Who We Are

UK Board of Trustees

Hannah is currently Philanthropy Manager at War Child UK, the international child protection agency supporting children affected by conflict. She has worked in fundraising for over six years in a variety of roles including at the NSPCC, King's College London and the British Lung Foundation.

Liz is currently interim chair of our board of trustees. She is an experienced strategic development manager with previous roles in operations, organisational and leadership development most recently at Book Trust, The Challenge Network and British Red Cross.

Catherine Sullivan

Catherine is a chartered accountant with 9 years post qualified experience, entirely in the charity sector. She spent 18 months working as Head of Finance for Farm Africa, who work in sub-Saharan Africa (principally in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and from 2001 to 2003 was a VSO volunteer in rural Uganda, working in a girls' school.

Executive Team

Emily Wilson-Director

Calum Smith- Head of Operations

Emily is a Co-founder and Director of Irise International. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and expert in menstrual health. Follow her @emswsmith

Calum has degrees in International Health and Medicine from the University of Bristol and has experience working in Nepal, Uganda and Kenya looking at issues related to global health inequalities.

izela Barlow- irise uganda country manager

Izela previously worked as National Director of Agency for Cultural Change Management. A UK based Charitable Organisation addressing FGM, Domestic Violence and Community Health and Development Communication Programmes. She brings experience of community engagement and empowerment to the issue of MHM.

boniface lakony- Adminstrator and Operations officer

agnes nansubuga- M&E Manager

Uganda Board

Jamila Nabafu

Jamila studied medicine at Makere University and graduated as the most outstanding student in her year. Her experiences seeking medical advice as a young woman and of working in a male dominated profession have compelled her to work for a society where men and women enjoy equal opportunity.

Rose Nakame

Rose is a qualified nurse who has conducted research on how dysmenorrhoea affects the academic life of female students. Her own experiences, coming from a poor background, have inspired her to work to reduce the challenges girls’ face along the road to success. Read her blog about her first period here.

Regina Ndagire

Regina is studying to be a nurse and was recently part of a research project investigating the association between family practices and childhood malnutrition in North Uganda. She has been volunteering with a local Women’s Initiative in her village since she was a teenager and her experiences have challenged her to do more to reach out to disadvantaged communities and adolescents.

Board of Advisors

Professor Steven Julious

Steven is a Professor of Medical Statistics at ScHARR, the School of Health and Related Research at The University of Sheffield. He works with us and advises us on our research in addition to the other work that we do.

Dr Lata Narayanaswamy

Lata is a Lecturer in International Development at The University of Leeds. Since 2001 she has worked as a research practitioner, consultant and lecturer in gender and development. She has published her work in international journals including Development and Change, Narrative Inquiry and Geography Compass and is currently writing a book entitled Gender, Power and Knowledge-for-Development, to be published by Routledge. She is is keen to build awareness of why feminism is still so important in addressing inequality.

Joanne Nakakawa

Joanne grew-up and studied in Kampala, Uganda. She is married to Paul and now lives in Bristol, UK. She works with Easton Jubilee Trust as the Somalia Education Project Coordinator; running a homework club and a home tutoring service. You can read about her expereinces of menstruation, education and poverty here.

Monica Norley

Founder & MD of the UK’s Leading Fairtrade Bath & Body Care Company. National Winner NatWest Venus Awards – Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2013), Winner NatWest Venus Awards – Entrepreneur of the Year (Brighton/Sussex 2013), Winner East Sussex Women in Business Awards – Green Business of the Year (2011), Winner 1066 Business Awards – Best Start Up (2007).
We are lucky to have her on board as a business adviser.

Josie Reynolds

Josie is a medical doctor with an interest in global health. She is is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and has first hand expereince of research and women's healthcare in Madagascar and Uganda. She was a founding board member of Irise International.

Kirsten Thompson

Kirsten is a medical doctor in the UK with a further degree in medical research. She has an interest in global health with experience of health-care issues in Uganda and Malawi.