Networking Programme & Resources

Dr William Bird, is first and foremost a GP, CEO of Intelligent Health, and Chair of Active Essex.

He has been passionate about getting people more active since the mid-1990s when he set up Health Walks and the Green Gym from his practice near Reading. William is also CEO and founder of Intelligent Health which gets whole towns and cities more active using gamification with a strong emphasis on reaching the more disadvantaged communities. He was awarded the MBE in 2010 for services to physical activity and health.

As Active Essex Chair he has already implemented himself strongly within the team, supporting them to create further opportunities and develop innovative projects alongside partners and stakeholders, that will have a lasting and meaningful change in improving health through community connections, especially among families and young people.

To access William’s Keynote speech slides, and the resilience matrix, download them here.

Karen is Chief Executive at The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) – a community benefit society and cooperative, based in Birmingham, working to tackle inequality and promote community wellbeing. She is passionate about the role of physical activity in connecting and strengthening communities, particularly communities facing the worst deprivation and inequalities.

Karen and the team at TAWS have developed a close relationship with Active Essex and other partners across the county through initiatives such as Essex Pedal Power and the Essex Local Delivery Pilot. Together, this partnership has highlighted how effective place-based working can be, and how powerful it can be, by putting the local community in the lead so they can find the solutions to fulfil their aspirations and need.

For Karen’s slides, please download them here.

Lucy Saunders is the Founder of Healthy Streets, developed through her research on the interface of urban spaces and human health.

Lucy works with organisations across the world adapting her Healthy Streets Approach to each context, engaging, influencing and coordinating a wide range of stakeholders around a coherent vision.

The Healthy Streets Approach is a human-centred framework for embedding public health in transport, public realm and planning. It builds improvements on existing conditions rather than seeking a fixed end goal. Taking this Approach requires incremental changes in all aspects of the decision-making processes related to streets and transport.

For Lucy’s slides, and Healthy Streets Indicator diagram, download them here.