Dame Julia Unwin

at York St John University

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Chair of Governors, York St John University
Former Chief Executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Policy Leaders Fellow Alumna, Centre for Science and Policy

Julia Unwin was Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust from 2007 to 2016. She went on to chair "Civil Society Futures", an independent inquiry that ran from 2017-2018 as a national conversation about how English civil society can flourish in a fast changing world.

Julia was also a member of the Housing Corporation Board for 10 years, a Charity Commissioner from 1998-2003, chair of the Refugee Council from 1995-98, and Deputy Chair of the Food Standards Agency.

Julia also worked as an independent consultant operating within government and the voluntary and corporate sectors. In that role, she focused on the development of services and in particular the governance and funding of voluntary organisations, on which subjects she has researched and written extensively.

Julia is currently a member of the University of York’s Council and a member of Ashridge Business School’s Board of Governors. She was awarded a Fellowship of the City and Guilds of London Institute in June 2012, and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of York St John in November 2012.

Follow Julia on Twitter @juliaunwin

Dr Matthew Gill

Institute for Government (IfG)
Mark Lee

Department for the Economy, Belfast

  • In news articles

    How can we use evidence to reduce poverty in the UK?

    What would it take to solve UK poverty? At a recent reception celebrating the new plan from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) to solve poverty in the UK, CSaP Policy Leaders Fellow Julia Unwin spoke about the accomplishments of JRF during her tenure as Chief Executive, and the challenges and possibilities ahead.

  • In news articles

    Reducing poverty in the UK: what are the most important questions to answer?

    Earlier this month, CSaP partnered with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to host a two-day workshop in Cambridge which brought together experts from academia, government and the voluntary sector to discuss the changing face of poverty in the UK.