Kelly Ryan is the Operations Director at the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, where over the last 4 years she has played a key leadership role in operationalising the Centre from its start up. This has included leading on the development of the Centre’s Strategic Delivery Plan in collaboration with other senior leaders, co-developing novel and innovative ways to support more inclusive research funding, and co-developing the Centre’s approach to lived experience engagement, including identifying funding to support these aspirations, and embedding lived experience engagement staff into the team.

Kelly previously worked at the Alan Turing Institute as a Programme Manager for a major £40m integrated research programme with a goal to deploy AI and data science across priority areas to support the UK economy. She also worked at the University of Oxford in the Department of Computer Science and Research Services, where she facilitated research bids and collaborations across a broad range of scientific areas and promoted best practice in research development and management.

In addition to this, Kelly is a Trustee for the Humane Research Trust, a grant making organisation that has a mission to be at the forefront of finding and supporting the use of alternatives to animals and animal products in medical research. Here she chairs the Marketing and Fundraising Sub Committee and is a member of the Audit and Finance Sub Committee. She also works with a range of other purpose-led organisations as a consultant.