Introduction: An Economy for the Many - Real National Security

Steve Keen

Professor Steve Keen is a Distinguished Research Fellow at UCL, and the author of Debunking Economics and The New Economics: A Manifesto. He developed the monetary analysis program Ravel, which is the only program that can show how money is created and a monetary economy actually works.

Session 1: Health and Social Care campaigns

Chair: Alia Butt

Alia Butt is an NHS psychotherapist with extensive experience working across various mental health services. She has been on the executive committee of Keep Our NHS Public and was an organiser of the many NHS demonstrations and rallies during the covid pandemic. Alia has been a prominent voice in national media, appearing on BBC and other outlets to discuss NHS issues. She has contributed to publications such as Tribune, Novara Media and Metro, advocating for universal healthcare and an end to privatisation and austerity. Alia teaches and writes about psychotherapy and politics.

Mick Cooper

Mick Cooper is a Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton where he leads the Centre for Research in Psychological Wellbeing (CREW). Hi is a founding member of the Therapy and Social Change (TaSC) Network, which aims to explore how therapeutic practices can inform political action and contribute to broader societal transformation. He is the author of Psychology at the Heart of Social Change: Developing a Progressive Vision for Society which emphasises the impact of socio-political factors, such as economic inequality, on mental health.

Francesca Martinez

Francesca Martinez is a stand-up comedian, writer, actor and a passionate advocate for disabled rights, known for her powerful and humorous approach to challenging societal norms. Her 2014 book, What The **** Is Normal?!, became a bestseller and was nominated for several awards, including the Chortle Comedy “Best Book” Award and The Bread and Roses Radical Publishing Award. Through her performances, writing and advocacy she works for empowerment and social change.

Deborah Harrington

Deborah Harrington was co-director of Public Matters, an independent research and information partnership focused on public services with a focus on the socio-economic determinants of health. She was a member of the Committee for the Campaign for the NHS (Reinstatement) Bill and a founding member of the Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies. Deborah was also a foundering member of the Leathermarket Community Benefit Society in Southwark which builds small-scale community-owned homes at council rents.

Session 2: Housing & Environmental Rights

Chair: Marion Roberts

Marion Roberts is a director of the Peace and Justice Project and an Emeritus Professor of Urban Design at the University of Westminster. She is known for her pioneering research on the intersection of gender, housing design, and urban planning. Her book, Living in a Man-Made World, was the first comprehensive examination of how gender assumptions have shaped housing design, revealing how the built environment often reflects and reinforces societal norms.

Joe Penny

Joe Penny is an Associate Professor in Global Urbanism at the UCL Urban Laboratory. His research focuses on the restructuring of urban governance under austerity, the financialisation of the local state, public land and housing and urban politics and democracy. His recent research projects include Democratising Social Infrastructure: The Haringey Development Vehicle (2020–2022).

Ruth Gilbert

Ruth Gilbert is a trade union organiser and the National Campaigns Chair of Living Rent, Scotland's Tenants' and Community Union. She lives and works in Glasgow.

Paul Watt

Paul Watt is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where his research focuses on social and public housing, urban regeneration, homelessness, displacement, gentrification and social class. His 2021 book, Estate Regeneration and Its Discontents: Public Housing, Place and Inequality in London critiques state-led gentrification and the socio-spatial inequalities produced by estate regeneration policies.

Izzy Koksal

Izzy Koksal is a long-term member of Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL). HASL is a housing action group of families and individuals struggling with homelessness, overcrowded housing and other poor housing conditions. With mutual support, protests and campaigns and legal action they fight together for housing rights and the high-quality council homes we need and deserve.

Session 3: Employment & Workers Rights

Chair: Alison McGarry

Alison McGarry has been active in the labour movement since the age of 15. As TUC Training & Development Officer she supported unions to build capacity for organising in UK and EU. At the International Transport Workers’ Federation, she developed the first women’s ‘Leading Change’ programme in partnership with Harvard Trade Union Program.

Eddie Dempsey

Eddie Dempsey is the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). Under his leadership, the RMT continues to fight for better pay, job security, and improved services for passengers, while maintaining its role as a powerful advocate for the UK’s transport workforce. Dempsey’s dedication to social equity, workers’ dignity, and public service places him at the forefront of the labour movement in the UK.

John Hendy

Lord John Hendy KC is a preeminent English barrister and leading authority in industrial relations and trade union law. He has represented workers and trade unions in most of the UK’s leading collective labour law cases over the past four decades, including high-profile disputes such as the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85 and the Wapping dispute with Rupert Murdoch’s News International in 1986. His work has been instrumental in shaping employment law and he has been a key advisor to Labour Party figures, including Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Laura Pidcock MP.

Isabel Cortes

Isabel Cortes is Assistant General Secretary at United Voices of the World. United Voices of the World (UVW) has led numerous successful campaigns for migrant workers in the UK, focusing on improving pay, working conditions, and ending exploitative outsourcing practices.

Claire Trevor

Claire Trevor joined Unite the union in 2018 as a waitress at TGI Fridays when workers began organising and went on strike over a tips dispute and working conditions. In 2024, she led the national unite campaign for a protective award on behalf of redundant TGI Fridays workers which is still ongoing. She also works with the Council of Global Unions and the IUF, continuing to fight for the rights of young workers, LGBT+ workers and precarious workers in her roles. Claire remains a proud hospitality worker, continuing to run the branch and working in a local restaurant.

Session 4: Education, Culture & Activism

Chair: Melissa Benn

Melissa Benn is an educator and author whose works include One of Us (2008), Madonna and Child: Towards A New Politics of Motherhood (1998), and What Shall We Tell Our Daughters? (2013). She has also been a vocal advocate for a truly comprehensive system that benefits all, serving as Chair of the campaign group Comprehensive Future from 2014 to 2018 and a founder member of Private School Policy Reform.

Paul Fleming

Paul Fleming is the General Secretary of Equity, the performing arts and entertainment trade union. As the first LGBTQ+ General Secretary of a major UK trade union, Fleming has been recognised for his progressive leadership and commitment to building a ‘fighting, progressive union with an industrial agenda focussed on delivering the industry they deserve’.

Jinsella Kennaway

Jinsella Kennaway is co-founder and executive director of Demilitarise Education (dED), a UK-based initiative working to end university ties to the arms industry. Since launching dED in 2019, she has led the creation of the world’s first Universities and Arms Database, uncovering billions in defence-sector partnerships and spearheaded the Treaty on Demilitarised Education.

Jo Grady

Jo Grady is the General Secretary of the University and College Union (UCU). She has championed a ‘Manifesto for a Modern Education Union’, notable for its grassroots energy, prominent use of online platforms and a focus on empowering members to take action. She played a key role in securing the greatest pension win in UK trade union history, a victory that underscored her focus on defending professional standards and long-term security for educators.