Introducing our new Interim Director

My name is Sam and I have just taken over as Interim Director at Social Change Lab for the next year (while Mabli is on maternity leave). I feel very privileged to be working with a great team on such exciting and vital work.

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Last week, we ran a snap poll showing the British public think recent record prison sentences for Just Stop Oil activists were too harsh, which was covered in the Guardian and Big Issue, and got lots of engagement on Twitter/X. I also joined a TV debate on the impact of climate protest.

A bit about me: I've been working with social movements and NGOs for many years covering climate justice, poverty, economic inequality and humanitarian crises.

I've held roles at Amnesty International and later Oxfam, where I was Head of Policy and Advocacy.

Alongside work in the third sector, I am also increasingly doing research on and with social movements. I am a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bath and an Associate Researcher at the University of Exeter, where I have worked on a range of qualitative and mixed-methods research projects.

Before all of this, I spent over a decade as a musician and session drummer and so spent a lot of time travelling the world in a tour bus.

I look forward to getting to know the Social Change Lab community better over the coming months and working with the team on a range of exciting research projects. If you'd like to discuss our work further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

All the very best,

Sam Nadel

Interim Director, Social Change Lab