A youth activist at a local, national and international level, John was democratically elected as the youngest ever chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament at the age of 19.

Fighting for the rights and voice of the young people across Scotland has been something John has been extremely committed to for many years. Locally, John was a founder member of the North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum which was the first of its kind in that area and sits as the first ever young person on the Board of the local community development trust, the North Edinburgh Trust.

At a national level, while serving as Chair of the Youth Parliament, John was also the Vice Convener for the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Children and Young People, a Board member of the national youth work agency, YouthLink Scotland and was an advisor on the Safe, Active Happy panel set up by Kathleen Marshall, the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People.

On an international level, John has represented Scotland and the United Kingdom at various international conferences and summits including the Austrian European Union Presidency Summit where he was the appointed speaker for all youth across Europe and was also on the planning board for the EU Youth Summit as part of the UK Presidency.

Furthermore, John was the joint head of a partnership project called Roars Not Whispers which promotes activism around social justice issues amongst today’s global youth through CIVICUS Youth Assembly which brought together 200 young leaders from over 65 countries.

Aiming to take his message to a larger audience, John also entered Channel 4/E4’s Big Brother Celebrity Hijack to raise awareness of key campaigns and issues. He then went on to be crowned the shows winner in January 2008. In 2004 John was recognised for his contribution to the community when he was presented with the Edinburgh Evening News award for “Community Involvement”.

John currently works as a Policy and Communications Officer for a national charity in Scotland.