The Atlantic Institute
The Atlantic Fellows program is built on the idea that achieving fairer, healthier, more inclusive societies requires leaders with diverse perspectives to collaborate on solutions and learn from one another.
The Atlantic Institute connects the seven Atlantic Fellows programs, building a global community of courageous leaders who address systemic causes of inequity.
The Atlantic Institute is housed at the Rhodes Trust in Oxford.
What We Do
The Atlantic Institute provides Fellows and staff with the networks, architecture and resources to connect, learn and act to address the systemic underlying causes of inequity, locally and globally.
One highlight is the annual Global Convening when newly graduated Senior Fellows from all seven programs come together for four days of connection, collaboration, and learning in Oxford, UK.
Atlantic Fellows Community
Building a catalytic lifelong community of leaders who connect, learn and collaborate across diverse perspectives
Programming and Impact
Providing courageous programming (face to face and virtual) that supports Fellows and staff to shift narratives, shape policy and create new solutions
Global Network and Sustainability
Building an extended community with strong strategic partners and alliances
Learning and Innovation
Driving a culture of reflection and learning allowing the Atlantic Institute to be responsive to changing needs, new technologies and brave ideas
Evie O’Brien is Executive Director of the Atlantic Institute, who provides ongoing support to the global community of Atlantic Fellows through convenings, training and resources to complement and facilitate collaboration across the Fellows programs. She joined as Program Director at the Atlantic Institute in 2018. She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity, based at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
She has an extensive background in educational leadership, having held executive leadership positions at higher education institutions across New Zealand. Her teaching and research areas are Indigenous, Māori and social change leadership, leading culture in complex organizations and high-performance teams.
She is passionate about values-based leadership and transformation.
Khalil Goga is an Associate Executive Director (Community Engagement, Programing and Impact) at the Atlantic Institute. He previously served as the Director of Dialogue and Advocacy at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg where he was also a Senior Director with the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity program. Prior to this, he was a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies where he conducted analysis on the impact of organised crime on governance. He previously lectured at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, from where he received both his undergraduate and Masters degrees.
Abi is responsible for supporting a learning culture at the Institute and the implementation of the Learning & Evaluation strategy. She brings over a decade’s experience designing and developing evaluation tools to monitor the effectiveness of social change programs. Abi is passionate about innovative evaluation methods and participatory approaches, and aspires to ensure that stakeholders all have ownership of and investment in the learning and evaluative process.
Amanda will design and deliver an exceptional, non-precedent setting fund for Atlantic Fellows’ collaborative projects, with responsibilities including the design of the fund’s objectives, and application and review processes.
She is passionate about creativity, innovation, co-creation and collaboration and intrinsically believes in the greater ideals of service and transcendence.
Désirée joined the Atlantic Institute team to provide logistical support as Executive Assistant to the team’s Executive Director. She brings extensive experience from her time with the Netherlands Diplomatic Corps in Shanghai, Tehran and The Hague, which included planning for Royal visits.
Jack is responsible for the capture, analysis and presentation (info-graphics) of community-wide data to inform decision-making, responsive program development and impactful reporting to stakeholders. He brings a wealth of experience in analysis, project management, reporting, relationship-building, and data strategy. Jack’s commitment to tackling inequities and creating an inclusive environment for all has led him to develop Diversity & Inclusion strategies and programmes of activities to drive forward trans-inclusion across organisations he has worked for.
Katherine is responsible for implementing the strategic partnership and fundraising strategy for the Institute and the community of Senior Fellows it supports. She believes passionately in the power of collaboration to drive social, economic and health innovation and brings extensive experience of working across international communities and multi-stakeholder environments. For the British Council, Katherine conceived and co-designed the immersive professional development program, Leading Culture in the 21st Century, through which creative leaders from across the globe identified and addressed shared challenges.
Sukh administrates and maintains the online platforms at the Atlantic Institute. He is also responsible for supporting the Fellows and Program staff with the Atlantic Fellows platforms (such as The Atlantic Fellows Hub). If you are a Fellow, Senior Fellow or a member of Program staff, feel free to get in touch directly with Sukh for any training and support requirements you may have.
He works closely with the team to help ensure the Institute's vision and programming is supported and achieved with the use of online technology.
Natasha Forrest is responsible for leading end-to-end operational support for the Institute and a learning culture for impact. She leads the development, implementation and monitoring of the Institute’s administration and decision support strategy, ensuring that efficient and high-quality services are provided for Institute staff, Fellows and Program staff. This includes ensuring efficient and effective administration of all AI resources with a focus on organizational development, communications and learning.
Alice is experienced in using augmented reality to interrogate power structures and drive change and has worked at the intersection of art, technology and social justice.
She has worked for leading institutions and brands, including Magic Leap, U2, The Gates Foundation, The Global Goals for Sustainable Development, Tate and Penguin Books. Driven by developing virtual experiences that do not compromise the humanity of the user, she says she is looking with hope to a future where technology enables everybody to reach their full potential and creates a fairer and more inclusive society.
David provides operational and administrative support to the Atlantic Institute team to ensure the smooth running of its meetings, events and special projects. Previously, he worked in events at Oxford Brookes University and as a primary school teacher.
An Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Fionnuala Sweeney is Multimedia Editor at the Atlantic Institute. She is responsible for multimedia productions which amplify the Institute’s work with Atlantic Fellows around the world. Managing editorial decisions, standards and budgets, Fionnuala oversees the development of story ideas to production and distribution, in concert with Atlantic Fellows.
Before becoming an Atlantic Fellow, Fionnuala was an anchor and correspondent with CNN International. She was part of the broadcasting team which received an Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, a Peabody in 2012 for coverage of the Egyptian Uprising, a 2012 Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage of the Egyptian Revolution and an Emmy nomination in the same category in 2012 for Breaking News Coverage of the Libya Revolution.
Jemma has held a range of roles focused on gender justice and social justice, supporting survivors of gender-based violence, women involved with the criminal justice system, and men serving custodial sentences. Most recently, at Oxfam International, she focused on gender justice and organizational development, capacity development, integrated approaches for gender justice, culture change through a feminist lens, and supporting diverse communities of practice.
Jemma is an experienced facilitator and curriculum designer for face-to-face and virtual learning sessions as well as blended learning curriculums.
Maria delivers the Institute's communications strategy. She spent many years as a reporter in fast-moving TV and radio newsrooms before working in media relations and communications roles for Oxfam GB, the Public Affairs Directorate of the University of Oxford, and Worcester College, Oxford. Maria has provided media support for emergency work, development programmes, fundraising and campaigns. At the University, she dealt with media work around policy and corporate affairs, and research, as well as delivering media training.
Tanya works with the Executive Director and Program Director, setting up learning and engagement events for and with the Senior Fellows and program staff. She is a Senior Fellow herself. As an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics from 2018-19, she gained an MSc in Inequality.
“Our work and, most importantly, the work of our Fellows is even more necessary than ever. We are constantly challenged during these fragile times to be steadfast in our determination to seek out the ugliness and injustice which affects the most vulnerable.”
