Staff and Secretariat

Sarah Spencer CBE (Chair) was a founder member of EDF in 2002 and was re-elected as its chair in 2006. She is Associate Director at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford and a Visiting Professor at the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex. Sarah was Deputy Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (2003 -2005) and a Commissioner at the CRE and chair of its Public Policy and Public Sector Committee for four years (2002-2006), overseeing its inquiry into site provision for Gypsies and Travellers. Sarah was General Secretary of the National Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty) in the 1980s and subsequently Director of the Citizenship and Governance Programme at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

Sarah has twice been seconded into the Cabinet Office to contribute to policy research on migration; was a member of the Home Office Taskforce on the Human Rights Act and later a member of the Government Taskforce on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. She represented the Equality and Diversity Forum on the Reference Group for the recent Equalities and Discrimination Law Reviews, and is on advisory committees to the British Institute of Human Rights, European Policy Centre and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. She has written widely on equality, human rights and migration issues.


Amanda Ariss (Chief Executive) - biographical note to follow


Patrick Grattan (Secretary) set up the Equality and Diversity Forum in 2002. He also founded The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) in 1997 and was Chief Executive for 10 years to 2007. Patrick built up TAEN as a leading centre of expertise and policy body and as a network of organisations committed to better opportunities to learn, work and earn. He was appointed MBE in 2001 for this work. He was a member of advisory boards and groups for Government departments, the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus and a number of voluntary organisations. He continues to work in a supporting role for TAEN.

Patrick has had a varied career in the Diplomatic Service and Civil Service and in the oil industry, working in the UK, the USA and France. He ran the operations of the Prince’s Youth Business Trust. He was a member of the Parole Board from 1997- 2003 and a former board member of Notting Hill Housing Trust. He is an active performing musician.


Jean Scott (Treasurer) currently work at the TUC as Finance Manager with responsibilities for the management and preparation of the accounts of the TUC, the charities TUC Education Trust, Tolpuddle Memorial Trust and TUC Aid. Jean has worked at the TUC since October 2007. Before that, she qualified as an accountant at Barnet College.

As the wife of a diplomat, Jean spent fifteen years accompanying her husband on a variety of overseas posts, spending time in Pakistan, Nigeria and Malaysia. On returning to the UK in the 1980s with three young children, Jean eventually started working in the accounts department of a private contract company, at first on a part-time basis before progressing to fully managing the company accounts. Jean has taught accounts up to professional level at a local college and been involved with the careers advice network of one of the accounting bodies.


Gay Moon (Special Legal Advisor) was previously Head of the Equality Project at JUSTICE. She is a Solicitor. Prior to working at JUSTICE she worked for the Camden Community Law Centre for 20 years where she took the leading case of R v Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Seymour Smith. She is a Director of the Discrimination Law Association (DLA) and has been the Editor of the DLA Briefings for the last eight years. She is a Director of the UK Race and Europe Network (UKREN). She is a co-author of the ‘Discrimination Law Handbook’ published by Legal Action and has written a chapter in the forthcoming publication the ‘Cases, Materials and Text on National, Supranational and International Non-Discrimination Law’, one of the Ius Commune Casebooks for the Common Law of Europe, published by Hart Publications.


Kate Jopling (Chair of Communications and Lobbying Sub-group) is Head of Public Affairs at Help the Aged. She has been with the Charity for 5 years, working across policy areas to communicate the Charity's messages to politicians and the Government, and more recently taking a lead on the Charity’s work on Equality and Human Rights. Kate sits on a number of key Government partnership groups including the Opportunity Age Strategy Partnership Group. In 2003/04 Kate undertook a six month secondment to the Social Exclusion Unit, working on a project to take stock of policy to tackle older people's exclusion, she now sits on the steering group for the Link Age Plus project which came out of that work.

Before joining the Charity, Kate worked at the Countryside Agency on the rural proofing of public policy, where her work included commissioning a study on the issues affecting older people living in rural areas. She started her career working in the House of Commons as an MP's researcher, focusing on agriculture and rural affairs.


Electra Babouri (Administrative and Information Officer) works part-time at the Equality and Diversity Forum. Prior to joining EDF she worked as a Conference Co-ordinator at NCH the Children's Charity. She has an MA from University College London in Public Archaeology focusing on Human Rights and Indigenous Cultural Rights. She is currently researching the effectiveness of International Law with regards to safeguarding Indigenous Rights. She has carried out fieldwork in New Zealand and Australia.


Moira Dustin (Director of Communications and Research) works part-time at the Equality and Diversity Forum. She is an Associate Fellow of the London School of Economics(LSE) and has a PhD in Gender Studies from the LSE Gender Institute. Before joining EDF, Moira worked at the Refugee Council, providing advice and information and developing national services for refugees and asylum-seekers. She has worked as a freelance subeditor on the Guardian and Independent and was the Information Worker for the Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age.


Equality and Diversity Forum representation
The Equality and Diversity Forum is represented by its Chair, Sarah Spencer, on the UK's Ministerial Human Rights Forum. EDF was also represented on the Reference Group for the Equalities Review and the Discrimination Law Review and on the Task Force set up to advise the Government on the role, functions, priorities and activities of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. EDF provides the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Equalities. EDF is represented on the NHS Choices User Council by members from RNID and the Women's Budget Group.


Funding and status
EDF thanks Help the Aged, The Age and Employment Network (TAEN), Age Concern England, the Barrow Cadbury Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, RNIB and Unison for their support. Previous funders have included the Department of Trade and Industry, Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales and the Nuffield Foundation.

EDF is supported by the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-2013). For further information visit the PROGRESS website. For further information on EU activities relating to equalities and human rights issues please visit the EU anti-discrimination website, the EU Information Campaign ‘For Diversity Against Discrimination’ website and European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. Please note that the Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained on this website.

The Equality and Diversity Forum was established in 2002. It is a registered company (no. 6464749).