Meet the team

Adam is our director of policy, insight and advocacy. Adam was previously the head of Nesta Scotland and head of policy and communications at Shelter Scotland.

Adam sat on the advisory board for data driven innovation at the University of Edinburgh for three years and was an SCVO trustee for six. Adam sits on the advisory board for the Scottish Health Equity Research Unit at the University of Strathclyde. 

Adam is a senior policy advocate at Carnegie UK. Adam is the lead on our democratic wellbeing work, which seeks to improve people’s democratic voice and choice.

Adam’s proudest achievements are his family, dog and building his own guitar, in that order. Outside of Carnegie UK, Adam has worked across civic and political life in Scotland, as a civil servant, parliamentary clerk and in third sector policy roles. 

Ali is a senior corporate services officer at Carnegie UK. providing programmatic administrative support to the team, as well as leading on the design of publications. 

Ali loves to do Canicross with her two cocker spaniels when she has free time.  

Gillian is our head of finance, governance and risk, essential support elements to enable our policy work. 

She came to Carnegie from her previous career as a dedicated charity specialist in professional practice, via a gap year spent circumnavigating the globe.  

Hannah is a senior policy advocate at Carnegie UK. Hannah manages our Life in the UK programme of work, and our partnership with the Poverty Truth Network.  

Hannah is interested in people, their lives, and stories. Hannah holds an MSc in Social Research and an MA in Social Anthropology. Hannah is a trustee of includem, a charity that provides support to children, young people and their families. 

Jo is a senior policy advocate and manages our Financing the Future programme, exploring how tax and spend decisions affect collective wellbeing now and in the future.

Jo has worked in several roles across the charity sector focussing on tackling social exclusion and was previously a senior policy and programme manager at the UK Department for International Development. 

Lauren is Carnegie UK’s events and communications officer. Lauren is responsible for planning and delivering our events. She also works on our external communications, focusing on content creation, social media and website management.

Most recently, Lauren oversaw the design and launch of our new website. 

Liz is Carnegie UK’s finance officer. Liz supports the organisation’s financial operations.

In her spare time Liz enjoys horse riding, swimming and holidays in the sun.

Lucy is head of corporate services at Carnegie UK. Lucy leads the corporate services team, ensuring excellent administrative and project support is provided for all programmes.

Lucy also leads on human resources and information technology and manages the building in which Carnegie UK is based. 

Rebecca is a senior corporate services officer at Carnegie UK. Rebecca acts as secretary to the board of trustees and provides programmatic administrative support.

In her spare time Rebecca is a keen golfer and enjoys running and functional strength training.  

Sarah Davidson is chief executive at Carnegie UK. From 1995 to 2019 Sarah was a civil servant working for the UK and Scottish Governments in policy and operational roles. Her last post in government was director general for organisational development and operations.

Sarah is an honorary professor at the Glasgow University Centre for Public Policy; chairs the charity WEvolution which supports women in Scotland facing economic and social stress; and is a director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.  

Stuart is Carnegie UK’s head of communications and advocacy. Stuart manages our programme of public relations, public affairs and reactive policy activity.

Before Carnegie UK, Stuart was head of communications at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland.  Stuart has given evidence to parliamentary committees, written for titles like The Scotsman, and appeared on television and radio.  

Susan is head of research and insights. Susan is responsible for managing Carnegie UK’s research function and research outputs. 

Susan has worked in social and market research for over 25 years in research agencies, predominantly working for the UK and Scottish Governments and was head of research at both the Charities Aid Foundation and the UK’s Publishers Association. Susan’s skills span quantitative and qualitative techniques.