Conference Facilitators

Kate Adie

People used to joke that if you find yourself in the same place as Adie you should get out immediately. As Chief News Reporter she broadcast from the front line in the Gulf War and riots in Tiananmen Square. Kate talks about Britain’s home front, and when women started going to football matches.

Henry Ajder

Henry works at the frontier of the generative AI and synthetic media revolution. He presented the BBC documentary series The Future will be Synthesised, and advises organisations on the challenges and opportunities new technologies present.

Ayo Akinwolere

Ayo became one of four people of colour with a swimming world record, when he swam in one of the deepest stretches of water on earth. The former Blue Peter presenter has written for the Daily Telegraph, BBC Sport and the Independent, and appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, the Great British Bake Off and Celebrity Pointless. After moving into sports and current affairs, Ayo co-created the production company Milk First Productions, which aims to tell diverse stories and amplify diverse voices.

Dr Nighat Arif

Dr Nighat is a GP specialising in women’s health and family planning. She is a medical educator and provides teaching to local trainee GPs as well as at national and international conferences. Nighat was nominated for the National Bevan Prize for Health and Wellbeing to acknowledge her commitment to advancing wellbeing in her community. She has worked to raise awareness on menopause and women’s healthcare in Black and Asian women, and presented her clinical work at the Menopause in the Workplace Parliamentary committee hearing. Nighat...

Vanessa Baffoe

Vanessa is a Journalist and Presenter at Sky News. She has previously worked at BBC News and ITV News. She also hosts and moderates International Women’s Day for all of Sky’s platforms.

Dr Victoria Baines

Having worked in law enforcement and cybersecurity, Victoria joined the social media giant in a leading role to connect the business to government and security agencies. A leading thinker on trust and safety in the digital world, she looks at everything from the how, why and who of fake news to what AI could do for privacy, the myths and realities of cybercrime to what invading someone’s space in virtual reality might mean.

Clare Balding

Clare is the First Lady of TV sport. The ex-champion jockey fronts Royal Ascot, the Olympics, and the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. After dinner Clare shares highs and lows, and takes guests behind the latest back page headlines. She is also adept at live Q&A with sporting heroes.

Cally Beaton

After joining the board of ITV, setting up her own company and serving as SVP in charge of International Sales at media giant Viacom, Cally has also started a parallel career in comedy. She brings humour and energy to workplace insights ranging from how to foster a creative, positive environment to how to inspire and lead through change.

Jason Bradbury

Labelling himself a ‘first generation geek,’ Jason is fixated with tech and all things web-related. And as David Walliams’ one-time stand-up partner he’s also a very entertaining performer. After looking at past technological breakthroughs, Jason explains why the next ten years could see as much progress as the last millennium. Using his own inventions (a robot and a glove phone), he shows how computers will become so integral that we cease to treat them as objects.