Aberdeen 2036 Expert Panel

Ruth is the Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland, where she leads efforts to address the wider determinants of health with a particular focus on reducing health inequalities. Her career is rooted in person-centred, evidence-informed transformation, with a strong track record of influencing national policy and delivering practical and impactful large scale change programmes. Previously, as Director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, she led major national initiatives using quality improvement and system change methods across health and social care. Ruth holds a Master of Public Administration from Warwick Business School and a Masters in Leadership (Quality Improvement) from Ashridge Business School. She is also a fellow of the Health Foundation and a qualified executive coach. 

Campbell formerly served in a number of senior roles within policing in Scotland. He is currently the Independent Chair of the Adult and Child Protection Committees in Aberdeen City and involved in other strands of Public Protection, including Homewards. He has held a strategic role in Community Planning over the years and is a strong advocate of its benefit to making a real difference to people’s lives. 

Heather is the training and participation lead for the Scottish Women’s Budget Group.  Heather has over 20 years’ experience working in the gender equality and violence against women sector. She has experience of working at a national and local level in strategic and frontline roles (providing management support and directly supporting women and young people in a variety of settings).  Heather is an experienced trainer and facilitator, working in multi and single agency settings across the public, private and third sectors.  

She worked as a parliamentary researcher in the Scottish Parliament and provided secretariat support to the Cross Party Group on Men’s Violence Against Women. As a researcher her work has included participative research projects such as the Aberdeen Gender Inequality and Poverty Project, A gender budgeting analysis of Scottish Gypsy Traveller sites, ‘It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic’ report for the Glasgow Standing Group on Violence Against Women and a Locality Needs Assessment for the North East of Glasgow. 

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Richard has been the Director of Public Spending in the Scottish Government since August 2024. Prior to his current role, Richard was Director for Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance. He has worked at the Scottish Government in various roles since 2010, including a two year period working for NHS Fife. 

His career began in the private sector, where he worked in External and Internal Audit Functions for a large consultancy firm and is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Richard is passionate about understanding and improving the connections between national policy and local priorities and really enjoys being the Scottish Government’s place director for Aberdeen City. 

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Award winning climate activist, environmental scientist, and ethical influencer. Laura’s social media platforms continue to grow, creating a community of activists. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, LinkedIn, BlueSky, and YouTube all under @LessWasteLaura.

She was recently named in The King’s Foundation’s 35 under 35 network, and was awarded the Scottish Influencer of the Year for 2024/5 for her work.

As Executive Director of Delivery and Service Development at SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), Alex has responsibility for supporting our 70+ services across Scotland, encompassing our registered services including hospital in-reach, community-based and primary care, and children and young people programmes. He is also responsible for the implementation of new services with a focus on psychological wellbeing. For the last 20 years, Alex has worked in the statutory and charity sector covering portfolios of youth services, community safety, youth justice, education and mental health.