Committee 2026/27
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Bhing Turongpun
Land Economy
Bhing Turongpun is a Third Year Land Economist at Christ’s College and now leads TWS in the 26/27 academic year. She has been involved with the society as a First Year Policy writer for the digital journal, the conference team, and acting as Deputy Head of Policy in previous years. Bhing is most interested in development, welfare, and gender economics in South-East Asia, and especially how corruption in the region has limited policy and development outcomes.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Bernard Shiu
History and Politics
​Bernard first joined TWS as a Head of Conference and policy writer. Now as Deputy Director, he aims to sustain TWS's advantages as a training ground for policy aspirants of diverse nationalities, leveraging Cambridge's intellectual freedom to cultivate analysis and communication skills. He is broadly interested in how policymakers can drive sustainable reform through the market, and specifically in how these approaches can be applied in Hong Kong and other non-Western contexts.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Joseph Delaney
Philosophy
Joseph is a second year Philosopher at Corpus Christi. He was inspired to join the society by its practical, solutions-based approach to political discourse. Having previously managed The Policy Podcast, he rejoins the committee as Deputy Director this year where he hopes to develop the presence of the society throughout the UK. His academic interests range from the history of US foreign policy to theories of ideology. In his free time, Joseph enjoys the gym, music and a long documentary!
TREASURER
Alex Hempel
Natural Sciences
​Alex is a second year Physical Natural Scientist who joined The Wilberforce Society last year to find out more about the U.K. policy space. His main interests lie in economic policy, but he joined the society to help create policy papers and reach more students. For Alex, the Wilberforce Society represents a great opportunity to connect with professionals and gain more experience in the field.
Heads of Policy
Economics
Shreya Devani
Shreya is a second-year Economics undergraduate who first joined The Wilberforce Society as a First-Year Policy Representative, contributing to the Monthly Policy Review, before progressing into her current role as Head of Policy. She joined The Wilberforce Society because she’s passionate about driving meaningful change through policy. As Head of Policy, her priority is to strengthen and expand the First-Year Representative programme, ensuring it offers a genuine, well-supported entry point into policy research for new members. Her interests lie in development and gender economics.
Economics
David Zhou
David will be a third-year Economics student this October. He joined The Wilberforce Society last year as a Policy Paper Writer, and while he enjoyed writing on policy topics, he felt ready this year to take on a more holistic role within the organisational side of the society as well. He wanted to continue working with the people he connected with through TWS, while also meeting others who share his interest in policy. Alongside helping to establish a more internationally focused perspective in TWS's policy publications, David hopes to bring new interests to the society by organising research skills and career-focused events that haven't previously been run. Being from China, he has a particular interest in policy issues relevant to societies in economic transition, including groups at different stages of the development ladder, as well as economies operating within political and cultural paradigms distinct from the Anglo-American system. When he isn't dedicated to The Wilberforce Society, you may find him watching football, playing tennis, or travelling.
Deputy Heads of Policy
Economics
Yuxuan Zhao
Yuxuan is a second-year Economics student at Christ’s College. Last year, she was involved in the Wilberforce Society as a policy paper writer on UK-EU trade policy and co-authored the flagship article in the TWS x Oxford Diplomatic Dispatch Collaboration. As Deputy Head of Policy, Yuxuan hopes to broaden participation from students of diverse backgrounds by expanding the range of policy issues covered and fostering cross-society collaborations. Her interests lie in international trade, AI, econometrics, and public policy in Asia. In her spare time, she enjoys music, art, and travelling.
Land Economy
Mikaila Thomas
Mikaila Thomas is a second-year Land Economy student and currently serves as Deputy Head of Policy. She became involved with The Wilberforce Society after attending its annual conference, where she was inspired by the speakers and policy discussions, and before that was contributing to collaboration dispatches throughout the year. Mikaila is particularly interested in diplomacy, development economics, sustainability, and the Pacific region. In her role, she hopes to produce engaging research with a wider reach and contribute to work that can have a meaningful impact on policy discussions.
Education
Tereza Nekvasilova
Tereza is a third-year Education student at Homerton College, with a focus on psychology and neuroscience. She is passionate about creating meaningful change through policy. As a member of the Wilberforce Society, Tereza's role is to connect with professionals in the field, and with their help, advance the society's mission, of producing high quality research. Beyond her work with the society, Tereza is from Czechia, and loves to travel and row (although not the early mornings!).
Secretary
Education
Tereza Nekvasilova
Tereza is a third-year Education student at Homerton College, with a focus on psychology and neuroscience. She is passionate about creating meaningful change through policy. As a member of the Wilberforce Society, Tereza's role is to connect with professionals in the field, and with their help, advance the society's mission, of producing high quality research. Beyond her work with the society, Tereza is from Czechia, and loves to travel and row (although not the early mornings!).
Heads of Conference
Nirupama Krishnakumaran
Economics
Nirupama joined The Wilberforce Society through written contributions to collaborations with the Oxford Dispatch and Telos Press, before progressing to the committee, keen to engage more deeply with policy and work alongside thinkers from diverse academic backgrounds. She now serves as Head of Conference. An economist by training, with experience in economic newsletters and organising speaker panels, her interests span development policy, debt sustainability, and the asymmetries of power in conditional international agreements, particularly between major powers and the Global South. In this role, she hopes to curate a conference that brings together speakers from across the debate, challenges audiences to think beyond conventional frameworks, and reflects the intellectual diversity that drew her to TWS in the first place.
Yashraj Garg
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences
Yashraj Garg is a second-year Psychological and Behavioural Sciences undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, and serves as Head of Conference at The Wilberforce Society. Fascinated by how psychology, behavioural science, and institutional design can shape better public policy, he joined TWS to help create conversations that bridge academia, government, business, and civil society. He hopes to curate a conference that not only attracts exceptional speakers but also encourages intellectually ambitious, interdisciplinary discussion on the policy challenges shaping the coming decades. Alongside TWS, Yashraj's work spans cognitive neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural policy, with research experience at Cambridge and the University of Basel. Outside academia, he enjoys writing, learning languages, and exploring the psychology behind culture, politics, and human behaviour.
Deputy Heads of Conference
William Dang
Economics
William initially became involved with TWS by writing for the Digital Journal about UK industrial policy and over-reliance on finance. His goal as a conference head this year is to improve its awareness and accessibility, for both current students and prospective applicants in sixth form. He's interested in global development policy, particularly the importance of institutions, as well as the potential role for digital currencies in central banking.
Yashraj Garg
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences
Yashraj Garg is a second-year Psychological and Behavioural Sciences undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, and serves as Head of Conference at The Wilberforce Society. Fascinated by how psychology, behavioural science, and institutional design can shape better public policy, he joined TWS to help create conversations that bridge academia, government, business, and civil society. He hopes to curate a conference that not only attracts exceptional speakers but also encourages intellectually ambitious, interdisciplinary discussion on the policy challenges shaping the coming decades. Alongside TWS, Yashraj's work spans cognitive neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural policy, with research experience at Cambridge and the University of Basel. Outside academia, he enjoys writing, learning languages, and exploring the psychology behind culture, politics, and human behaviour.
Heads of Events
Economics
Ching Lam Kam
Ching Lam is a second year Economist at Queens’ College and was first involved with the Wilberforce Society as a policy first-year representative. He is particularly interested in currency and debt crises, as well as corresponding international intervention responses. Beyond Wilberforce, he also serves as Head of Activities in Access Abroad Hong Kong, organizing outreach and speaker programs to narrow educational gaps in overseas education.
Economics
Mikhail Faenkov
Mikhail is a third year Economist at St Catherine’s College. He is passionate about economic trade relations, sustainable development and long term debt management.
Law
Reneh Nanda
Réneh is a second-year law student and joined the Wilberforce Society as a first-year Events representative, and is now the Deputy Head of Events . Her academic interests inspired her to join the society, where she contributes to organising events that examine the intersection of law and public policy and explore regulatory reforms that safeguard citizens and foster socio-economic progress.
Beyond her work with the Wilberforce Society, Réneh also serves as the Treasurer of the India Society and looks forward to fostering greater collaboration between the two societies, particularly on issues of global policy.
Réneh is driven by a passion to promote meaningful conversations that bridge the gap between law, policy, and societal transformation.
HSPS
Zain Ahmed
Zain Ahmad studies Human, Social, and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge and is a Global Health Scholar with Effective Altruism Cambridge. As Deputy Head of Events for the Wilberforce Society, he helps lead the Society’s public policy conferences and speaker programmes. He has gained experience in investment banking and corporate law through internships with UBS, Slaughter and May, Freshfields, and Latham & Watkins, with interests spanning policy, finance, and sustainable development.
Deputy Heads of Events
History
Benjamin Pearce
Benjamin is a history student at Emmanuel who joined TWS on the events team. He is deeply interested in public and social policy and they way they influence decision makers to implement change. He believes TWS place as a thoughtful and non partisan voice on policy and being a part of its events team enables him to broaden the reach of its policy work. Specifically, he is interested in working on panels that discuss the changing degree of social mobility in education systems, within and outside the West.
HSPS
Quynh An Tran
Quynh An is a second-year Human, Social, and Political Sciences student, specialising in Politics and Sociology. She joined the Wilberforce Society as a first-year policy writer, producing a paper on the ASEAN response to US-China rivalry, contributing to the collaboration with Oxford's Diplomatic Dispatch. She is particularly interested in geopolitics beyond the traditional UK/EU policy focus, and aims to ensure TWS's events reflect that broader global scope.
Head of Publicity
History and Politics
Tom Blythe
Tom is a second-year History and Politics student. He got involved in TWS as Head of Publicity to expand his exposure to the Think Tank Sector an area he'd like to pursue a career in. HIs intention is to expand the reach of TWS bringing in new students from across a wide array of degrees to produce thought provoking cross-disciplinary research. HIs interests are in political economy, diplomatic history and American Presidential Elections. Outside of his studies Tom loves watching and playing sport as well as reading and watching documentaries.
Heads of Alumni
Theology, Religion, And Philosophy of Religion
Scott Matthew Kebbell
Previously this academic year, Scott worked in part on the policy team and in part helped the outgoing Director in organising events and inviting guests, leading him to unite these two aspects of his interests in the role he now holds. His academic background is in Religion, Culture, and Thought — the themes that drew him to his course (TRPR) are also what led him to join The Wilberforce Society. Before coming to Cambridge, he worked in three think tanks to various degrees, as well as in Parliament, and has a keen enthusiasm for the world of public policy, particularly areas concerning people — humanitarian and economic considerations. In his sparse spare time, he enjoys debating, reading, and interrogating academic and interesting ideas. He looks forward to the year ahead and all that lies in store.
Heads of Podcast
HSPS
Dexter Twycross
Dexter is a second-year undergraduate at Corpus Christi College. He is specialising in Social Anthropology, with a particular focus on themes related to sustainability, democratic resilience, and conflict resolution. He joins the Institute this year as its Head of Podcasts: seeking to make high quality student research more widely accessible to the public. In his free time he is an avid mountaineer, runner, and rock climber.
Philosophy
Joseph Delaney
Joseph is a second year Philosopher at Corpus Christi. He was inspired to join the society by its practical, solutions-based approach to political discourse. His academic interests range from the history of US foreign policy to theories of ideology. In his free time, Joseph enjoys the gym, music and a long documentary!