Churchill Fellows offer their views and advice on topical issues, based on global research and UK activities.
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If you are a Fellow and would like to write a blog for us, please email communications@churchillfellowship.org to discuss the topic you have in mind.
2026 has seen the Churchill Fellowship launch its first new major grant programme for 60 years. The Activate Fund has been designed to enable individual changemakers to turn ideas into action, benefiting communities right across the UK. Abigail Campbell, Head of Activate, shares the journey.
2026 has seen the Churchill Fellowship launch its first new major grant programme for 60 years. The Activate Fund has been designed to enable individual changemakers to turn ideas into action, benefiting communities right across the UK. Abigail Campbell, Head of Activate, shares the journey.
Following her Fellowship across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, Clare Holdsworth reflects on how paid lived-experience roles can support care-experienced young people to shape services, policy, and practice. Drawing on conversations with organisations, professionals, and young people, she explores what it takes to make these roles psychologically safe, meaningful, and supportive of long-term careers. She is now sharing this learning in Sheffield, using curiosity as a way to ask better questions with young people, not just about them.
By Clare Holdsworth, 18 June 2026
We recently brought together Fellows, partners, policymakers, and practitioners in Parliament to launch A Whole Society Blueprint for Suicide Prevention.
We spoke to Ali Zafar about how his Fellowship is shaping new approaches to financial education in the UK. After already founding LifeSmart, Ali used his Fellowship to explore why financial literacy remains low, learning from systems in Singapore, Vietnam, and Bali. His research has led to a new framework for understanding how financial capability develops, and has already informed updates to his work and contributions to UK policy discussions. Ali is now finalising his report and developing resources to share his findings across government, charities, and the private sector.
By Ali Zafar, 18 May 2026
We spoke to Lucy Peake, Churchill Fellow and CEO of Kinship, about how her Fellowship is shaping support for kinship carers in the UK. Travelling to the USA, she explored kinship navigator programmes and found strong parallels with Kinship Connected, the support model developed by her organisation. Her learning is now informing new trials and partnerships, with the aim of building stronger evidence and securing long-term investment in kinship care – helping to shape a more consistent, better-supported system for kinship families.
By Lucy Peake, 30 April 2026
After her Fellowship exploring trauma, attachment, and ACEs, Jane Pepa reflects on what it takes to move from trauma-informed training to real system change. Through her work with the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership, she has supported over 12,000 public service staff, from education to policing, to better understand and respond to trauma. Now working to embed trauma-responsive approaches across systems in Merseyside, she shares how this learning is being applied in practice through collaboration and ongoing support.
By Jane Pepa, 16 April 2026
Zoe Gilbertson looks back on her Fellowship exploring flax and bioregional resilience across Europe. She shares how learning from community-focused projects shaped her understanding of how local production can be rebuilt through culture, creativity, and collaboration. Now, through her organisation Liflad, she is working to revitalise flax and linen production in the UK, with her work being supported by growing networks and shared learning across Europe and beyond.
By Zoe Gilbertson, 9 April 2026
During her Churchill Fellowship, songwriter Hannah Louise Partridge – known professionally as Anna Anise – explored how collaborative songwriting retreats in the United States help musicians build confidence, connection, and lasting creative networks. Drawing on visits to six retreat programmes, she reflects on the power of shared creative space to support wellbeing and sustain musical careers. Now applying this learning through her organisation CHORUS Songwriting CIC, she is developing retreats that strengthen community and widen access to songwriting across the UK.
By Hannah Louise Partridge, 26 March 2026
JoJo Kirtley reflects on balancing her Churchill Fellowship with life as a mother of three while exploring how survivor-led theatre can challenge violence against women and girls. Drawing on learning from practitioners across Europe, North America, and Africa, she shares how community-led creative work can build safety, solidarity, and lasting change. Now developing her Theatre of the Survivor framework in the North East of England, JoJo is putting this learning into practice to support women and communities.
By JoJo Kirtley, 12 March 2026
Drawing on her own experience of caring for her mum, and her work alongside unpaid carers every day, Fi Brown reflects on the “mental load” of caring – and what it means to protect carers’ mental health before crisis point is reached. With Scotland’s ‘Right to a Break’ marking a significant shift in care reform, she explores why a legal right must translate into breaks that are genuinely meaningful and restorative, with prevention at their core.
By Fi Brown, 20 February 2026
Drawing on her own experience of caring for her mum, and her work alongside unpaid carers every day, Fi Brown reflects on the “mental load” of caring – and what it means to protect carers’ mental health before crisis point is reached. With Scotland’s ‘Right to a Break’ marking a significant shift in care reform, she explores why a legal right must translate into breaks that are genuinely meaningful and restorative, with prevention at their core.
By Fi Brown, 20 February 2026
