Funders
The Lab and its work is funded by the Prism Charitable Trust (acting on behalf of philanthropist Stuart Roden) and the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
Any funding provided to the Lab by YEF is subject to scrutiny by YEF’s Grants and Evaluation Committee (GECo), an independent body which is responsible for making recommendations on funding decisions to YEF’s Committee.
Steering Board
The work of the Lab is overseen by a Steering Board that provides support, advice and challenge to the strategic direction and priorities of the Lab.
The Board contains our major funders, senior leaders from BIT and Nesta, as well as independent members with expertise in relevant areas such as evaluation, criminology, policing, social policy and lived experience of youth violence:
Stuart Roden
Stuart is the former Chairman of Lansdowne Partners. Prior to joining Lansdowne in 2001, Stuart was a Managing Director of Merrill Lynch Investment Management. Stuart started his career in the City in 1984, joining SG Warburg & Co.
Stuart is Chair and Trustee of Unlocking Potential, Non-Executive Chair of Tresidor Investment Management and Hetz Ventures. He is a trustee of The National Gallery, The Centre for Social Justice and the London School of Economics.
Dr Mollie Bourne –Youth Endowment Fund
Mollie is Head of Evaluation and Partnerships at the Youth Endowment Fund, and acts as the main liaison between YEF and the Lab. Mollie is a social statistician with a background in education and equality research. Before joining the Youth Endowment Fund, her career spanned academic, third sector and consultant advisory roles.
Professor David Halpern CBE –The Behavioural Insights Team
David Halpern CBE is the Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team. David has led the team since its inception in 2010. Prior to that, David was the first Research Director of the Institute for Government and between 2001 and 2007 was the Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. David was also appointed as the What Works National Advisor in July 2013, a position he held until 2022 through which he led efforts to improve the use of evidence across government.
Before entering government, David held tenure at Cambridge and posts at Oxford and Harvard.
Ed Bradon – The Behavioural Insights Team
Ed is the leader of the Behavioural Insights Team’s Home Affairs, Security and International Development practice. Since joining BIT in 2014, Ed has worked to establish the international footprint of BIT, first as a founding member of BIT’s first overseas office in Sydney, Australia, and then across the Asia-Pacific region. Increasingly his focus is on how organisations can build behavioural principles into their structure to create high-performing teams.
Prior to joining the team, Ed worked as a strategy consultant with OC&C, advising the senior management of leading companies in the technology, media, retail, consumer and energy sectors. He holds the Hicks and Webb Medley Prize in Economics from the University of Oxford.
Dr Camille Stengel – Nesta
Camille is the Head of Qualitative Research and Quality Assurance at Nesta. Camille works in Nesta’s Responsible Research Unit, which promotes research integrity across Nesta’s mission-driven portfolio.
Before joining Nesta, Camille’s career spanned academic and third-sector roles. Her previous work has included leading studies and providing technical guidance for international research projects using qualitative, participatory, and creative research methods with marginalised and criminalised populations.
Professor Robin Banerjee – University of Sussex
Robin is Head of the School of Psychology and a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex. He leads the CRESS (Children’s Relationships, Emotions, and Social Skills) research lab, and he works closely with practitioners and policymakers in the areas of education and mental health. A core applied focus of the CRESS lab is the development and evaluation of school-based strategies to support young people’s social and emotional functioning.
Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy – Violence Reduction Network for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland
Stevie-Jade is a research and evaluation expert working in the fields of violence, public health, and criminal justice. Stevie-Jade is currently Head of Data, Evidence & Evaluation and Deputy Director at the Violence Reduction Network for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. Previously Stevie-Jade was Associate Professor at the University of Leicester.
Mat Ilic – greenworkx
Mat is the co-founder and CEO of greenworkx, where he works to tackle the green skills emergency. Previously Mat has worked in government, policy and social impact roles. Mat was Chief Development Officer at Catch22, one of the country’s largest not for profits, responsible for partnerships, government relations and income generation. Prior to this, Mat worked in municipal (Mayor’s Office, London) and national (No10 Policy Unit) government on home affairs and justice issues, such as prison reform and violence prevention