Our People

Virginia Mantouvalou is Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law and Co-Director of the UCL Institute for Human Rights. Her research examines issues including workers’ exploitation, structural injustice, domestic labour, prison labour, migrant workers and modern slavery. Her books include Structural Injustice and Workers’ Rights (OUP 2023), Human Rights at Work (with A Bogg, H Collins and ACL Davies, Hart, 2024), and Structural Injustice and the Law (with Jonathan Wolff; UCL Press 2024). Her research has been supported by the British Academy and the AHRC. She has worked as a Specialist Advisor for the Joint Committee of Human Rights, the Council of Europe and the ILO. She has also received the UCL Provost award for Public Engagement for her research and other work with Kalayaan.

Pauline Uwins spent her 35 year career primarily in corporate and investment banking gaining experience and expertise working in Global and European financial institutes. She has a wealth of experience in people and relationship management; back office operations; and risk management. She has managed and overseen the delivery of a number of complex projects. Much of Pauline’s focus in recent years has been on identifying, mitigating and overseeing compliance and legal risk, particularly around financial market abuse and money laundering. She has prepared a number of audit committee board papers and prepared and delivered training on a number of related topics. After a year of travelling Pauline retuned to her Deputy Chair role at Kalayaan in 2026.

Alison Harvey has returned to practice from the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association where she was General Secretary, then Legal Director. She trains, lectures and writes widely on immigration, asylum, nationality and human rights law. She is a contributor to Fransman’s British Nationality Law and to Macdonald’s Immigration law and Practice. She has worked in the UK and overseas, representing clients before the Home Office, tribunals and courts, including working at the Refugee Legal Centre, Asylum Aid, and South West Law. She has worked with refugees, the internally displaced and the trafficked for the UN in West Africa, Darfur and Azerbaijan. She has worked extensively on the development of immigration law and policy in the UK, advising those lobbying on, and challenging, a total of nine immigration Acts (to date) as well as on the development of the points-based system and the immigration aspects of Brexit. Recent training credits include ‘The Immigration Act 2016’, ‘Nationality Law is Fun’ and ‘Advanced Naturalisation’ for the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and ‘Trafficking: identifying and assisting victims’ for Free Movement. Alison is a Trustee of Kalayaan (formerly Chair) and led in its work with its legal team for its intervention in the Supreme Court in the Reyes case. Alison has been appointed Special Advisor to the Joint Committee on Human Rights for its enquiry Detention of Windrush Generation.

Dr Natalie Sedacca is Associate Professor in Employment Law at Durham Law School. Her research focuses on human rights and labour law, with a particular interest in marginalised workers and in issues of gender and migration. Natalie’s book ‘Human Rights and the Protection of Domestic Workers in Labour and Migration Law’ (OUP 2026) examines legal protections for domestic workers across four countries. She has also undertaken research on the rights of migrant agricultural and care workers in the UK and platform workers, and the regulation of harassment and violence at work. Natalie is an Editorial Board member of the journal Feminist Legal Studies, and a co-editor of the UK Labour Law Blog. Before entering academia, Natalie spent nine years in legal practice, including seven as a qualified solicitor, specialising in claims against the police and public authorities.

Michael Muirhead has over 30 years experience within the UK financial services sector. He trained as a Chartered Accountant and more recently has been involved in risk management and corporate governance, including at three of the largest UK banks. His career has included managing operational and technology risk and he has prepared papers for Board and Audit Committees.

Hugh Collins is the Cassel Professor of Commercial Law at the London School of Economics. Formerly he was the Vinerian Professor of English Law at All Souls College, University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. He studied law at the University of Oxford and Harvard Law School. One of his main areas of research and teaching is employment law. He has published several books in the field, including Employment Law 2nd edn (Oxford University Press), Labour Law 2nd edn (with KD Ewing and A. McColgan) (Cambridge University Press) and Justice in Dismissal (Oxford University Press). His most recent research has focussed on the law of indirect discrimination and also the impact of human rights law on the content and enforcement of employment law rights of workers.

Libby Wiener is a British Broadcast journalist, recently retired from ITV News. Libby became Home Affairs Correspondent in 1988. In 1991, she went to Brussels as Europe Correspondent reporting on a range of key news stories, including the Maastricht Treaty. She was Australia Correspondent based in Sydney in the late 1990s, before returning to the UK as Royal Correspondent for ITV News in 2000. She became a Political Correspondent in 2003 and was in the Parliamentary Lobby for more than twenty years. She has covered numerous general elections and reported on the Brexit negotiations, as well as many other controversial policy issues.

Emelie was born and raised in the Philippines and now lives in the UK as a refugee. She is passionate about community, personal growth, and supporting other women who have walked similar paths. She believes in resilience and creating welcoming spaces where everyone feels comfortable sharing their stories. Emelie has shared her testimony in the media and with parliamentarians as an advocate for the rights of migrant domestic workers in the UK and is also a member of Kalayaan’s lived-experience campaign group. In her free time, Emelie loves singing, dancing, cooking, meeting new people, and learning about different cultures. She enjoys connecting with inspiring women, gain new experiences, and be part of empowering women across the UK.

Julieta is a migrant domestic worker. Originally from the Philippines, she migrated abroad in order to support her family. She has experience in domestic work including childcare, fashion and textiles, as well as retail experience at the Co-op. Julieta is currently working as a carer to a family in North London. As a survivor of modern slavery she is keen to make sure Kalayaan is centring the experiences and needs of migrant domestic workers across their work and strategic objectives.