About the NIDG
Meet the NIGG
Rev. Chris Hudson MBE
Reverend Chris Hudson MBE is Minister of All Souls’ Church, Belfast. Chris is Chair of Resolve, a restorative justice project in east Belfast and on the Committee of Community Dialogue, an inter-communal initiative in Belfast. He received his MBE for his contribution to peace in Northern Ireland and acted as an unofficial conduit between Loyalist Paramilitaries and the Irish Government, leading up to their Ceasefire in October 1994. Prior to that Chris was a Trade Union Official with the Communications Workers Union in Dublin for twenty years.
Dr John Kyle MRCGP
John Kyle trained in medicine at Queen’s University Belfast and worked as a General Practitioner in London and Belfast. He was senior partner in the Lewis Square Practice, East Belfast for over 25 years. He served as Deputy Leader of the Progressive Unionist Party 2010-2021 and as a Councillor on Belfast City Council 2007-2023. He chaired the Council’s Shared City Partnership 2015-2023, a working group of elected members, community and statutory partners which advises and guides the Council on all good relations issues. He joined the Ulster Unionist Party in 2022 and is the UUP representative on the Education Authority Board. He is currently the High Sheriff of the County and Borough of Belfast.
Trevor Ringland MBE
Trevor Ringland MBE LL.B, is a Lawyer who was born in Northern Ireland in 1959. In rugby he represented Queen’s University Belfast, Ballymena, Ulster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He has been involved in community relations work through various organisations including PeacePlayers-NI, the One Small Step Campaign the Community Sports Network, the British Irish Association, Co-operation Ireland and the Ireland Funds. He has a strong interest in constructive politics and was a founder member of the pro Union Group Re-Union which promoted a positive vision of unionism and was a member of the East Belfast Ulster Unionist Association and Co-Chair of the NI Conservative Party. He also co-authored a pamphlet The Long Peace: A future vision for Unionism with Mick Fealty and David Steven. He served as a member of the Policing Board for Northern Ireland and as a Trustee of the RUC (GC) Foundation and was appointed as the UK Government Special Envoy to the United States on Northern Ireland. He was awarded the MBE in recognition of his cross-community work.
Professor Graham Spencer
Graham Spencer is Professor of Social and Political Conflict at the University of Portsmouth. He has researched and published extensively on the Northern Ireland peace process and worked with a range of community groups and government agencies on conflict transformation initiatives. He has visiting affiliations with Universities in Massachusetts, Boston and Maynooth. His more recent publications include The British and Peace in Northern Ireland, and Inside Accounts: The Irish Government and Peace in Northern Ireland, Vols. 1 and 2 and he regularly contributes articles to the press on the state of Northern Ireland politics. He continues to work closely with unionist and loyalist communities.