Yvonne Roberts has been an award winning journalist, writer and broadcaster for over 30 years. Until recently, she worked at the Young Foundation as a Senior Associate specialising on innovation in education, ageing and health and is currently the Observer’s leader writer. 

Yvonne began her journalism career on the Northampton Chronicle & Echo then moved to television current affairs and further print journalism. She initially specialised in the Middle East and foreign news reporting, later moving from LWT to investigative work on Thames TV’s This Week and working on documentaries for the BBC. She has written for every broadsheet including the Guardian, the Observer and the Sunday Times, covering social policy, politics, investigations, features and comment. She has been a columnist for the New Statesman and Community Care and is now a regular contributor to the Guardian’sComment is Free. She has written four novels and three non-fiction books on gender and family policy and contributed to other works including The Rise and Rise of the Meritocracy, marking the half centenary of the Institute of Community Studies.

She is a trustee of FPWP Hibiscus, a charity working with foreign nationals affected by the criminal justice system. She is also a trustee of Women in Prison, a member of Channel Four’s education advisory board and is part of the Demos Inquiry into Character.