Following the departure of Madeleine Bunting, the think tank Demos has promoted Dr Catherine Fieschi to the post of Acting Director.

Having previously been Demos’ Head of Research, Catherine will carry forward Demos’ intellectual agenda in the months ahead.

Chair of Demos Trustees Andrew Mackenzie said:

“The trustees are confident in Catherine as the outstanding choice to take Demos forward in the coming months, bringing intellectual vision as well as a clear understanding of the values that make Demos such a unique place.”

Catherine said:

“British politics is in an unprecedented state of flux, which means that think tanks have never been more important. Demos has always been about identifying and developing the best ideas from around the world to spark public debate and revitalise institutions.”

Catherine takes on the post as Demos enters a period of expansion, with a number of key appointments being made over the next two months:

“Demos has an exciting agenda for the year ahead as we continue to grow. I look forward to leading a first rate team.”
 
Some of Catherine’s first tasks as Demos Director will include hosting a series of major events, beginning next week with a speech by Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development, on the importance of democracy and civil society in confronting global poverty and disease.

And in January will hold a two day conference to launch The Atlas of Ideas, a groundbreaking study of how China, India and Korea are redrawing the global map of science. High profile speakers from Asia, Europe and the US will gather in London to debate the new geography of innovation.

In the next six months, Demos will also contribute to a number of topical debates, including:

•    Why community level action is the only way to combat violent extremism
•    What policies will best support people to care for their children and elderly relatives
•    How we can reinvent our relationship with Europe
•    Why we need to put citizens at the heart of public space design
•    How government can tackle the persistent inequalities in Britain’s adult learning system

Details of all Demos work, thinking and staff are available on our award winning website www.demos.co.uk
 
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Notes for Editors
•    Dr Catherine Fieschi joined Demos in August 2005. She holds a PhD in Political Science from McGill University in Canada.  Before joining Demos, she was a Senior Lecturer in politics and Director of the Centre for the Study of European Governance at the University of Nottingham. Her research focused on populist mobilisation as well as on institutional and organisational analysis. Catherine is co-editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, she is a contributing editor for Prospect Magazine and the author of In the Shadow of Democracy (MUP 2004) a study of populism in Europe.
•    Demos is the think tank for everyday democracy, the idea that all people should be able to make individual decisions that contribute to the common good.
•    Media enquiries: Mark Fuller, Demos Communications Executive
+44 (0)20 7367 6325 or +44 (0)7952 286223
mark.fuller@demos.co.uk