Churchill Fellowship Announces 109 New Fellows for 2026

I am the Founder and Director of Let’s Talk About Loss, a UK charity that supports young grievers aged 18 to 35. I set this up in 2018, after losing my mum, Susan, when I was aged 20 in 2015.

I’m passionate about ensuring that no young griever grieves alone, and through my Fellowship I will be discovering different models of peer-led grief support across the world, and looking to learn from those to improve the grief support we offer at Let’s Talk About Loss in the UK.

In the UK we are not particularly good at talking openly and honestly about grief, and I am keen to see how different societies and cultures tackle this often taboo topic, and what peer support can look like for young grievers. Grief has shaped my life hugely and everything I do is in memory and honour of my mum. I am grateful for the opportunity to develop my learning and experience, and be better equipped to provide safe, supportive, open and empowering spaces to talk about grief and loss in the UK.

I am a freelance policy and communications consultant. I was previously Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Communications at Scouts and have worked at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Before this, I spent several years in the Civil Service working in policy development roles. Throughout my career, I have focused on volunteering, civic participation and supporting young people. I have spent a lot of time volunteering personally, too.

My Fellowship explores how Indigenous communities in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia build strong cultures of volunteering, contribution, and belonging through reciprocity and shared responsibility. I will also examine how government policies support or hinder these community-led approaches.

I am motivated by a desire to understand how we can strengthen volunteering and community participation in the UK at a time when many people feel less connected to civic life and their communities. I hope to identify practical lessons that can help policymakers, charities, and communities build a stronger culture of contribution, stewardship, and belonging.

I am an advanced clinical practitioner working in a community frailty team at the Countess of Chester Hospital. I have worked within the NHS for over 10 years, initially as a rotational physiotherapist before specialising in the care of older adults living with frailty.

My Fellowship will explore community-led approaches to frailty care that prioritise prevention, healthy ageing and resilience for older adults. Although frailty is often identified when older people present to hospital, this can often be anticipated, managed and even reversed in the community through proactive care and support. This has fuelled my commitment to championing approaches that support older people to stay well at home, maintain their independence and enjoy a good quality of life.

I plan to explore world-leading approaches to healthy ageing in both Japan and Australia, with a view to identifying transferable principles that could realistically be adapted within the National Health Service in the UK. This will support the core aim of the project: shifting the focus from reactive crisis management to proactive, preventative care that enables older adults to age well within their communities.

I am a performer, celebrant and Professor of Theatre and Performance at Rose Bruford College. Since having cancer in my early 20s, I have been working across the arts and health sector creating work with patient groups, supporting doctors and nurses in research, and exploring pathways for patient voice and lived experience to be encouraged, honoured and platformed.

More than three million people in the UK now live with and beyond cancer, yet many experience a sharp drop-off (described as the ‘cancer cliff’) in psychosocial support once treatment ends. Rates of anxiety and depression remain up to 50 per cent higher than the general population, particularly for those facing recurrence or chronic care. We might expect such outcomes, but we should not accept them.

My Fellowship is dedicated to finding cultural and artistic solutions to support patients and those who care about them, easing the cancer cliff to something more empowered, manageable and community-supported. From formal, hospital-sanctioned gatherings, to small private rituals, my Fellowship will focus on how cultural interventions (rituals, ceremonies, etc) might supplement cancer care in holistic and innovative ways.