CHASE Lecture Series

'Social Mobility and the Social Distance between us' with Darren McGarvey

Northumbria University's Centre for Health and Social Equity (CHASE) helps tackle inequalities through research, education and its work as an anchor institution in the North East of England. Through our new public lecture series, hosted by CHASE, we aim to raise awareness of inequalities and injustices of all kinds.

Our first lecture in the series will see community activist, BBC presenter and author, Darren McGarvey present a keynote. Darren has dedicated his career to raising awareness of, and tackling inequalities, and will be presenting on ‘Social Mobility and the Social Distance between us’. The keynote presentation will be followed by a panel discussion – hosted by Professor Monique Lhussier, Director of CHASE – that will focus on key takeaways from the talk and discuss implications and actions that can be taken by those attending, Northumbria University and other regional and national organisations.

The panellists joining Darren McGarvey and Professor Lhussier will include:

• Claire Riley, Chief Corporate Services Office, for North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Executive Lead for Women's Health, Research and Innovation

• Adrian Dougherty, Head of Public Services Innovation at North East Combined Authority 

• Professor Graham Wynn, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education at Northumbria University

• Rachel Brown, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Northumbria University

• Michael Parker, Director of Knowledge Exchange within Research and Innovation Services at Northumbria University

Refreshments will be served ahead of the keynote, from 3pm. 

Register to attend this free public lecture below.

About CHASE

The Centre for Health and Social Equity (CHASE) at Northumbria University is dedicated to helping all people live healthier for longer, developing new interventions to support the most marginalised in society and shaping a healthcare workforce that will change lives and meet future needs.  

Through our experiential education, interdisciplinary research and engagement with the communities we work with we strive to tackle social equity issues and address inequalities, improve healthcare and social work practice, develop the workforce of the future and better understand our role as an anchor institution in making the world a fairer place.  

The CHASE Lecture Series brings together region, national and international stakeholders, students, academics and people from the communities we work with to discuss key challenges and how we can overcome those to ensure an equitable society. The series will raise awareness of marginalisation for various groups including presenting the perspectives of those who have lived experience of these issues and will challenge attendees to develop more inclusive practices and to prioritise their work across social mobility and inclusion.  

Speaker and panellist biographies

Keynote speaker: Darren McGarvey

Darren McGarvey, also known by the stage name Loki, is a writer, columnist and hip hop recording artist, who has made regular media appearances as a social commentator.

Darren grew up in Pollok on the south side of Glasgow, and has lived through extreme poverty, addiction and homelessness. Between 2004 and 2006 he wrote and presented eight programmes on social deprivation for BBC Radio Scotland. Since then he has been a regular contributor to the BBC, STV and other national media, and currently has a weekly column in The Scotsman. In 2009, he founded Volition Scotland, an organisation that was designed and run by the young people who used it. He was part of the Poverty Truth Commission that was hosted in Glasgow in the same year. McGarvey became the Violence Reduction Unit’s first ever ‘Rapper-in Residence’ in 2015 and continues to work across Scotland in some of its most challenged communities.

In November 2017 his first book “Poverty Safari” was published, and was an instant bestseller and critical hit, making the Sunday Times top ten bestseller lists and receiving plaudits from national newspapers and magazines. He won the prestigious ‘Orwell Book Prize’ in June 2018.

Darren’s latest book “The Social Distance Between Us” was published in 2022, serialised on BBC Radio 4 (listen here) and led to him giving a prestigious '“Reith Lecture” in November 22 on the “Freedom from Want.

He was recently inducted as Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature which deemed his books on social inequality to be of 'outstanding literary merit' and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow.  

He has presented three series of shows for BBC Scotland, “Darren McGarvey’s Scotland”, “Darren McGarvey’s Class Wars” and “Darren McGarvey’s Addictions” and his new series, “The State We’re In” can be seen on both BBC Scotland and BBC2 now.

Claire Riley, Chief Corporate Services Office, for North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Executive Lead for Women's Health, Research and Innovation

Before joining the ICB, Claire was previously the Executive Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust where she led a multi award-winning team for 12 years.

Prior to this she was Director of Communications for the North East Strategic Health Authority and has also worked in a number of private sector organisations including the utilities industry.

Adrian Dougherty, Head of Public Service Innovation at the North East Combined Authority

Adrian is Head of Public Service Innovation at the North East Combined Authority. His team lead initiatives to enhance school improvement and address child poverty through powerful partnership work across the regional system. He also leads on NECA's emerging work on a programme of public service reform. 

Prior to this role, Adrian played a key part in establishing the Chartered College of Teaching, an institution committed to raising the status and standards of the teaching profession. With over a decade of experience teaching and leading in secondary schools, Adrian brings a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the education sector.

Adrian has the pleasure of serving as Chair of Governors at Holywell Village First School, and Vice Chair of Trustees at Tees Valley Education Trust.

Professor Graham Wynn, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education at Northumbria University

Graham is responsible for shaping and implementing Northumbria University's education vision and strategy. He provides strategic leadership across all educational activities, overseeing the design, implementation, and monitoring of quality frameworks to ensure consistently high academic standards. 

Graham has led on the development of the University’s Education Strategic Delivery Plan, focusing on experiential learning and driving social mobility through education, this strategy includes embedding experiential learning opportunities, developing a Quality Enhancement and Development Framework for taught awards, and ensuring tailored support services for all students. The Education Strategy directly supports the Northumbria’s Strategy 2030 ambition of Powering an Inclusive Economy by embedding experiential learning in all undergraduate programs, enhancing students' employability and social capital. Additionally, his work on Driving Social Mobility involves providing tailored support services and eliminating disparities in student outcomes, ensuring equitable access and success for students from diverse backgrounds. 

He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) a member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP) and a Senior Fellow for Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). 

Rachel Brown, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Northumbria University

Rachel is Senior People Professional and EDI Leader. Rachel is currently the Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Northumbria University and has previously worked across public, private and third sectors in various people roles, spending the last two decades focused on inclusion.

As Director of EDI, Rachel leads a team to harmonise and strategically align work on the inclusion agenda institution wide. In addition to her extensive inclusion experience Rachel is a professional trainer, facilitator and qualified teacher. She holds an MA in Equality, Diversity and Human Rights from University of Central Lancashire.

Rachel has held various voluntary and trustee roles and currently mentors’ women and girls and people professionals looking to move into the field of EDI or seeking to develop as a future People Senior Leader. She acts as a strategic advisor on inclusion to a number of bodies and organisations. Rachel is currently a Non-Executive Director at Newcastle Carers, a local charity supporting carers across the North East.

Michael Parker, Director of Knowledge Exchange within Research and Innovation Services at Northumbria University  

Michael Parker is Director of Knowledge Exchange within the Research and Innovation Services at Northumbria University where he is responsible for the University’s Knowledge Exchange Strategy, ambitions, and operations. Michael leads the University’s KE Teams, including: the rapidly growing and ambitious technology transfer office, overseeing a team of specialist technology transfer professionals; the business development team responsible for consultancy, CPD, contract research and facilities and equipment access; the policy engagement and public and community engagement teams; knowledge transfer partnerships; regional economic development; and the research impact team.

Michael was previously Assistant Director, Strategic Partnerships at Advance HE where he led on strategic projects that allowed the organisation to transition to post-grant sustainability. He was the co-author of the Framework for Embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals into Strategy and Research, and also worked strategically with Higher Education providers in the UK and the US. Michael has over 13 years’ experience in Higher Education, working with over 80 universities to support their strategic enhancement activities ranging from commercialisation activity, intellectual property, research and KE strategy development, professional development support and training, and curriculum design and innovation. He has an undergraduate degree in History & Politics, postgraduate degrees in Law and Education Research, and is active in the research of peer-review and feedback in Higher Education and is trained in IP management and commercialisation.  

Panel host: Professor Monique Lhussier, Director of CHASE

Having graduated as an engineer in biological sciences, with a Masters in cellular nutrition and a PhD in sociology, Professor Lhussier is a lifelong researcher. As a social scientist, she has expertise in marginalisation, welfare and wellbeing. Her work focuses on understanding processes of engagement for groups which are often deemed ‘hard to reach’ or in situations of social or health precarity. She has expertise in a number of research methodologies and is particularly known for my innovative work in realist approaches to research.  

She is the Director for the Centre for Health and Social Equity at Northumbria University and deputy lead for the theme of Health Inequalities and Marginalised Communities of the NIHR North East North Cumbria Applied Research Collaboration.  

She is currently co-leading a £1.4M UKRI funded programme of work to help tackle homelessness in the North East and Cumbria, which was described as one of the largest investment in homelessness research. She has also recently undertaken research on women's experiences of homelessness, on adults at risk of exploitation, and into women who have been subjected to recurrent care proceedings.