SPPC Annual Conference 2025 - Speaker Biographies

Toby Lowe

Toby has a PhD in Political Theory from Newcastle University, exploring “the Concept of Community in Political Theory”. He was Chief Executive of a participatory arts charity in North East England, supporting marginalised and excluded people to explore and address their creativity.

He has also done policy work addressing poverty in neighbourhoods for the Social Exclusion Unit, and worked as a public management action researcher – helping public service organisations across the world to change their approach to management by using a Human Learning Systems approach.

He is passionate about helping to change how public service is managed, as he believes that how we perform in public management is directly connected to governments’ ability to address the complex challenges faced by people.

Jo Bowden

Jo has been a Consultant in Palliative Medicine in Fife since 2013, working in a Health and Social Care Partnership-funded, integrated service across all care and residential settings.

She is also a researcher, supporting clinical trials and mixed-methods studies aimed at improving the quality and reliability of palliative care for all who need it – in Fife and beyond.

Jo and her colleagues in Fife and Lothian have been working to better understand and to improve the reality of ‘best supportive care’ since 2015, with a programme of palliative cancer care service developments and research in this important area.

Donald Macaskill

Donald has worked for many years in the health and social care sectors across the United Kingdom. A particular professional focus has been issues related to dementia, bereavement, palliative care and individual human rights. He is the current Chair of the Bereavement Charter Group for Scotland and a former UK Bereavement Commissioner.

He is the CEO of Scottish Care, the representative body for care providers in the independent sector in Scotland, namely private, charitable, and employee-owned care organisations which includes care home and home care organisations.

He serves on several Scottish, UK and international charities and boards related to health and social care including at present as a Director of the Global Ageing Network. A weekly blogger, podcaster and public speaker he is an active campaigner for older person rights.

Cormac Russell

Cormac is a social explorer, an author and a much sought-after speaker. He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University, Chicago.

Over the last 25 years, Cormac’s work has demonstrated an enduring impact in 35 countries around the world. He has trained communities, agencies, NGOs and governments in ABCD and other community-based approaches in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe and North America.

His most recent books are The Connected Community- Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods (Coauthor John McKnight); Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2022, and Rekindling Democracy – A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space; Cascade Books, 2020.

Stephen Fenning

Stephen Fenning is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine in NHS Fife, working across all care and residential settings. He has been actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education for many years and he is currently an Associate Director of Medical Education in Fife.

In 2018-19, Stephen worked in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in Scottish Government, including acting as Editor-in-Chief of the CMO’s Annual Report 2017-18 ‘Personalising Realistic Medicine‘. Through this experience, he developed a strong professional interest in embedding the principles of Realistic Medicine in clinical care and, in recent years, working alongside colleagues in Fife and Lothian, he has supported research to understand the experiences of people with advanced illness and what high value care looks like to them.