Biographies
Douglas Richard
Having appeared in the second series of Dragons' Den, Doug is the founder and Chairman of Library House www.libraryhouse.net ; Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Trutap www.trutap.com, Founder and Vice-Chairman of Cambridge Angels, Chairman of Hoopla TV and Chairman of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force.
Doug is a successful entrepreneur with 20 years' experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, both in the US and in the UK. Doug holds a BA in Psychology from University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctor at the school of Law, University of California at Los Angeles. In 2006 Doug was an Honorary Recipient of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion and has recently been made a Fellow of The Royal Society.
Esther Rantzen CBE
A graduate from Oxford, Esther’s career in broadcasting began with BBC Radio as a sound effects assistant. From there she moved into television as a researcher/reporter forBraden’s Week and then in 1973 as producer/presenter ofThat’s Life which was on air for 21 years. Esther has made a number of pioneering programmes on subjects such as British women’s experience of childbirth, stillbirth, mental health, child abuse and palliative care. She has also taken part in "reality shows" such as Strictly Come Dancing and the dating programme Would Like to Meet.
In 1986 she invented the concept of ChildLine, and chaired its Board of trustees for 20 years. After the merger of ChildLine with NSPCC in February 2006 Esther became President of ChildLine and a trustee of the NSPCC. She is a Patron of a number of other charities working with children and disabled people.
Esther contributes regularly to theDaily Mail and other publications and lectures on children’s issues, broadcasting and many other topics.
Peter K Smith
PETER K SMITH is Professor of Psychology and Head of the Unit for School and Family Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London; he is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He received his B.Sc at the University of Oxford and his PhD from the University of Sheffield.
He is co-author of Understanding Children’s Development (Blackwells, 1988, 1991, 1998, 2002), and co-editor of School Bullying: Insights and Perspectives (Routledge, 1994), Tackling Bullying in Your School: A Practical Handbook for Teachers (Routledge, 1994), The Nature of School Bullying (Routledge, 1999), The Family System Test (Routledge, 2001) and the Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development (Blackwell, 2002), editor of Violence in Schools: The Response in Europe (Routledge, 2002) and co-editor of Bullying in Schools: How Successful can Interventions be? (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
He directed the DFE Sheffield Anti-Bullying project from 1991-94, advised on the DfEE pack Don’t Suffer in Silence (1994, 2nd edition 2000), and coordinated a European Commission funded project (1997-2001) on ‘The Nature and Prevention of Bullying’ (www.gold.ac.uk/tmr) and another project (1999-2002) on ‘Violence in Schools’ (www.gold.ac.uk/connect).
He currently chairs the Research and Advisory Group of the Anti-Bullying Alliance.