Ross Brown, 27, was raised and continues to live in Belfast.

He attended Queens University and studied a BA in Economics and International Studies and an masters in Legislative Studies & Practice.
Ross worked previously for one year as an Assistant Economist at the Treasury in London on behalf of the European Economics Team.

During his time as a student, he also spent one year in the USA studying for a certificate in American Business Practice at St. Anselm College, New Hampshire.

As part of his MA course, Ross also worked for eight months as an Assistant Clerk on behalf of the Committee for Finance and Personnel at the NI Assembly.
In September 2011, Ross established a local group of the Green Party in East Belfast and today he continues to coordinate the group and represent the group on the Green Party NI Executive.

In his spare time, Ross takes a keen interest in electronic music and enjoys DJing.

He speaks conversational Spanish, plays recreational ice hockey and enjoys reading.

On running as the Green Party’s candidate he has said:
"I have always had an interest in politics but my time spent in education and in living abroad has really broadened my mind.

"I feel privileged to have had such opportunities and feel that becoming active in politics was one way to devote my skills and to give something back to society.
"I’m asking for you to vote for me not to keep the ‘other side’ out but because you actually share my vision.

"Life is a lot harder than it should be for far too many people.

"Child poverty is getting worse, 44% of people are living in fuel poverty, we have a long tail of educational underachievement, people are more depressed and anxious than they have ever been, our communities are breaking down, and more people than ever are suffering from the consequences such as obesity and diabetes as the result of a health system which reactively treats people rather than proactively seeking to prevent illness.

"And all of these problems are before you even consider the impact of austerity.

"The question I ask is what have today’s politicians done for you and if your answer is the same as mine, then why do we keep voting to return them to power?
"I am standing as a candidate because I care about the injustices that we all see day and daily on our TV screens that no one else seems to care much about.

"I joined the Green Party because as an international movement, we are the only party which is standing together and ready to work together with a common election manifesto towards our vision for a Europe based on the principles of social justice, sustainability and equality for all.
"Our society needs to recognize that our elected European representatives shape the workings of an elected institution, which affects hundreds of millions of people. "It’s a given that it is the job of any locally elected representative to ensure that their region gets the best deal from Europe but we need to rise to the challenge of electing an MEP who is going to take a role in play in building a fair, peaceful and democratically accountable Europe for everyone.

"The old politics of identity which have held NI back for so long has no place in European politics. Europe is the place for new and big ideas for the future.
"The Green Party believes in a different European economy - an economy based cooperation rather than competition, which aims to localize rather than internationalise, an economy which serves the people rather than the people serving the markets and an economy which uses the enormous wealth of our societies to ensure that puts the care for the sick and vulnerable at the heart of our objectives. "It is clear that such changes require a fundamental rethink at the very top and require cooperation.
"The Green Party is the only political party with 49 MEPs from right across the continent who are working together and cooperating to solve these problems.