Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea BSc, PhD is Patron of the Edinburgh Sacred Arts Foundation. An internationally distinguished computer scientist, he was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh from October 2002 - February 2018, having previously served as Master of Birkbeck College and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. He was Chair of the Edinburgh Fringe Society from 2016 – 2021. He was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Gordon Graham is Chair of the ESAF, and Director of the Festival of the Sacred Arts in the Fringe. A graduate of the Universities of St Andrews and Durham, he taught philosophy at St Andrews where he also established the University Music Centre. In 2006 he moved to the United States to become Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary, and remained there until his retirement in 2018. His many publications on art and religion include three books -- Philosophy of the Arts (Routledge, 3rd edition 2005), The Re-enchantment of the World: art versus religion (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Philosophy, Art and Religion: understanding faith and creativity (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Barnaby Miln is Secretary-Treasurer of the ESAF. He serves as Property Convener of St Vincent's Chapel, and Venue Manager for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A regular music reviewer, covering many concerts in Edinburgh each year, he was a seedsman and agricultural plant breeder by profession. Barnaby has long and extensive experience in promoting and organizing major events -- the AIDS ribbon and World AIDS Day (1986/7), the first Fairtrade Fortnight (1997) and the Jubilee 2000 Human Chain for the meeting of G7 leaders in Birmingham (1998). As a magistrate, he was the first openly gay member of the British judiciary. Formerly a member of the Church of England General Synod, he is currently a member of the Scottish Episcopal General Synod.
Eve Poole is a Trustee of the ESAF. She has a BA from Durham, an MBA from Edinburgh, and a PhD in theology and capitalism from Cambridge. She is the author of several books, including Leadersmithing, which was Highly Commended in the 2018 Business Book Awards. She was Third Church Estates Commissioner (2018-2021) and the first female Chairman of the Board of Governors at Gordonstoun (2015-2021). She taught leadership at Ashridge Business School for 15 years, having previously worked for the Church Commissioners and Deloitte Consulting, where she specialised in change management. She is a regular contributor to Thought for the Day for BBC Radio Scotland. Eve was awarded an OBE in the 2023 New Year Honours List
Harry Whalley BA., MMus., PhD, is a Trustee of the ESAF and Reader in Music Composition & Technology at the University for the Creative Arts, having taught previously at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is an award winning composer of contemporary classical, film and electroacoustic music, and a Fellow of the London College of Music. His works have been performed across the world, as well as around the UK and Ireland. He has acted as the chairman of the Edinburgh Contemporary Music Ensemble, and in 2016 was appointed the first 'Composer in Residence' for St. Vincent's Chapel, Edinburgh, a regular venue for events in the Festival of the Sacred Arts.
Christine De Luca writes in English and Shetlandic, a blend of Old Scots with much Norse influence. A Trustee of the ESAF, she was Edinburgh's poet laureate (Makar) between 2014 and 2017. Her poetry collections have won several awards over the years. Her poems have featured in many anthologies and been translated into many other languages. In recent years her poems have been selected four times for the Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poems. Her second novel, The Trials of Mary Johnsdaughter, will be published shortly by Luath Press. She enjoys collaborations across the arts, most recently with Victoria Crowe and with Tommy Smith. Christine is one of the founders of Hansel Co-operative Press which promotes literary and artistic work in Shetland and Orkney.