Jul 31, 2026 · 50 min · 7 segments
Welcome to episode 10of the RNIB NI Podcast ‘Setting sail with Dan Fisher on a ship they call RNIB’ Listen up, speak up, break down barriers. Search and subscribe via your preferred podcast provider…
Tony McKillopGuestJoe KennyHost
Paula BeattieGuest
Alan RussellSo, Dan, it's not too big of a question on an early of a morning, but What does a chief strategy and public affairs officer do at RNAB when he's not talking to me? That's a very good question.
So on the inward side, I look after a couple of teams, one of which looks after insight, so research and... kind of engagement with blind and partially sighted people to understand the state of the nation.
RNIB has always been held in quite high regard across the world for the quality of its understanding of blindness and understanding of the blind and partially sighted community.
So that insight work also supports my other kind of internal priority which is heading up the process every year which RNIB goes through to understand its strategy, set its goals, set its ambitions for blind and partially sighted people and impact to the community but also for what we need to do internally to make sure the organisation is in the best shape to deliver that.
And then finally, I also look after policy campaigns, public affairs, and what we call social action.
And essentially what we do is across the four nations of the UK, we influence government, legislation, policy, standards, practices, and also work very closely with business.
But we also work at grassroots, not just through the devolved relations teams who obviously work very closely with devolved governments, et cetera, but at a proper grassroots community level, working through peer-to-peer support.
trying to inspire not just blind and partially sighted people towards kind of advocacy and social action on the ground, but sighted people as well.
So, Dan, it's not too big of a question on an early of a morning, but What does a chief strategy and public affairs officer do at RNAB when he's not talking to me? That's a very good question.
So on the inward side, I look after a couple of teams, one of which looks after insight, so research and... kind of engagement with blind and partially sighted people to understand the state of the nation.
RNIB has always been held in quite high regard across the world for the quality of its understanding of blindness and understanding of the blind and partially sighted community.
So that insight work also supports my other kind of internal priority which is heading up the process every year which RNIB goes through to understand its strategy, set its goals, set its ambitions for blind and partially sighted people and impact to the community but also for what we need to do internally to make sure the organisation is in the best shape to deliver that.
And then finally, I also look after policy campaigns, public affairs, and what we call social action.
And essentially what we do is across the four nations of the UK, we influence government, legislation, policy, standards, practices, and also work very closely with business.
But we also work at grassroots, not just through the devolved relations teams who obviously work very closely with devolved governments, et cetera, but at a proper grassroots community level, working through peer-to-peer support.
trying to inspire not just blind and partially sighted people towards kind of advocacy and social action on the ground, but sighted people as well.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
