Justine Brian is director of schools at Civitas. She was formerly the director of the Academy of Ideas Debating Matters sixth-form debating competition and is now an associate fellow.

She believes in education and grappling with big ideas – and practised what she preaches by completing a degree in Classical Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London, as a mature student. She loves good food and hates food snobbery, and learned to cook at Westminster College. She is an occasional writer on food issues and has produced a number of debates at the Battle of Ideas festival on food-related topics. Her greatest media claim to fame was being on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on the issue of ‘frugal food’, which made her Mum extremely proud.

Follow Justine on Twitter @JustineBrian