Mike Higgins: I became a confirmed atheist at the age of seven. In the early 90s, with my socialist, feminist partner Linda, I established a Human Services Training and Consultancy Agency, focusing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. We used action research, interactive training, professional advocacy and collective activism, to challenge injustice, tackle discrimination and promote positive social change.

I became an active humanist in 2014, when I joined the London Humanist Choir. This gave me a philosophical mooring for my beliefs in Marxism and a scientific grounding for our experiences as a species.

In 2024 I was asked to join the Humanists UK Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Group, which focuses on supporting our staff, volunteers, consultants, and celebrants to ensure we are communicating and working in as inclusive a way as possible.

James Hodgson serves as the Chair of Central London Humanists, an official partner group of Humanists UK. He is also the founder of Humanise Live and the host of Humanism Now, a weekly podcast and event series that explores ethics, science, and the arts through a humanist lens. James has spent over ten years building community spaces, ensuring that non-religious people have a platform for meaningful connection, dialogue, and support.

Kerry Tomblin: I have been a Wedding and Funeral Celebrant for 18 years now and a non-religious chaplain at Leicester Hospitals for five.

Previously I worked for 35 years in adult social care, ‘retiring’ in 2018, but in truth working way harder now than I did then.

I love what I do and am passionate in particular about providing non-religious pastoral care, ceremonies and support to people who are faced with very ill babies and children, pregnancy and baby loss.

In my spare time I like to indulge in putting myself in harm’s way occasionally on holiday, overspending on clothes, bitching about some of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Miami, and looking at clips of miniature donkeys creating music on a keyboard or cats slapping their owners to distract patients in hospital.

Dr Lone Ree Milkær is a cultural scholar, researcher and Humanist movement leader with more than twenty years of experience advancing Humanist values across Europe. She served as President of the Danish Humanist Society (2015–2023), where she led national advocacy on secular values, inclusive existential support and the development of professional Humanist services. She is a humanist celebrant in the Danish Humanist Society. She was Vice President of the European Humanist Federation (2020–2022) and later became a global Project Manager at Humanists International (2023–2024), working on cross-national cooperation and capacity-building.

She is co-founder and currently the Network Manager of the European Humanist Services Network (EHSN), coordinating 20 partner organisations and leading major strategic initiatives in Humanist existential care, chaplaincy, research, and professional practice. Her work focuses on building robust infrastructures for Humanist service delivery, strengthening international cooperation, and expanding access to non-religious pastoral support.

Dr Lindsay de Wal is a leading figure in the development of humanist chaplaincy and non-religious approaches to existential and pastoral care. She currently serves as Head of the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network (NRPSN) at Humanists UK, overseeing national standards, training, safeguarding, and strategic development.

Lindsay made UK history as the first humanist to lead chaplaincy services within the NHS, first at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and later at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. An internationally recognised practitioner, researcher, and sector-builder, she has played a key role in shaping how public institutions support non-religious people in moments of vulnerability and meaning-making. Her work has helped establish national professional standards for non-religious chaplaincy and shaped NHS guidance, training pathways, and institutional practice.

She holds a PhD on the integration of non-religious chaplains within faith-based healthcare teams & is the author of the Routledge textbook on humanist chaplaincy. As director of humanist-existential care role at the European Humanist Services Network (EHSN), she now leads efforts to develop shared European standards and frameworks for humanist pastoral care, bridging practice, policy, and humanist thought.

Madeleine Goodall is Humanist Heritage Manager at Humanists UK. Since 2019, she has been researching and sharing the rich history and influence of non-religious people in the UK, alongside a team of volunteers and experts, on the Humanist Heritage website and through a range of events and resources. A particular passion has been uncovering the stories of women in the humanist movement, and she has written about these for publications including New Humanist, History Workshop Online, and The Humanist (US).

Madeleine gives regular talks on humanist history, and has also developed a series of heritage walks across the UK, often working closely with local humanist groups. In 2025, she concluded the two year National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project ‘Humanist Heritage: Doers, Dreamers, Place Makers’, which included an oral history project, public exhibition, and range of events marking the 45th anniversary of LGBT+ Humanists.

Inga Straumland is a humanist celebrant and the former president of Humanists Iceland. Inga has been conducting humanist ceremonies since 2013, along with developing the curriculum and teaching methods of humanist confirmations in Iceland. Along with her humanist dedication, Inga’s latest professional projects include the Icelandic Women’s Strikes of 2023 and 2025 and the management of Reykjavík Pride. Inga is an educated project manager and Kaospilot, and works as an event manager, facilitator and lyricist. She sits on the board of European Humanist Professionals and is an avid karaoke enthusiast. 

Tale Pleym: I have been working for the Norwegian Humanist Association since 2011. I feel grateful and proud of having the opportunity to work with what I believe in and what is important to me. The majority of people in the world don’t have that opportunity at all.

I work with humanist ceremonies, at the moment specifically weddings and funerals, by recruiting, training and supporting volunteers who conduct our ceremonies. I also do ceremonies myself. It’s such an amazing experience to connect with people through meaningful rituals and ceremonies. Dialogue is another big part of my job, in and outside of Norway.

I’m a Senior Ceremonial Advisor of the Norwegian Humanist Association, Chair of the European Humanist Professionals, and Chair of the Council of the Religious and Life Stance Communities in Oslo. I live in Oslo with my Welsh husband and two sons.

Donna Craine is the Support and Advocacy Services Manager, a service of Humanists UK. Before this she managed a service that supported victims of religious abuse. Donna holds 10 years’ experience in supporting victims of trauma-related political conflict. She has an MA in Peace and Conflict and has conducted research on the relationship between justice and trauma.

Adele Chaplin is a humanist wedding and funeral celebrant, a school speaker and non religious pastoral support volunteer. She has a particular focus on children’s chaplaincy.

Adele has volunteered for around 30 years with the UK Scout Association in a range of roles, including as a cub scout leader, a web site designer, and more recently she has taken on the role of producing and presenting a fully inclusive St George’s Day parade service for her local district. She has also worked in a range of child facing roles, including as a school librarian, Road Safety officer and more. 

She is originally from Dundee in Scotland, with a background in performance and media development and lives in Suffolk with her husband, teenage son, and dog, Lettuce. 

Nathan Stilwell is Head of Press and Campaign Communications at Humanists UK, where he leads media strategy and public-facing campaigns on some of the organisation’s most high-profile issues. He has played a central role in shaping national conversations around human rights, equality, and freedom of belief, with particular expertise in translating complex ethical and political debates into compelling public campaigns.

He is especially known for his work on assisted dying, where he has been closely involved in efforts to change the law in the UK, helping to build public and political support for reform. He’s the chair of the Assisted Dying Coalition and a board member of My Death, My Decision. He’s appeared on Sky News, BBC News, Channel 5, and multiple radio stations, making the compassion case for a change in the law.