Covid-19 employer webinar: what to do this week - 16th April 2020

Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses.

Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London.

Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University.

Mental health and wellbeing expert, business consultant and keynote speaker. Works strategically with organisations to increase employee productivity, engagement and wellbeing. Significant career experience in mental health and wellbeing, previously worked as a counsellor and psychotherapist and manager of counsellor and mental health service

Stephen Bevan is head of HR research development at IES with responsibility for developing innovative new projects and programmes with IES partners and other collaborators. Stephen returned to IES in April 2016 after spending 15 years as Director of Research and Managing Director at The Work Foundation.

Stephen has conducted research and consultancy on high-performance work practices, employee reward strategy, performance management, staff engagement and retention, and 'good work'. He has a special interest in workforce health and wellbeing, having led a number of national and international projects focusing on workforce health and the impact of chronic illness on productivity and social inclusion. He is the Project Director of a major impact evaluation project for the Work and Health Joint Unit which is tracking the progress of health-led trials for people with mental health and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

Stephen is an adviser to a number of UK government departments and has advised employers and policymakers in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Australasia and North America. He has received a special award from GAMIAN-Europe for his contribution to the field of mental health and employment and is a reviewer for several academic journals, including The Lancet. Stephen is a regular columnist for HR Magazine, a judge at the Global Healthy Workplace Awards and an adviser the government’s Mental Health and Employment Review. He is a Board Member of the European HR Director’s Circle and a member of the Britain’s Healthiest Company expert advisory group. Stephen has appeared in HR Magazine's list of Most Influential HR Thinker for the past ten years. He has been an honorary professor at Lancaster University Management School since 2010.

Prior to becoming a barrister, I worked in industry where I had first-hand experience in collective employment law and trade unions: as a shop steward; an adviser to independent trade unions; and an employment lawyer for a leading trade union firm of solicitors. Having then worked for a number of years in the Employment Department of a large city practice, I joined Lewis Silkin in January 2001.

Specialties: I am an expert in trade union and collective employment law issues. I advise on industrial disputes, Information and Consultation Regulations matters (ICE and TICE), as well as European Work Council issues. I also have experience in health and safety issues, including disaster management and corporate manslaughter.