Andy joined Shared Future in February 2021 as a facilitator for the North of Tyne Climate Citizens’ Assembly.
Andy’s interest in group work, facilitating, deliberation and dialogue began when he was working with various democracy campaigns in the early 2010s. He has always been motivated by the conviction that with good facilitation and participation communities can work through their differences to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions.
Professionally, Andy has been involved in the design and implementation of numerous participatory democracy projects commissioned by local authorities. They include Newham’s Community Assemblies, Newham’s Democracy and Civic Participation Commission, Redbridge Community Hubs Public Engagement, and Lewisham’s Serious Violence World Cafes.
In terms of deliberative democracy, Andy has worked as a facilitator with a variety of the UK’s leading participation organisations on projects, such as The Future of Britain after the EU Referendum Deliberative Polling, Scottish Government Digital Ethics Panel, Jersey’s Citizens’ Jury on Assisted Dying, Kingston Air Quality Citizens’ Assembly, Newham Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change, Stevenage Citizens’ Panel on Climate Change, and Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly.
Andy is one of the directors of the US based CII (Co-intelligence Institute), which works to promote awareness of co-intelligence, and of the many existing tools and ideas that can be used to increase it. The CII’s motto aligns with ours: “Together we can be wiser than any of us can be alone. We need to know how to tap that wisdom.”
Andy also brings his extensive knowledge and skills of psychology, coaching and mindfulness teaching having lived as a monastic in a Buddhist community in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.
Andy is also a big believer in the potential for digital democracy to inform better decision-making, and has designed various engagements using the Pol.is interactive survey tool.
When he’s not doing democracy and participation-related stuff Andy enjoys swimming, cycling and gardening.