Project Fair leadership

Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann is a senior lecturer in International Human Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh Business School. She studies social justice at work, particularly for workers from typically marginalised or vulnerable backgrounds. Ishbel is currently leading two research projects, one which examines fairness between staff in international aid and development contexts, the role of workplace policies and practices in that fairness, and the implications for poverty reduction initiatives. The other focuses on the psychological impact of living wages and decent work for workers, their families, organisations and society.

Working internationally, she has advocated for the role of work and organisational psychology in addressing global grand challenges, such as poverty reduction, through contributing to the United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development. Ishbel leads the decent work strand of the EAWOP Impact Incubator, is a SIOP representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and sat on the British Psychological Society’s Expert Reference Group on “poverty to flourishing”.

For bespoke consultancy, please contact Ishbel McWha-Hermann at Ishbel.McWha@ed.ac.uk.

Julia Porter is a Senior HR professional living in London. Her HR career has spanned three decades working in News and Media for the Guardian and Observer for 15 years and then for the UK and International Charity Sector in homelessness and animal welfare. She is a Fellow (CIPD) and gained CIPD Advanced Awards in Organisation Design and Development in 2014 and Reward Management in 2019.

Her interests have grown around international reward during this time and she became actively involved in Project Fair from 2019. She currently works as a Project Manager for Project Fair to help develop our INGO network. She has a Business Studies degree from the University of Greenwich specialising in HR and Industrial Relations.

Abby Manz is an experienced Impact and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) professional with more than 10 years of experience in the international development sector. Her background includes working at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Foundation, with subject matter expertise related to digital and mobile tools for development, digital financial services and inclusion, humanitarian crises and big data for social good.

Since earning her Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Edinburgh in 2020, she has been involved with multiple social enterprise start-ups as an impact professional with the university. As of December 2024, she has joined on with Project Fair as Impact and Engagement Manager. In this role, she is working to embed measurement and learning frameworks to more systematically capture knowledge and evidence of the programme's impact on the INGO sector.