Meet our speakers
Thought-leaders from across business and education will be sharing their views and sparking the debate. More speakers to be announced very soon!
Keynote Speakers
Michael Wooldridge
Michael Wooldridge is the Ashall Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford. He has over 30 years of research experience and has published over 450 scientific articles on the subject. He’s a Fellow of ACM, AAAI, and EurAI, and has served as president for the European Association for AI and the International Joint Conference on AI. He’s received multiple prestigious awards and has published two popular science introductions to AI: the Ladybird Expert Guide to AI (2018), and The Road to Conscious Machines (2020).
Chi Onwurah
Chi Onwurah's inspiration to become an engineer came from Newcastle's great industrial past, and she enjoyed a fulfilling career in engineering after graduating from Imperial College in 1987. She worked across various sectors, including hardware and software development, product management, market development, and strategy, for several private sector companies in different countries, including the UK, France, the US, Nigeria, and Denmark. During this time, she also pursued an MBA from Manchester Business School and earned Chartered Engineering status. Specialising in building infrastructure in new markets and standardising wholesale Ethernet access, her last role before entering parliament was as the head of Telecoms Technology at Ofcom, the Communications Regulator.
Advisory group
Sathpal Singh
Sath is the Chair of the BCS Agile Methods specialist group and a passionate technology and agile leader with 25 years of experience. He has worked with a number of international clients and global brands, transitioning from engineering to leadership roles in both public and private sectors. Currently, he leads global initiatives to develop engineering capability, culture and communities in the financial services sector. Sath holds several professional credentials, including Chartered IT Practitioner (CITP), Chartered Manager (CMgr), a diploma in Digital Marketing and several Agile certifications. He is Fellow of both BCS and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Along aside his role as the Conference and Convention Planning Officer on the BCS’s Community Support Committee he is the organiser of the global online meetup, The Future of Work Scotland and an international keynote speaker.
Jo Stansfield
Jo is CEO and founder of Inclusioneering, and an inclusive innovation consultant. She holds several voluntary roles, including Trustee of BCS, co-chair of BCS Women, board member of the AI ethics charity ForHumanity, and advisory board member for TechUp Skills Bootcamp. Originally an engineer, developing enterprise software for sectors like power and aerospace, Jo transitioned to Business Psychology, earning an MSc with research focused on gender and racial diversity in technology. She leverages her deep understanding of engineering culture and her lived experience in the field to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Gillian Arnold
Gillian has over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, including 22 years at IBM, where she led various technical, sales, and consultancy teams. In 2010, she founded Tectre, focusing on encouraging women into STEM and promoting inclusive company cultures. Tectre provides diversity, ED&I training, and consultancy, particularly in IT. Gillian also holds voluntary and NED roles, including immediate Past President of the British Computer Society and board member of CEPIS. She has received numerous accolades, including the 'Inspiration of the Year' award at the 2012 CISCO Everywoman in Technology Awards and led the BCSWomen group to a UN award for their work in women in tech.
Nadia Abouayoub
Nadia Abouayoub is a strategist and specialist in innovation for the financial sector with over 15 years of experience within fields such as Risk Management, Product Control and Technology in Trading Applications. She started her career at JP Morgan and has since held the role of Director of AI Mobilisation for BSI Regulatory Services. She is involved in various prestigious committees, such as the British Computer Society's AI Specialist Group Committee (S.G.A.I) and the IET's Expert Digital Panel. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Nadia is passionate about AI education, organizing events like the International Machine Intelligence Competition and advising the Cambridge University Library's Strategic Advisory board. She has also lectured on Data Science at the University of London. She is the founder of AIFINAI, an educational platform which aims to transform the financial sector through AI and is currently writing her first book on the impact of AI.
Christine Ashton
Christine Ashton is the Chief Information Officer at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). She has extensive experience in the tech and business sectors, having served as Non-Executive Director at Royal Bank of Scotland International since 2020 and held leadership roles at companies like SUSE, Cogventive, SAP, and Thomson Reuters. As a Fellow of BCS, she contributes to its mission to improve IT for society. Ashton has also held global roles at BP, BG Group, Transport for London, and others, and served on various advisory boards, including Pay.UK and the Home Office.
Steve Sands
Steve Sands is a risk and compliance professional with expertise in information security, IT management, and data protection. Formerly the Chief Information Security Officer at Synectics Solutions Ltd., he now serves as an internal security consultant and Data Protection Officer. A Chartered IT Professional, Steve is a Fellow of BCS and a member of several security bodies, including MCIIS, ISSA, and ISACA. He has been Chair of the BCS Information Security Specialist Group since 2021 and is a qualified ISO27001 Lead Auditor. Steve also represents BCS on the BSI committee for developing information security, cybersecurity, and privacy standards.
