WHO WE ARE
We deliver high impact advocacy, campaigns, communications, and research to tackle the 21st century’s greatest challenges
ABOUT US
Future Advocacy is a non partisan agency based in London and Brussels. We are proud to work for some fantastic clients seeking to make the world a better place. We work on a diverse range of issues from food and nutrition, health, climate, children’s rights, international development, democracy and governance, and artificial intelligence.
OUR SERVICES
Research & Policy Development: We are skilled in a wide range of quantitative, qualitative, and future-scanning techniques.
Communications: We plan how media can support the change you want and secure the coverage you need.
Advocacy: We amplify the advocacy impact of people who are making the world a better place.
Mobilisation & creative campaigning: We build movements around the causes you care about.
Training: We deliver training in all aspects of advocacy.
Breaking new ground
Future Advocacy Lab: We catalyse policy thinking and design advocacy strategies for new and underserved issues.
Our Vision
THE TEAM
Our team has deep practical experience of how changes in government policy and business practice can be achieved by transforming the assets our clients have, into the power they need, to achieve the change they want to see in the world. We are based in London and Brussels.
Olly Buston
Future Advocacy was founded by Olly Buston who was a key architect of the Make Poverty History Campaign. Olly was Europe Director of Bono and Bob Geldof’s ‘ONE’ advocacy and campaign group for 7 years; establishing the ONE brand outside the USA; opening offices in Berlin, Paris, and Brussels; engaging with the heads of state of every G7 country and of many African and other nations; acting as a global media spokesperson; and leading high impact campaigns around the world. Olly has also worked as an Executive Director of the Labour Party and as Director of the 7 million strong Walk Free anti-slavery movement, where he led on an historic Vatican event with the leaders of all major faiths. He has written multiple reports on the economic and social impact of artificial intelligence; has given evidence to Select Committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups on this topic; and was named as a top UK AI Influencer. Olly has led many advocacy training programmes in Europe, Africa, and Asia. He received a distinction for his Master’s in Development Studies from the LSE and a First Class in Social & Political Sciences from Cambridge University. He loves writing and has drafted numerous policy reports; a tweet for the Pope; and the scripts for campaign films featuring a host of Hollywood stars. Olly has recently successfully completed the MIT Sloan School of Management Executive Program in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy. He is currently (very slowly) writing a screenplay. Olly is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dr Claire Fourçans
Claire is the Director of Future Advocacy's EU office. With more than 15 years of experience, Claire is a seasoned advocate and a strong strategic thinker. Claire was Policy and Campaigns Director at the European Women’s Lobby, leading change on women’s rights in the EU; and Senior Campaigns Manager for The ONE Campaign, gaining a reputation as one of the leading campaigners on international development policies and aid in Brussels. She has a PhD in International Law and worked for the International Criminal Court where she developed expertise in international legal proceedings and survivors’ participation. Claire has helped bring change at the EU level by campaigning on the EU budget, locking in increases in the development aid budget and funding for women’s rights in the EU. She has also been instrumental in shaping EU strategies and legislations to fight violence against women and girls, including in the digital sphere, and in bringing a women’s rights perspective to Covid responses. She is an all-rounder policy, advocacy and campaigning expert and an EU-geek. She is fluent in “EU bubble” English, a French native-speaker and an active listener in Dutch and German.
Victoria Gilbert
With ten years experience in campaigns and communication roles across the health sector, our Director of Advocacy and Communications, Victoria Gilbert, is well versed in campaigning at a national and international level. Her experience ranges from designing and delivering high impact creative campaigns with health organisations around the world, through to collaborating with patient rights campaigners across sub-Saharan Africa on cross-disease advocacy initiatives. Victoria has also worked in Press Office at the UK Department of Health. She has a Masters from the London School of Economics in Social Policy, where she researched European and Comparative approaches to health policies, particularly in relation to minority groups. In her spare time, Victoria volunteers for a refugee mental health charity and is studying for a diploma in horticulture.
Iona Cable
Iona is a Senior Advocacy and Campaigns Consultant at Future Advocacy. Since joining Future Advocacy, her work has included: supporting a network of 100+ child rights organisations across Europe to coordinate campaigns to protect children from sexual violence online; developing and delivering campaigns and government relations to improve the food system in the UK with Jamie Oliver; and researching men’s health with Movember to advocate for policymakers to improve health outcomes. Before Future Advocacy she worked at Debate Mate, a charity dedicated to improving social mobility by equipping young people with skills in communication and critical thinking. She has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a First Class degree in International Relations from King’s College London.
Kristiana Papi
Kristiana is a Senior Consultant in our London office. A senior communications lead, with extensive experience in strategic communications, media relations and advocacy for non-profits, purpose-driven organisations and global initiatives. She specialises in designing impactful campaigns that influence decision makers and build support for issues across audiences. Having worked in consultancy roles for over seven years, she has delivered communications campaigns for organisations across the international development sector, including Oxfam, Asylum Welcome, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and Development Initiatives. She holds a Masters from the University of Oxford in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies where she researched UK government approaches to children in the asylum system. She also holds a First Class degree in International Relations from the University of St Andrews.
Florencia Edgina
Florencia is our Creative Consultant. She specialises in using digital technology, graphic design and AI to champion social change. She's developed creative video and social media campaigns to raise awareness about online child sexual abuse in Europe with Terre des Hommes and the Brave Movement, encouraged governments to ratify the African Medicines Agency Treaty for safer medicines, and advocated for better investments in national data systems with the UN and the Global Partnerships for Sustainable Development Data. She leads Future Advocacy AI research and training. She previously held other positions in journalism and communications, including her work to champion gender equality in politics with the international organisation Women Political Leaders. She joined Future Advocacy after finishing her Master’s in Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics, focusing on post-conflict reconstructions, international development, and reconciliation for victims of violence.
Laura Ruiz Astorga
Laura joined Future Advocacy's EU office in September 2023 as a Research, Advocacy and Communications Consultant. She graduated with an MSc in Human Rights and Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2020. Previous to that, she studied Psychology and International Studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her research focused on gendered post-conflict reconciliation and peacebuilding, and transitional justice. Her professional experience include a traineeship at the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, her work as a Policy and Projects Assistant at Victim Support Europe, and her position as a Researcher and Project Coordinator for the Performing Violence Engendering Change Cluster.
Kiran Basra
Kiran is a Research, Advocacy, Campaigns and Communications Coordinator with Future Advocacy. She joined the team after completing a Master’s in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, where her dissertation investigated the effectiveness of the Responsibility to Protect in addressing mass atrocity crimes around the world. Before that, Kiran attended McGill University, where she graduated with a double major in Political Science and Philosophy, and specialized in international law and human rights. Kiran’s previous work experience includes advancing Canadian foreign policy at the United Nations in Vienna, giving legal advice to Indigenous survivors of The Sixties Scoop, and increasing global awareness on Canadian immigration policy.
Chloé Salmon
Chloé joined Future Advocacy as a Research, Advocacy, Campaigns and Communications Coordinator. Prior to this role, she worked as a freelance climate communicator in Taipei, combining academic expertise with strategic communications to support climate initiatives from disaster mitigation to clean energy adoption. Her research background includes contributions to Taiwan-UK urban climate adaptation projects, with a focus on nature-based solutions. Before that, Chloé delivered multi-channel communication campaigns for international development and philanthropy clients at Portland Communications, specializing in global health and impact investment. Chloé holds a Master’s degree in Climate Science and Policy from King’s College London.
Suzanne Jenkins
Suzanne joined Future Advocacy as our Finance, HR and Office Manager, and is strongly committed to driving the best employee experience and most engaging workplace culture, whilst also streamlining and managing our financial processes. Previously, she spent 8 years training employees on Department for Education safeguarding children statutory guidance whilst at Hays Education, followed by 10 years of helping organisations enable their employees to reach their full potential at Mind Tools, where she achieved her CIPD level 5 Diploma in L&D Management She is a certified Insights Discovery Client Practitioner, and has a passion for coaching others on the art of building meaningful connections. She is a massive champion for working parents and the role they play in the workplace.
Matt Pretty
Matt joined Future Advocacy as Project Manager in 2025. His experience includes over 9 years at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) managing and delivering maternal health and sexual and reproductive health and rights projects in the Global South. Further experience in programme management, policy and fundraising at a range of UK and International NGOs give him a broad experience of the development and public health sectors. Matt has also spent time living in South Africa delivering programmes for an HIV health clinic and outreach programme. He studied Applied Social Science at the University of York, specialising in social policy and environmental politics.
Katherine Sladden
Our Affiliate Consultant and Senior Campaigning Expert Katherine has been at the forefront of some of the biggest most high profile people powered campaigns in the UK and regularly called on to advise global activists building powerful movements for change. As founding Campaigns Director at Change.org UK Katherine advised 100s of winning campaigns from putting a woman on a banknote, No More Page 3, to changing the law for 16 year olds in police custody. The platform grew from 1M to 12M users during this period and was at the centre of putting the tools of activism into the hands of ordinary people. Katherine started her career campaigning around infectious diseases including for the National AIDS Trust. She has now gone on to advise leading international organisations and global activists alike, including Malala, the ONE Campaign, Virgin Unite, survivors and bereaved families of the Grenfell Tower fire and Nobel prize nominee Jaha Dukureh. For the last four years Katherine has worked with Grenfell United, leading their communications and providing strategic campaigns advice to ensure that the survivors and bereaved families of the Grenfell Tower fire achieve real and systemic change to social housing so that a disaster like Grenfell never happens again. Alongside consulting, Katherine is setting up Breakthrough, a pioneering social impact accelerator powering grassroots groups and community leaders to drive transformational change.
Nick Martlew
Our affiliate consultant Nick specialises in strategy and collaboration, helping funders and civil society organisations be more powerful together. He has experience unlocking collaboration across a range of fields, including human rights, humanitarian, climate change, and big tech accountability. Following work internationally with Oxfam and Save the Children, Nick was UK and UN director for Crisis Action, where he wrote Creative Coalitions, capturing the lessons from Crisis Action's unique model of coalition-building. Applying this model to the intersection of Big Tech and democracy, he co-founded Digital Action and People vs Big Tech, the largest European movement for tech accountability. Building on this leadership experience, he was Executive Director of 5Rights Foundation and is on the Board of Trustees of Protection Approaches. As a consultant, he has helped catalyse new movements and coalitions, designed and delivered impactful campaigns, and helped philanthropic foundations and movement-builders develop new strategies on issues ranging from the energy transition to mental health.
Barbara Crowther
Our Affiliate Consultant Barbara Crowther brings 30 years of experience of successful, high profile campaigning, advocacy and communications on issues of food, farming, children’s rights, health and sustainability. She has been at the forefront of some of the UK’s groundbreaking campaigns on international debt relief and trade justice, working for international NGOs Save the Children and CAFOD. She led policy, public affairs, media and communications for 13 years at the Fairtrade Foundation, building up the grassroots movement for change, establishing the Fairtrade label as one of the UK’s most recognised ethical certification labels, and winning support from major retailers and manufacturers including Sainsbury’s, Mars, Cadbury and Starbucks. She has most recently led the Children’s Food Campaign at Sustain for 7 years, working on the successful Soft Drinks Industry Levy, new regulations to restrict advertising and in-store promotions of foods high in fat, salt and sugar, and helping secure the government’s pledge to ban sales of energy drinks to under-16s. Barbara is also an accredited executive coach, working with impact leaders in not-for-profit and sustainability organisations, including as an associate coach with On Purpose, with a speciality in nature-based and outdoor coaching.
Rob Merrick
Rob brings 25 years of experience as a Westminster Lobby journalist to his role as media consultant at Future Advocacy, having reported for the Press Association and then for The Independent on all the key recent events in British politics including the financial crash, the Brexit referendum fallout, the "Partygate" scandal, and the tumultuous departures of former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. He has been a regular political commentator on TV and radio, before specialising in writing about international aid and global development issues, both in the UK and across the rest of Europe, for the news website Devex. In his spare time, Rob attempts to defy the march of time as an enthusiastic amateur footballer.
Our Values
