Our people
Our staff
Sam Gelder, Investigations Editor
Sam Gelder joined Liberty Investigates in October 2025. He has previously worked as an editor at Dialogue Earth, openDemocracy, The Big Issue and HuffPost UK, and spent seven years as a reporter at local papers across London, including the Hackney Gazette.
Aaron Walawalkar, Investigative Journalist
Aaron was previously the news editor at independent media outlet EachOther, helping shape its coverage of UK human rights issues ranging from systemic racism to school exclusions. He was also a freelance reporter for the Guardian and the Observer, covering national news and producing exclusive stories on homelessness and disability rights.
In 2019, he won a Google News Initiative-sponsored award for his work at the Ilford Recorder in east London leading a year-long newspaper campaign focussing on rough sleeping. In coordination with the Bureau Local’s Dying Homeless project, he revealed that at least 10 people had died homeless in the borough of Redbridge in the year to October 2018. Six were undocumented Indian migrants stuck in a bureaucratic limbo.
Aaron has a keen interest in migration, homelessness and policing.
Sarah Wilson, Investigative Journalist
Sarah started her career in local papers, working across titles including The Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman. She later went to work for the Big Issue and Channel 4 Dispatches before joining Liberty Investigates in May 2026.
She has worked on a wide range of investigations and has a broad interest in social justice issues, as well as in stories about tech and women’s rights. She was named one of MHP’s “30 to Watch” journalists in 2024 and named a “Broadcast Hotshot” in 2025 by Broadcast Magazine for her work on Dispatches. Investigations she has worked on have been nominated for, and won, awards including the TV BAFTAs, RTS awards, Broadcast Awards and British Journalism Awards.
Editorial Advisory Board
Anne Koch was the Program Director at the Global Investigative Journalism Network. She worked as a broadcast journalist and executive for more than 20 years, mostly for the BBC, before becoming a director at anti-corruption NGO Transparency International. Her award-winning career in BBC journalism included service as deputy director of the English World Service, executive editor of the BBC’s flagship daily radio news and current affairs programs and editor of the World Tonight. She has produced or edited over a hundred documentaries and current affairs programs. At TI, she served as director of Europe and Central Asia, overseeing nearly 50 independent chapters. She is also a trustee at London charity Time and Talents.
Chrissie Giles has been a writer and editor for over 17 years. She is Global Health Editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London.
Previously, she worked for Wellcome, one of the world’s largest health foundations, where she was Editor of the award-winning longform publication Mosaic (mosaicscience.com). At Mosaic, she championed up-and-coming writers from around the world, including Shayla Love, Alex Riley, Josh Sokol and the late Lyra McKee.
Giles studied Biochemistry at university and completed a Master’s in Science Communication at Imperial College, London.
Gervase de Wilde is a media law barrister who practises at the leading specialist chambers 5RB. He acts for both claimants and defendants, providing advocacy and advice in a wide range of disputes. He regularly acts for claimants seeking to protect privacy and data protection rights, particularly online, including by obtaining urgent injunctions. He also frequently acts for the media, including at various times all of the country’s leading newspaper groups and broadcasters, in relation to open justice and reporting the Courts in high-profile civil and criminal litigation.
In addition, his practice involves providing pre-publication advice to newspapers, book publishers and TV companies. Before converting to the law, Gervase worked as an arts journalist, both as a freelancer and as a staff journalist and editor at a broadsheet newspaper, and he continues to have a keen interest in journalism and the arts.
Akiko is Liberty’s Director.
She was previously CEO of NSUN, the National Survivor User Network, a mental health charity led by and for people with lived experience. There, she worked alongside grassroots groups and campaigners to shift power and resource in mental health.
Previous roles include Director of Mental Health Europe, and leading a service at Mind in Camden for people who hear voices, working in the community, youth services, forensic settings, and Immigration Removal Centres.
She has a background in rights-based campaigning and policy work in racial justice, criminal justice, and mental health, and has written widely on these issues.
Akiko is a Professor in Practice at the Institute of Medical Humanities at the University of Durham, and has extensive board-level experience.