Board of Trustees
The David Hume Institute is a charity governed by a Board of Trustees who all give their time freely as volunteers. Trustees play a pivotal role in setting the strategic direction of the Institute. They approve annual work plans and budgets as well as holding management to account on progress to ensure the highest quality work.
The David Hume Institute is committed to inclusivity and openness. We recognise the value of diversity in all its forms and at all levels of our organisation. This includes diversity of thought on the board.
If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a trustee please get in touch. We are keen to hear from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds and LGBT+ as well as from people with lived experience and an interest in public policy.
Find out more about our Chair and Trustees below (listed alphabetically by first name after the Chair).
Alastair Ross
Alastair is a member of the team responsible for the Association of British Insurers’ engagement with the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and their respective governments. He joined the ABI in March 2016 from Pinsent Masons LLP where he was Director of Public Policy for the law firm. Prior to that Alastair was at HBOS and also worked in PR and newspapers. He has a degree in History and Politics from the University of Aberdeen, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a trustee of the Children’s Parliament, and an alumnus of the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Programme.
Aveek Bhattacharya
Aveek is Interim Director of the Social Market Foundation, a cross-party think tank based in Westminster. He grew up in Aberdeen before completing degrees at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, where his PhD thesis compared school choice in England and Scotland. He has worked in the private sector for OC&C Strategy Consultants, and as a researcher for the Institute of Alcohol Studies. He is co-editor of the book Political Philosophy in a Pandemic, contributed to a World Health Organization report on minimum alcohol pricing with a foreword from Nicola Sturgeon and was also an adviser to the Gordon Brown Commission on the UK’s future.
Catriona Matheson
Catriona is Director of LINCO, a consultancy offering public affairs and communications advice. For 15 years she worked in senior roles in politics across Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels. A former Special Adviser to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on economic policy in the Scottish Government, Catriona also spent a decade in the UK Parliament where she specialised in political strategy and communications. A graduate of the University of Glasgow and University of Sydney, Australia, Catriona has held a number of voluntary roles including a Communications Advisor to Malawi’s female MPs. She is currently an Ambassador to the Scottish Business Network.
David Gow
David is a journalist for over 50 years and member of the NUJ’s national executive, is a former Guardian correspondent based in Bonn/Berlin and Brussels inter alia and co-founded sceptical.scot, a current affairs and culture online magazine. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he runs its Scotland Europe Initiative and also serves on the executive of the European Movement in Scotland. He is a former chair and acting CEO of the Volunteer Centre Hackney and ex-Islington school governor who now volunteers for the British Red Cross in its Leith Walk shop in Edinburgh. Graduate of Oxford and King’s College London.
Eva Groeneveld
In 2021, Eva started a new role as Area Lead in the Scotland team of the UK Government's Cities and Local Growth Unit, after a period in the Devolved Nations team at the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Her career has spanned over a decade in policy, communications and public affairs for various public and third sector organisations - the Scottish Information Commissioner, Which? (Scotland) and WWF Scotland. Prior to that, she also worked in public affairs in Westminster. She has Masters degrees from Cambridge University (modern languages, then contemporary European studies) and is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute for Public Relations.
Professor Jan Bebbington, Co-chair
Jan is Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University where she researches the intersections between sustainable development concerns and organisations. Alongside her academic work, Jan has contributed to policy communities: she was the Vice Chair (Scotland) of the Sustainable Development Commission from 2006 to 2011. In 2018 the Royal Scottish Geographical Society awarded Jan an Honorary Fellowship.
Ken Ross OBE, DL.
Ken has a portfolio of interests primarily in the built environment, including delivering sustainable developments, affordable housing, and renewable energy. He has also had a longstanding interest in climate change and served on the Sullivan Commission in 2007. Ken has uniquely been past chairman of the Scottish Housebuilders Association and the Scottish Property Federation. He was a Governor at the Glasgow School of Art and is currently Chair of the GSA Trustees. In 2015, he was appointed as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire.
Liam Fowley
Liam is currently in his final year studying to be a teacher with the University of the Highlands and Islands. He was recently elected as the Depute President (Education) at the Perth UHI Student Union. He is a former board member of YouthLink Scotland and was Vice Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament until April 2022. His experiences include being a member of the Scottish Government's COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and the Scottish Education Council, as well as being one of the leaders of the climate change citizens assembly in Scotland. He was instrumental in the work surrounding Scotland’s exams in late 2021, and the subsequent restructuring of the SQA and Education Scotland. Liam volunteers with the RAF Air Cadets and serves as a Trustee of the charity Independent Advocacy Perth & Kinross.
Liz Ditchburn, Co-chair
Liz has more than 35 years’ experience as a public sector leader. Her last executive role was as Director General for Economy for the Scottish Government. She is currently a non-executive Director of the Net Zero Technology Centre, a board member of Women’s Enterprise Scotland, Trustee at NESTA and an honorary professor at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. She was recently appointed as a Commissioner for the UK Independent Commission for Aid Impact.
Mark Chadwick, Treasurer
Mark is currently Head of Benefits, Pensions and Wellbeing at NatWest Group. Since joining the Group in 2005, he’s led HR teams in the UK and internationally, and spent three years defining and delivering pay and benefits policy for Citizens Financial Group, one of the largest banks in the USA. Prior to joining the NatWest Group, Mark was a Senior Consultant with Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory firm. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Warwick and is a Fellow of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries. He’s also Leader of the Scottish Board of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries.
Dr Samuel Mwaura
Samuel is Lecturer of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Edinburgh Business School and National Co-Lead of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Scotland). His recent research has focused on entrepreneurial finance, rates of entrepreneurial activity in Scotland and the UK, inclusive (ethnicity/ gender) entrepreneurship, and national/regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in Scotland and the UK. Samuel is passionate about knowledge exchange, industry engagement, and policy and societal impact from his scholarship. Over more than twelve years, he has contributed to executive/ practitioner education and training (e.g. delivering the government’s Help to Grow programme), government policy working groups and expert panels, policy hackathons, as well as many community engagement events and media appearances.
Uzma Khan
Uzma is Deputy Secretary and Director of Planning at the University of Glasgow, which she joined in November 2020. Her role involves providing insights and analytics to inform the University’s approach to planning, strategy and delivery of its ‘world changing’ ambitions. Prior to joining the HE sector, Uzma spent 20 years in the civil service as a professional economist in Scottish Government. She has worked extensively across departments in a number of high-profile leadership roles providing economic advice covering a range of policy areas including lifelong learning, health, transport and economy. In 2015, she joined the Chief Economist’s office and as Deputy Director, has led on Scotland’s Economic Strategy, in particular, leading on the development of the Scottish Government’s approach to inclusive growth and its diagnostic tools. More recently, as the Scottish Government’s strategic programme director for the Economy COVID response hub, Uzma was responsible for coordinating the immediate economic response and position on economic recovery.