Shappi Khorsandi
Shappi is an acclaimed Iranian born British standup comedian and author of A beginner’s guide to acting English, in which she recounts her experiences of growing up in England having fled Iran at a very young age. Shappi has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You, QI, Question Time, a wide variety of BBC Radio 4 shows, and much, much more. Shappi is the new president of Humanists UK, succeeding Jim Al-Khalili in January 2016.
Aron Ra
Aron Ra was raised in a mostly Mormon family, journeying to atheism via an array of religious denominations and spiritualities. Having grown up in an academic environment saturated by creationism, Aron was drawn to secular activism when the religious right gained control of the Texas Board of Education and began to influence curricula on history, health, science, and social studies in textbooks used throughout America. Aron is Texas State Director of American Atheists, author of the Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism YouTube series, and an internationally renowned speaker on topics such as evolution, truth, knowledge, and belief.
Dianna E Anderson
Dianna is a Christian author and activist. She has published Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity, which examines the Christian purity movement from the basis of historical and biblical analysis and offers an alternative, shame-free ethic of healthy sexual behavior and sexuality. She is currently doing her second Masters in Womens’ Studies at Oxford University, and blogs regularly.
Alom Shaha
Alom Shaha was born in Bangladesh but grew up in South London. He is a science teacher, writer, and filmmaker who has spent most of his professional life sharing his passion for science and education with the public. He has produced, directed, and appeared in a number of television programmes and online science videos, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA) and the Nuffield Foundation. He is author of The Young Atheist’s Handbook and writes for a number of print and online publications. Alom has been a local councillor, a school governor and is a trustee of Humanists UK.
Nick Lane
Nick Lane is Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London (UCL). Alongside work as a senior lecturer and principal investigator, Nick has also written a series of award-winning popular science books on molecular and cellular evolution, including Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution which won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010. Nick directs the Origin of Life Reactor project at UCL. In 2015 he was awarded the Biochemical Society Prize for ‘a sustained and diverse contribution to the molecular life sciences, with a special emphasis on education and/or the public understanding of science’. An impressive catalogue of his lectures and interviews on these topics are available at his website.
Lilandra Ra
Lilandra Ra was raised in southern Baptist and Catholic households, but abandoned faith shortly after meeting Aron Ra on Christian Forums. A teacher by profession, Lilandra applies her skills to campaigning for secular education in the southern United States through newspaper articles, blogs, lectures and podcasts. While she has occasionally debated hostile parties including pro‐life advocates, Lilandra is chiefly involved in constructive discussion as to how to improve the humanist movement. Lilandra (known also as SheRa) is frequently one of the strongest voices conversations addressing misogyny in the atheist community and the obstacles women face as a minority within a minority.
