APLE Collective
Our Trustees
The Roots of Change
Our APLE Trustees are the mighty roots that support and guide our work, combining lived and learned experience together to challenge poverty and amplify the voices of those most affected. Their leadership helps us grow a movement where lived experience voices are nurtured, branches of change spread, and solutions take seed.
Brian Scott
Chair of trustees
I am no longer working after being involved in an accident at work which meant my back was damaged and leading to ongoing conditions and disabilities and am now living on benefits. I was working as a Cardiology Nurse at Glasgow Royal Infirmary at the time of my accident, before that I worked as a Secretary/PA within Scottish HQ of the British Red Cross. In Glasgow I’m a volunteer/Activist with the Poverty Truth Community, through which I also have interactions with ‘On Road Media’ and ‘The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’. I have campaigned extensively within the Scottish Parliament working with MSPs to bring them the lived experience of what it is like to live in poverty. One of my core beliefs is that every child in the UK should have the same opportunities and development, no matter where they begin on the poverty ladder. I will work continuously to give those trapped in poverty the key to free themselves of the struggles and stigma associated with Poverty.
Amanda Button
Chair of trustees
Amanda Button grew up in Lincolnshire. As an activist with ATD Fourth World, in 2009-2018 she collaborated in designing a multimedia interactive exhibition called “The Roles We Play: Recognising the Contribution of People in Poverty” which has been praised in the Brixton Bugle and the Belfast Telegraph. The exhibition was published as a photo-essay book in 2015. In 2018, a film called “The Roles We Play: A Model of Genuine Participation” highlights different stages of the project as a way to refute stereotypes with people in poverty in control of their own narrative. In 2016-2019, Amanda was a co-researcher exploring “The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty”. In partnership with Oxford University and with academics and people with lived experience of poverty across the UK as well as in Bangladesh, Bolivia, France, Tanzania, and the United States, the research teams defined nine interdependent dimensions common to all countries. Amanda recently helped present this research at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. In 2020-24, Amanda was part of the support group for ATD Fourth World-UK’s National Coordination Team. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the APLE (Addressing Poverty with Lived Experience) Collective.
Tracy Porter
Safeguarding Lead
| Tracy Porter. Safeguarding Lead.Tracy Porter is based in Stoke on Trent and an experienced activist with Expert Citizens CIC. She is a Trustee of APLE Collective and Church Action on Poverty. She is a trained peer researcher and has worked with the University of Staffordshire Raising Voices project over a number of years, contributing to research and co-authoring a chapter in a recent anti-poverty book; Action on Poverty and Hardship. Tracy is a poet and has recently contributed to a poetry collection hosted by Thriving Women based in Teesside. |
Steve Porter
| Safeguarding Lead. Steve Porter is based in Stoke on Trent and an experienced activist with Expert Citizens CIC. He is a Trustee of APLE Collective. He is a trained peer researcher and has worked with the University of Staffordshire Raising Voices project over a number of years, contributing to research and co-authoring a chapter in a recent anti-poverty book; Action on Poverty and Hardship. |
Bronny Embleton
I’m Bronny, I’m an APLE Collective External Trustee. I work at the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, a Quaker grant maker which supports people who address the root causes of conflict and injustice. Specifically, I work on the Power & Accountability programme, where we fund groups and projects whose work prioritises corporate accountability, democratic accountability, and responsible media. I became familiar with APLE while working with the Grassroots Poverty Action Group (GPAG) at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and have been a big supporter of their mission ever since.
David Coffin
David Coffin is Head of Participation for an anti-poverty charity and was previously Relationship and Contract Manager working on Ageing Better at BVSC, consulted on participation and engagement at Moseley Road Baths for the National Trust and worked at Birmingham LGBT for nine years, starting as Community Development Officer, then SHOUT Festival Producer and Health and Wellbeing Manager.
Patricia Bailey
| Pat Bailey has been a member of ATD Fourth World since January 2001. As part of ATD’s Giving Poverty a Voice programme, she has spoken in the House of Lords, on Channel 4 television, and to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. She was also featured in a cover story in Amnesty International’s print magazine for UK members. She is a Trustee for the APLE (Addressing Poverty with Lived Experience) Collective and is part of the Growing Rights Instead of Poverty Partnership (GRIPP). Within ATD, she took part in an International Family Advocacy project and in a three-year research project about poverty, social work and the right to family life. In 2023 she was part of the Naming Group for ATD’s current National Leadership Team. Currently, she is part of a working group whose role is to care for the well-being of all members of ATD. |
Lara Groves
I’m Lara, I’m an APLE Collective Trustee and a technology & society researcher based in South East London. I work at the Ada Lovelace Institute, researching how technologies like artificial intelligence can designed to be safe, fair and bring benefits for everyone, not just the privileged and powerful. I’m passionate about participatory research and I got to know APLE through working together on the partnership project on digital health inequalities. I’m most looking forward to supporting APLE take the Taking Voice Seriously campaign far and wide! Outside of research, I also enjoy getting on my bike in the outdoors, and cooking spicy food.
