Meet the YAC

Lucy Brodure is a British-Belgian youth development professional dedicated to advancing child rights, promoting gender equality through sport, and strengthening EU-UK youth collaboration. She currently serves as a Development Officer for Enrich Her, a joint initiative by the Youth Sport Trust and StreetGames that provides leadership opportunities through sport and physical activity to girls aged 11 to 16 in underserved communities across London.

Previously, Lucy worked at UK Youth leading initiatives for the national #iwill Movement, where she elevated young voices, contributed to the development of the UK Government’s National Youth Strategy, and created platforms for youth participation in policy making. Her career is rooted in a strong foundation of community and international advocacy, including work on child rights initiatives in Nepal and Cambodia, seven years as a scout leader and head of a scout unit in Belgium, and active participation in the European Youth Event in Brussels (2024) and Strasbourg (2025).

Rory Chapman builds strategic partnerships across Scottish civil society and is a youth engagement professional with extensive experience in UK-EU relations. As the Youth Coordinator for the Scottish Advisory Forum on Europe (SAFE), he leads national efforts to amplify young people’s voices in policy discussions, particularly around youth mobility and European cooperation.

Vuyo Dube has recently finished a Master’s in International Political Economy at The University of Manchester and is a member of the Youth Advisory Committee to the European Union Delegation to the United Kingdom. He is Co-Chair of the European Affairs Society Network Alumni Association and the Founder and former Co-President of the Manchester European Society. Alongside his academic and policy engagement, he works as a Sales Professional at Ralph Lauren.

Hi, I’m Jake Heslop and I am a 2nd year History student at the University of Durham. I am passionate about European integration, and am currently spearheading a renewed European affairs society at Durham. My particular focus is advocating for increased youth consultation regarding climate, energy and defence policy. I am also a keen advocate for youth participation in music, sport and culture.

Harrison Humby is the elected UK Young Ambassador to Europe (co-rep), a member of the Youth Council UK executive board and a youth and democracy activist based in Greater Manchester. His advocacy centres on international co-operation, youth rights and mobility, democratic values and reform, and greater support for young people and the youth sector.

Stella Mavropoulou is a Greek human rights advocate and EDI professional based in London. She is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Specialist at Goldsmiths, University of London, and will take up the position of EDI Coordinator at the Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health, UCL, from January 2027. She holds an MSc in Human Rights and Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Stella is also one of 20 Human Rights Educators in the UK, selected to attend the Council of Europe’s Youth Department Human Rights Passwords Training on non-formal education in 2024. Her interests focus on British-European youth relations, equality, diversity and inclusion, and intersectional approaches to human rights advocacy.

Zara Okusi is a Philosophy, Politics and Economics student at the University of Warwick with a strong record of academic distinction and international leadership. A UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum, she advocates for youth empowerment, with a particular focus on restoring UK participation in Erasmus+ and enhancing cross-cultural exchange.

Chloe is an organising and development officer specialising in young workers across Wales. She has previously worked as a political organiser, was Head of Events for the 2024 General Election, and has worked as a senior researcher and communications officer for a Member of the Senedd.

A Cardiff University alumna with a master’s degree in political communication, Chloe researched the mainstream media reporting of the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal during the 2016 EU Referendum, and later the impact of data harvesting from a social justice perspective, including digital technologies in the workplace. She has coordinated social justice demonstrations and campaigns, including a Reclaim the Night march (2017), the Deliveries 4 Refugees campaign (2019) and the Bridgend and Porthcawl Black Lives Matter protests (2020).

At TUC Cymru, Chloe is the strategic lead for supporting under-represented groups within the trade union movement across Wales. She coordinates the national ‘Unions and the World of Work’ programme, which takes trade unionism into schools, colleges and universities, and leads TUC Cymru’s International Exchange Programme.

Ellen is an experienced youth leader and advocate for stronger EU-UK relations, with a deep commitment to youth engagement in Northern Ireland. She is Honorary President of the Secondary Students’ Union of Northern Ireland (SSUNI) and has held leadership roles within youth organisations, including Chair of Newry, Mourne and Down Youth Council and Trustee of the Northern Ireland Youth Forum (NIYF).

Molly Taylor is a passionate youth advocate and policy advisor with a strong track record in shaping youth-focused initiatives at local, national and international levels. With academic grounding in International Relations and Youth Work Studies, and informed by her own lived experience, Molly is deeply committed to keeping young people safe, connected and empowered.

Her work centres on addressing loneliness and amplifying youth voice through policy, participation and opportunity. She runs a youth opportunities newsletter and consults for various organisations on youth engagement and strategy. Previously, she was Policy and Public Affairs Executive at The Scouts, where she led national youth engagement and policy development.

Jude is Liaison Officer for Erasmus+ Re-association at the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), leading the organisation’s policy and advocacy on the UK’s and Switzerland’s re-association with Erasmus+. Over the past five years, he has held a range of leadership roles within Europe’s largest student organisation, including serving as President of ESN UK, where he led advocacy for the UK’s return to the programme. His work spans policy development, research on international student experience in the UK, and youth engagement.

Will Wale is a Politics undergraduate at the London School of Economics, specialising in European institutions, law and low-carbon transition policy. He is also an exchange student at Central European University in Vienna, where he focuses on economics.

He was the UK Department for Education Youth Focal Point for Sustainability and Climate Change from 2023 to 2025, and plays a leading role in shaping youth engagement with climate education at national and international levels. He has worked at UCL and the University of Cambridge on youth and public engagement with the low-carbon transition and the economics of climate change mitigation.

Henrietta Wood is a Politics and French student at the University of Bristol, passionate about youth engagement in European policymaking. With experience representing youth at COP26, the European Youth Week in Brussels, and as a national advocate for Girlguiding UK, she brings strong expertise in climate justice, gender equality, and international cooperation. She has been named a ‘trailblazer’ for her work and research in climate justice, advocating for progressive policies in European politics and working closely with policymakers to call for increased international unity.