Announcement: Chair of the Inspiring Children’s Futures Board

Inspiring Children’s Futures wishes to share our immense gratitude to our out-going Chair, Professor Kathleen Marshall, who will be standing down at the end of the calendar year.

Kathleen has been a wise, committed and deeply insightful Chair of the IICF International Advisory Board since Inspiring Children’s Futures was first established over five years ago.

Jennifer Davidson, IICF Executive Director, notes:

‘I am grateful to Kathleen for her determined support and child-centredness, which have kept IICF focused on our vision and enabled us to continue our development, despite uncertainties along the way. 

In this last year, Kathleen has supported our development of a new 2023-2030 IICF Strategy, which will see us into this next exciting phase. On behalf of all of us, I wish to extend an enormous thanks to Kathleen for sharing her generosity and wisdom during these last 5 years.’

Inspiring Children’s Futures is delighted to announce the incoming Chair of our International Advisory Board, Professor Ann Skelton.

Ann has been a Visiting Professor with IICF since 2022, and has greatly contributed to the University of Strathclyde already, with contributions not limited to giving the University’s 20th esteemed Kilbrandon Lecture in December 2022, and headlining the Inspiring Children’s Futures Special Course on Children’s Human Rights in March 2022. Ann is a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNESCO Chair of Education Law in Africa at the University of Pretoria, and Chair of Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World at Leiden University. Her personal commitment and leadership of children’s rights globally, her track record of change for children in South Africa, and her contributions to children with experience of alternative care, have been an inspiration.

We look forward to working with Ann, with her insight and guidance, in this next phase of the Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures as we work with our partners to reveal and resolve the structural barriers to children fulfilling their potential.