Documenting Disaster

Matthew has worked as a TV and film editor for 25 years, and in 2016, he decided to move into the charity sector. His book 104 in the Shade: Travels of a Humanitarian Film Maker details his experiences as a film maker in some of the worlds most hostile environments. From a cross Europe aid convoy to Greece, refugee camps in Lebanon and Turkey, open heart surgery on babies in Tanzania, water wells in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, food and water distributions in the desert in Somalia and Yemen, marathons in Morocco and Palestine and a rickshaw challenge in Pakistan.

Dania Akkad is Middle East Eye’s senior investigative editor. In 2022, her reporting on women’s rights in the Middle East was recognised with a Write to End Violence Against Women feature of the year award and was shortlisted as Drum award’s journalist of the year. She started her career covering crime and farming at the daily newspaper in Salinas, California, where John Steinbeck once worked, and then reported from Syria as a freelance journalist before the war, including investigating the 2005 suicide bombing in Amman that killed members of her family.

Professor Aaqil Ahmed is the former Head of Religion and Ethics at both the BBC and Channel 4. He is currently a Media, communications and diversity consultant and a Professor in media. Aaqil is a Non Executive Director of a number of organisations including The Advertising Standards Authority, OFCOM and The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.