Peter Beresford OBE is Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia and Co-Chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national disabled people's organisation. He has long term lived experience of welfare benefits and mental health services, and is also Emeritus Professor at Brunel University London and the University of Essex, and Honorary Professor at Edge Hill University.

He is a long-standing advocate of participation and empowerment as an activist, educator, researcher and writer. He has published over 30 books, and many chapters and journal articles, writing regularly for The Guardian and other mainstream and online media.