Jonathan Dupont is a Partner at Public First. Jonathan joined Public First from the think tank Policy Exchange. As the organisation’s Economic & Social Research Fellow, he authored papers on topics from the future of work to digital government, and from development aid to the industrial strategy. He previously worked as a parliamentary researcher, an independent economic researcher and an analyst for the anti-BNP campaign, “There is Nothing British about the BNP”. He has co-written multiple books on public policy, including A Time for Choosing for Palgrave Macmillan and Gridlock Nation for Biteback Publishing.

Partner

Daisy Powell-Chandler

Daisy Powell-Chandler is a Partner at Public First, leading our Energy + Environment practice and our work on Reputation. Daisy has spent her career advising political parties, charities and global businesses. She worked for David Cameron in the run up to the 2010 election, before joining pollster Populus for a number of years, where she split her time between corporate reputation and electoral politics. Later Daisy set up reputation consultancy Meyland Strategy and the reputation podcast Why Everybody Hates You. Since joining Public First, she has delivered campaigns on carbon capture, corporate net zero plans and home insulation, alongside substantive policy work on everything from food security, to the energy bill support and the structure of the electricity grid in 2030. Alongside her work on net zero, Daisy continues to advise corporate teams on reputation and ESG.

Partner

Jonathan Simons

Jonathan has spent the past eighteen years working in and with government on education issues – eight years in government including 2.5 years in the No10 Strategy Unit; as the Head of Education for the think tank Policy Exchange; and working in international education for the global charity Varkey Foundation. In these roles, he has written extensively on all elements of the English education system and is a frequent conference speaker, media commentator, and columnist.

Jonathan is a Trustee of Education Development Trust, a Member of Astrea Academy Trust, and the co-founder of Ark Greenwich Free School. He sits on advisory boards for UCAS, Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, and the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) at UCL.

Partner

Seb Wride

Seb Wride is Partner at Public First, leading the Data and Polling practice. Seb has led the polling team at Public First since 2019, and has run quantitative research projects spanning over 30 countries. His previous projects have included work for the Wellcome Trust and CaSE on how to run a successful campaign for R&D, a number of projects on public opinion on Net Zero and the environment including building new segmentations based on environmental attitudes, and research into the impact of the pandemic on mental health. Prior to joining Public First, Seb completed an MPhil in Psychological research, and his work on the relationships between music preference and personality was published in JPSP in 2022.

Director

Jack Airey

Jack is the Director for Housing and Infrastructure. He was previously a No 10 special adviser, advising two Prime Ministers on housing, planning and levelling up policy for over four years. Jack pushed pro-housing ‘YIMBY’ planning reforms at the top of government for a number of years. Before working as a special adviser, Jack was Head of Housing at the Policy Exchange think tank.

Director of Energy Policy

Adam Bell

Adam is Director of Policy at Stonehaven. He joined us from BEIS, where as Head of Energy Strategy he worked on the 2020 Energy White Paper, and in earlier roles on heat decarbonisation strategy and on CFD auction design.

He is one of Britain’s leading experts on energy and decarbonisation policy and is regularly featured in print and broadcast media.

Director

Sally Burtonshaw

Sally is a Director in Public First’s Education Practice where she leads work on schools and post-18 education policy. Her recent work includes the future of state funded tutoring in schools and colleges, the attendance crisis, and a review of the collaborative outreach programme, Uni Connect.

Sally joined Public First from London Higher where she was Head of Policy, leading the Policy Team and representing over fifty London HEIs across a range of policy issues.

Sally started her career at Dyke House College in Hartlepool and worked on access and participation policy at fair access charity, The Brilliant Club. She has an undergraduate degree from Durham and completed her PhD at UCL on the relationships between schools and universities in supporting progression to higher education. Sally is a trustee of fair access charity, The Elephant Group and a member of the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s Education Advisory Forum.

Director

Scott Corfe

Scott is a Director in the Modelling team at Public First, with 15 years of experience in applying rigorous economic analysis to a wide range of complex issues. Examples include examining how high childcare costs affect career progression among women, mapping “food deserts” in Britain and understanding the labour market impacts of adult education. Scott has written extensively on the economics of alcohol policy, and in 2019 set out detailed proposals for a reformed duty system. This report – “Pour Decisions” – played a key role in the Government implementing a differential duty rate for beer sold in pubs. Scott’s 2022 proposals for introducing a road pricing regime in the UK were recently endorsed by the former Transport Minister Lord Young. Scott’s insights have been covered in publications including the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. He has appeared on BBC News, Sky News, Radio 4 and a range of other broadcast media.

Director & Head of Quantitative Research

Adam Drummond

Partner, Head of Defense & Industries

Jeegar Kakkad

Director

Ross Gray

Director

Andy Harrop

Andy is a director at Public First and leads a practice area focused on work, money and health. From 2011 to 2024 he was general secretary of the Fabian Society, where he directed the Labour-affiliated think tank’s economic, social and political research. He is particularly known for his work on labour markets, living standards, pensions, ageing and social care. Earlier in his career he was director of policy and public affairs at Age UK and he held policy and research roles with Age Concern, the New Policy Institute and a Labour MP. With the Fabian Society Andy worked on policy projects in collaboration with numerous Labour frontbenchers. In 2020 he was lead author for the commission on workers and technology, chaired by Yvette Cooper, and prior to the 2024 election he led a review for the Labour party on the roadmap to a National Care Service. He was also a member of the party’s joint policy committee and its work, pensions and equality policy commission. In addition to his role at Public First he is a consultant on pensions reform with the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

Director

Tim Leunig

Tim Leunig is a multiple international prize-winning economist. In his decade as a senior UK government official he served as Economic Adviser to two Chancellors of the Exchequer (Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak), as well as Senior Policy Adviser to six other UK Cabinet ministers in the Departments of Education, Health, Environment and Farming, and Housing and as Chief Analyst and Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Education.
He invented Britain’s first ever jobs furlough scheme, the National Funding Formula for England’s schools, and “Progress 8”, the method by which our secondary schools are evaluated.

He has taught at the London School of Economics for 25 years, and has held visiting Professorships at universities in the US and continental Europe.

His work has been featured in every major UK newspaper, and he has appeared many times on the news and in documentaries on radio and television.

Director

Jess Lister

Jess is a Director within the Education Practice and leads Public First’s higher education work both in the UK and internationally. She has written extensively about higher education policy for Wonkhe, Times Higher, and Research Professional. Before joining Public First she held multiple roles at the University of Cambridge, helping the university respond to regional, national, and international policy developments and advising senior leaders on political strategy.

Jess has an undergraduate degree from Cambridge and an MSc (Distinction) in Education at Birkbeck, focusing on higher education & public policy

Director

Carly Munnelly

Carly Munnelly is the head of Public First’s US practice. She is responsible for growing our US business and leads our work in the aid & international development sector. She has spent the last decade designing policy proposals and advocacy strategies on economic policy, international development, and climate change. She previously led a team delivering Save the Children’s global policy, advocacy and research on development financing. Before that, she worked for an NGO in Timor Leste where she led on national budget analysis and advocacy. She holds a master’s degree in International Development and bachelor’s in Economics.

Director

Amy Norman

Amy Norman is a Director in the Energy and Environment and the Data team. Before Public First, Amy was a senior researcher at the Social Market Foundation where she worked on projects including the energy efficiency of homes, the design of a social tariff scheme for Citizens Advice and electric vehicle policy. Though now she concentrates on public policy relating to energy and net zero she previously worked at an education charity, advising on the delivery of the free schools policy.

Head of Transport Policy

Michael Dnes

Michael has nearly 20 years of experience in transport, including authorship of the government’s road investment strategy and the commissioning of multi-billion infrastructure projects. He has led work with the International Transport Forum on the advent of automated vehicles, as well as key work reforming both the highways and railways sector.

In his spare time, he writes and tweets on the history of British transport.

Director

Neil Ross

Neil joined Public First in 2025 having been Associate Director for Policy at the UK’s largest technology trade body techUK and having worked in Parliament for two Labour MPs. Over his career Neil has developed a deep expertise in tech policy and an understanding of the intersection of politics and technological change. He has sat on a number of Government advisory committees including on data protection reform, the Government’s SME Digital Adoption Taskforce and played an important role in shaping UK Government policy on competition in digital markets, AI policy, regulatory innovation and data protection reform after Brexit.

Neil was recognised as playing an influential role in shaping the tech policy of the Labour Party ahead of the 2024 general election. He has regularly given evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees and is cited in a number of media outlets including the BBC, Politico, the Economist, WIRED and the Financial Times on technology issues. At Public First he brings his expertise and political insights to support our research with clients interested in technology and the effects of technological change on the economy and society.

Director & Head of Qualitative Research

Ed Shackle

Ed Shackle is Director and Head of Qualitative Research at Public First. He oversees all of our focus group and immersive research as well as a number of larger deliberative projects. Ed has run dozens of qualitative projects for clients including universities, campaigns, think tanks and global companies. His background is in campaigning, and during the 2019 General Election Ed was Deputy Campaign Director of ‘Vote For Your Future’ the largest youth voter registration campaign, registering an estimated 290,000 18-35 year olds, or 10% of the entire youth population in their targeted constituencies.

Director

Liv Walsham

Director

Bertie Wnek

Bertie is a Director in the Housing and Infrastructure practice. He joined Public First from HM Treasury where he worked as a policy advisor on regulatory policy in the energy and water sectors, on the development of support schemes throughout the COVID pandemic and the 2021/22 energy crisis, as well as for the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. Previously, he won the IPPR Economics Prize for a policy paper on the UK’s productivity puzzle. At Public First he has worked primarily on projects related to the energy system in the UK, including the energy price cap, local network planning, and reform of the electricity wholesale market. He is also responsible for overseeing the development of the newly established Public First football team.

Associate Director

Annie Bell

Associate Director

Katie Carr

Katie has spent the last 10 years working across strategy, policy and delivery roles at the Department for Education, most recently leading work on school and trust strategy, leadership and governance. She spent 3 years as the Schools Minister’s chief of staff, worked on the 2019 teacher recruitment and retention strategy, and led a large delivery team as part of the Education and Skills Funding Agency. She also worked on the government’s Covid response in the Cabinet Office. Katie brings a wealth of experience in education policy and government decision-making.

Katie has a law degree from the London School of Economics and an Executive MBA from Hult International Business School. She has experience as a school governor and is a trustee of Tutors United.

Senior Economist

Damayanti Chatterjee

Damayanti is a senior economist at Public First in the Data and Modelling team. Prior to joining Public First, she worked for a political pollster, producing policy analysis and election modelling for parties across the English-speaking world.  This included building and designing Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP) models to to produce seat projections for high-profile national elections, as well as designing bespoke modelling to investigate empirical trends in partisanship and the impact of economic trends in vote choice for political parties and the financial services sector.

Previously, Damayanti was a College Lecturer at the University of Oxford, where she taught a variety of core undergraduate papers, specialising in post-colonial democratisation and alternative theories of state building. In this period, Damayanti also spearheaded qualitative and policy research projects into 20th century British political and economic history, the UK housing stock, and NHS deficit reduction strategies. She holds an undergraduate degree in PPE and an MPhil in Comparative Government from the University of Oxford.

Senior Economist

Gabriel Hill

Prior to joining Public First, Gabriel worked as a Research Assistant at the London School of Economics. In this role he researched topics including the effects of trade policy on firms in India and the impact of a company’s political affiliation on the types of innovation they invest in. He has also worked at Capgemini as a Consultant and as an Account Manager. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Newcastle University and a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics

Associate Director

Eve Lugg

Associate Director

Holly Papworth

Associate Director

George Ryan

George is an Associate Director at Public First, working across strategic communications and education, skills and levelling up policy. He draws from a diverse background in journalism and public relations.
As a news reporter, he covered the local government beat in the regional press, skills policy at the Times Educational Supplement and politics when working as a parliamentary reporter for the Press Association during the Brexit negotiations and the Covid pandemic. George was a further education and apprenticeships specialist at UCAS before joining the Association of Colleges to lead media relations. He is experienced in crisis communications, building media and campaign strategies and supporting in managing relationships with key stakeholders. Outside of work, he sits on the board of his local college as a governor.

Senior Economist

Ben Savours

Ben is a Senior Economist at Public First in the Data and Modelling team.  Prior to joining Public First, Ben worked for the built environment consultancy Arup specializing in modelling the economic benefits of transport schemes, commercial and retail developments, and net zero policy initiatives. Some of Ben’s more unusual projects included demand and economic modelling for a new shuttle ferry service across the Thames, carrying out a cost benefit analysis of E-scooter rental schemes, and building both financial and economic models for a policy designed to stimulate commercial and residential retrofit at scale.    

Before retraining as an economist Ben was a secondary school teacher teaching both maths and politics, occasionally at the same time.  Ben has a BA in mathematics from Oxford University and an MSc Economics from UCL.   

Senior Economist

David Whitaker

David is a Senior Economist at Public First. He has over 15 years of experience with specialisms in macroeconomic analysis, forecasting, quantitative modelling and econometrics. He has undertaken analysis on a range of diverse topics, including personal and corporate taxation, business investment and trade, bank stress testing, inflation and the UK housing market.​

Before joining Public First, David led macroeconomic forecasting analysis at Starling Bank. Prior to this, David worked at HM Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility and also had previous roles at Deloitte and in economic consultancy.​

He holds a MSc in Economics at University College London, and a BSc in Economics and Economic History from at LSE. David also has a Postgraduate Diploma in policymaking from King’s College London.​

Senior Consultant

Natasha Beedell

Natasha joined the energy policy team in Stonehaven in 2024 from the civil service. She specialises in energy, infrastructure and climate policy and government affairs, having spent 7 years across the civil service and most recently in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Natasha holds a degree in International Relations from the University of Leeds.

Senior Policy Manager

Abby Burke

Abby Burke is a Senior Policy Manager in the technology practice at Public First. Previously, she worked as Programme Manager for Open Rights Group, a UK-based human rights and technology policy NGO. Her role focused on free expression and privacy issues, working with key political, industry, and civil society stakeholders across the UK, US, and EU. In 2023, she was the youngest speaker at the UK’s Internet Governance Forum. Abby is originally from the United States and has worked or interned for the U.S. Department of State, the late U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Branch Politics, and the Carter Center. Abby holds a Master’s in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor’s in Economics and International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Senior Consultant

Samuel Chivers

Sam joined Stonehaven in 2022, bringing over seven years’ experience in public service. Notably, Sam worked in the Cabinet Office, where he held positions as the Head of International Policy in the Prime Minister’s Illegal Migration Taskforce and as the Home Affairs Lead in the Cabinet Secretariat.

Sam is an expert in UK Governance, including the navigation of Whitehall decision making processes, parliamentary procedure, devolution and the machinery of government. Sam is also experienced with the Government’s procurement processes, having been the Head of Covid Therapeutics Procurement during the pandemic.

Senior Research Manager

Meg Price

Meg is a Senior Policy Manager within the Education Practice. She joined Public First from the National Union of Students (Charity), where she worked as a Development Consultant supporting university students’ associations across Scotland. She was previously a governor at the University of Worcester, a consultant for Student Minds and a trustee for the Higher Education Statistics Agency. She was also an author of articles on Freedom of Speech in Students’ Unions published in Wonkhe. At Public First, she works across the education and social policy practices working on projects including adult skills and young people’s perceptions of different careers. She is also a key part of our qualitative research team.

Senior Consultant

Abby Sinclair

Abby has significant experience helping clients across the energy sector to develop innovative and clear policy asks. She has worked closely with the aviation and nuclear sectors to create integrated multi-department policy asks, and deliver coherent change.

Abby has a background in researching the political economy of climate transitions, and has intimate knowledge of the political and policy challenges facing the UK biomass sector. She has advised large multinationals how to upscale low carbon transport fuels.

Research Operations Manager

James Pendlington

James is a Research Operations Manager at Public First, working across the Economics, Opinion Research, and Tech, Media & Telecoms teams. Before joining Public First in 2024, James held research roles at Kantar Worldpanel and Oxford Economics, managing complex research projects from inception to delivery. His expertise spans quantitative and qualitative research methods, survey design, and data interpretation, alongside strong client management and proposal development skills. With extensive experience delivering research and insights for major global clients—including YouTube, Accenture, EY, IBM, and Cognizant—James has worked across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on technology and finance. James has a BA in Economics from the University of Sheffield.

Senior Policy Manager

Ines Wittke

Ines is a Senior Policy Manager in the Energy and Environment
Practice. She joined from Imperial College London, where she
supported researchers in engaging with climate and energy policy
to enhance the impact of their work. Prior to this, Ines was part of
Public First’s opinion research team, where she developed a strong
foundation in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She
holds a Master’s of Research in International Political Economy from
the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Political
Science from McGill University.

Project Manager

Melanie Arana

Melanie is a Project Manager at Public First, working across the Economics, Opinion Research and Tech, Media and Telcoms teams. Before joining Public First in 2025, she held roles at Claremont UK and Kantar Insights Peru, delivering behaviour change and brand strategy research projects in the public and private sectors respectively. Melanie’s expertise includes client and project management, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods, survey design and data analysis. In the UK, she has worked in research projects focused on public health, education, and community safety, working closely with both local authorities and non-profit organisations. She holds an MSc in Psychology of Economic Life from the London School of Economics and a BA in Social Psychology from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Research Manager

Michela Arena

Michela is a Research Analyst at Public First. Prior to joining Public First, Michela worked as a research officer at the ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre. She was involved with and co-authored several data-driven research initiatives, aimed at guiding policy and enhancing best practices across the private, public, and third sectors. Michela also worked as a Research Assistant in academia where she contributed to a number of projects, most notably surveying members of the Irish Parliament. Her research interests are primarily focused on public opinion, voting behaviour, and the application of advanced data science methodologies in the field of political science . Michela hold a First Class BSc in Politics and International Relations (Applied Quantitative Methods), and a First Class Master’s degree in Social Data Science from the University of Essex

Economist

Vikram Bahure

Dr. Vikram Bahure is an Economist at Public First, with specialisation in applied microeconomics and econometrics. Vikram completed his PhD in Economics from the University of Geneva and has spearheaded multinational research projects addressing internal migration, mental health, domestic violence, microfinance credit, and gender dynamics. He specializes in designing and implementing Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental analyses. Previously, Vikram was a post-doctoral researcher at King’s College London, an Associate Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and a research intern at the World Trade Organization (WTO). He also served as a consultant for the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in India, delivering expert analysis on sustainability, finance, and macroeconomic policies. Additionally, Vikram holds an MPhil in Economics and Finance from Bocconi University Italy and an Integrated Masters in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.

Economist

Ned Field

Ned Field is an economist at Public First. He previously spent over three years in Whitehall at the Department for Levelling Up. There he worked on engagement with local authorities in the run up to Brexit and during the Covid-19 pandemic, before spending two years in the Cities and Local Growth unit as a local economies intelligence officer. He studied Politics with Economics at the University of Bath.

Policy Manager

Michael Kane

Michael Kane is a Policy Manager in Public First’s Education Practice. Before joining Public First, Michael worked in policy and advocacy for a school attendance charity and worked for a political monitoring company, working with clients from across the education and skills sector. He holds a first-class honours degree in Politics from Newcastle University and a distinction in Political and Legal Theory MA from the University of Warwick. In his spare time, he helps Fair Game, a group that represents 35 men’s professional football clubs in England, with their Advocacy and Policy work and plays for an amateur football team in South London.

Economist

Shivani H Menon

Shivani is an Economist at Public First. She joined Public First from the think tank Onward, where she was the Deputy Head of Research. She has led projects on entrepreneurship, high net-worth philanthropy, local regeneration and public sector productivity. She holds a BSc degree in Economics from King’s College London.

Research Manager

Sunita Pfitzner

Sunita joined Public First from academia, where she researched international environmental policy, climate adaptation, and forced migration in the Middle East and North Africa. Since joining, Sunita has worked on projects across a wide-range of policy areas, including global-facing R&D, overcrowding in prisons, the teacher recruitment crisis, the use and regulation of AI, and consumer attitudes towards sustainability. Sunita holds an MSc in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Affairs and Environmental Studies from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Policy Manager

Gil Richards

Gil Richards is a Policy Manager in the Social Policy practice. Prior to joining Public First, Gil worked as a Research Assistant in the Institute for Government’s public services team. In this role, he specialised in the criminal justice system, producing data-driven analyses of the police, criminal courts, and prisons. Before this, he worked as a researcher at the Constitution Unit, studying parliament’s role in the Brexit process.

Economist

Leila Roberts

Leila joined Stonehaven in December 2023 following the completion of her MSc in Applied Economics from the University of Strathclyde. Prior to this, she worked as a Policy Researcher in Egypt, where she worked alongside leading development economists in the region and cultivated an interest in energy and climate change policy.

Economist

Maria Rodriguez

Maria Rodriguez is an Economist in the Modelling team at Public First. For five years she worked at Infonavit, the Mexican federal institute for workers’ housing, Mexico’s largest mortgage lender. In her last role as Manager in the Credit department, Maria led statal network responsibility for mortgage allocation and managed loan guidelines shaping Mexico’s national housing policy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from ITAM, and a Master of Public Policy from the London School of Economics.

Policy Manager

Olly Stanton

Olly is a Policy Manager in the Tech, Media & Telecoms Practice. During his time at PF Olly has worked on projects across the globe, focusing on subjects varrying from AI’s potential to transform public services, to the positive impact of sport on the UK. He has also run focus groups and contributed to multiple pieces of immersive research. Prior to joining Public First Olly completed an MA in Research Methods (Politics, International Relations, Security) at Durham University. He also contributed to “The Little Black Book of Lying Boris Johnson” from the Byline Times

Research Manager

Jules Walkden

Jules Walkden is a research manager in the polling team at Public First. He joined shortly after the completion of his BSc in politics with economics from the University of Bath, as part of which he completed a year in industry working for the data and consulting firm Kantar. Whilst at university, he received high distinction for his extended dissertation where he researched the role of disinformation in the political violence that occurred during the 2021 Capitol riot. Jules is a keen footballer and musician, having performed at multiple gigs in London

Policy Analyst

Sarah Anderson

Sarah is a Policy Analyst in the Education practice. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first class BA in Classics, and subsequently spent a year as Undergraduate President and Chair of the Board of Trustees at Cambridge SU. Her work focused on gathering, analysing and representing student views, and communicating policy changes to the student body at large. Since joining Public First she has assisted with the secretariat and research function of the Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes.

Consultant

Oliver Bater

Oliver is an analyst at Public First working across different policy teams. He joined Public First after finishing his MSc in Economics for Development at Oxford. As the department’s Development Economics Scholar, his thesis examined how political economy factors contributed to misallocation of healthcare resources in Brazil. He holds a first-class bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, where he was also President of the University’s Economics Society. Professionally, he has experience in financial services and public affairs, interning at Goldman Sachs and Trafalgar Strategy respectively. He is also a competitive triathlete, twice finishing in the top 15 in the British University Championships.

Research Analyst

Noah Bezalel

Policy Manager

Caitie Gillett

Caitie is a Policy Manager at Public First, working in the Energy and Environment team. She joined Public First from the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), where she worked with parliamentarians, mayors, and councillors on transport decarbonisation and clean air and fundraising. Prior to this, Caitie completed an internship in Parliament and at the Department for the Environment Rural Affairs and holds a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of Southampton.

Qualitative Analyst

Vivian Gounari

Vivian is a Qualitative Analyst in the Opinion Research team at Public First. She joined shortly after the completion of her MSc in Social Policy and Research Methods from UCL, as part of which she completed a qualitative community project on the impacts of digital exclusion for individuals experiencing homelessness and trained in mixed methods. Prior to her degree, she completed a Research and Evaluation internship at Good Things Foundation, conducting focus groups across the country with diverse demographics on digital literacy.

Policy Analyst

Jordan Southwell

Jordan is a Policy Analyst in the Energy and Environment team at Public First. He joined from the Civil Engineering industry, where he spent a year focussing on mitigating the social and environmental impacts of engineering works. Jordan holds a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Nottingham, and is a keen footballer, tennis player and guitarist.

Policy Analyst

Millie Whittle

Millie is a Policy Analyst in the Technology, Media, and Telecoms practice at Public First, where she supports global research projects.

Before joining, she studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Durham University, with an exchange year in Germany. Her research focused on political psychology, with a dissertation examining women’s motivations to vote. She also explored the ethics of AI and the political implications of emerging technologies.

Policy Analyst

Asra Zyar

Asra is a Policy Analyst in the Technology, Media & Telecoms practice. Prior to joining Public First, Asra worked at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, contributing to policy across a wide range of areas including AI in Government, GlobalHealth and Sustainable Agriculture. Prior to this, she was a research assistant at the University of Oxford, developing biomaterials for drug and vaccine delivery which led to publication of her work in Nature. Asra holds an MRes in Biomedical Engineering and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow. ​

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Policy Manager

Laurel Boxall

Laurel Boxall is a Policy Manager in Public First’s Tech, Media & Telecoms practice. From 2023-2025 she served as Tech Policy Advisor at Labour Together, building the Labour Party’s tech offering ahead of the 2024 election and continuing to develop Labour’s position beyond it. She secured a manifesto commitment to ban deepfake nudification apps, advised No.10, Ministers, and the PLP on AI, government digital capability, and digital regulation, and co-authored a highly influential paper on digital identity. Laurel holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a BA Hons from the University of Oxford.

Policy Analyst

Margaret Ryan

Margaret is a policy analyst who works across a range of policy areas, including energy, taxation, and defence.

She joined Stonehaven in 2024 following the completion of her MA International Relations from King’s College London. Prior to this, she graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and the Public; International Studies, and Spanish from Xavier University in the US.

Previously, Margaret has worked as an intern at Velocity Government Relations, an aerospace and defence-focused government relations firm in Washington, D.C.