Marta Foresti

Founder and CEO

LAGO Collective

Katharine Willis

Professor of Smart Cities and Communities

University of Plymouth

Naomi Tweddle

Leader

Lincoln City Council

Daniel Gbolagun

Marketing & Social Media Executive

YouFibre

Alex Rowse

Executive Producer

Marshmallow Laser Feast

Shahidha Bari

Professor

University of the Arts London

Paul Dennett

Mayor of Salford

Salford City Council

John Rose-Adams

Associate Director, Innovation and R&D

The University of York

Gus Casely-Hayford

Director

V&A East

John Newbigin

Chair

World Conference on Creative Economy International Steering Committee

Mair Morel

Creative Director

Boomtown Fair

Lara Carmona

Managing Director – Client Strategy & Policy

iNHouse Communications

Adala Leeson

Head of Socio-Economic Analysis and Evaluation

Historic England

Karl Stones

Director

Zeal Creative

Francesca Colloca

Head of Innovation

London Legacy Development Corporation

Debbie Bandara

Senior Lecturer

Manchester Metropolitan University

Ben Ackland

Co-Founder

Meaning Machine

Hannah Harris

Director

Plymouth Culture

Joe Yates

Vice Chancellor

Wrexham University

Alison Lomax

MD UK and Ireland

YouTube

Pam Donnelly

Chief Executive

Colchester City Council

Jorge Lopes Ramos

Co-founder and Director, SIMFONIK / University of Greenwich

G.A.S. Station

Rob Hifle

Creative Director

Lux Aeterna

Josie Durant

Project Manager

BEYOND Studio

Alison Lacy

Chief Operating Officer

Radical Forge

Alexander Whitley

Artistic Director

Alexander Whitley Dance Company

Amy Stuart

Head of Innovation and Ideation

MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub (MITIH)

Nuala Polo

UK Public Policy Lead

Ada Lovelace Institute

Rebecca Madgin

Professor of Urban Studies

University of Glasgow

Anna Cronin

Course Leader

NFTS Creator Academy

Andy Burnham

Mayor of Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Douglas Atkinson

Reader in Fashion Technologies

Manchester Metropolitan University

Richard England

Engineering Director

REK

Mark Leaver

Mark Leaver Consulting

Jonathan Lloyd

Founder & CEO

CG Hero

Mirage Islam

Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Innovation Lead

University of Salford

Judith Ross

Senior Innovation Specialist, AI Digital and Cyber

GM Business Growth Hub

Kirsty Fairclough

Professor of Screen Studies

School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University

Winn Faria

Creative Industries Lead

BridgeAI, IUKBC

Imran Farooq

CEO

MMC Learning

Irene Umar

Vice Minister of the Creative Economy

Ministry of the Creative Economy

Marie-Claire Daly

Head of Culture

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Holly Lewis

Co-Founding Partner,

We Made That

Gary Zhexi Zhang

Artist

Independent

Gemma Bradshaw

Impact Director

The TV Foundation

Katie Moffat

Chair

FACT

Karen Brodie

Deputy Director

Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre

Nana Yu-I Lee

Senior Researcher

Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy

Nihal Arthanayake

TV Presenter and Broadcaster

Rishi Coupland

Director of Research and Innovation

BFI

David Bull

Director

MyWorld – University of Bristol

Cathy Kerfoot

Associate Director, Major Programmes

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Mykaell Riley

Director, Black Music Research Unit

University of Westminster

Elene Toidze

Co-Founder and Director

Creative Clusters Alliance (CCAL)

Daniella Gati

Lecturer in Creative Computing

University of Salford

James Simpson

Director

Copper Candle

Gabrielle Jenks

Digital Director

Factory International

Sally Gilford

Culture Programme Manager

Salford Culture & Place Partnership

Lauren Newport-Quinn

Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Manager

University for the Creative Arts | GAIN

Thea Behrman

Artistic Director & CEO

Estuary Festival

Jocelyn Burnham

Independent AI Communicator

AI for Culture

Rick Shiels

PGA Golf Professional and Founder

Rick Shiels Golf

Justin Lewis

Director

Media Cymru

Martin SFP Bryant

Founder

PreSeed Now

Hugh Brown

Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries

University of Leeds

Mandy Parkinson

Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Knowledge Exchange

University of Salford

John McAuliffe

Director, Creative Manchester

University of Manchester

Katie Popperwell

Chair of Manchester City of Literature

CET / Freelance

Joel Mawhinney

Magician / Content Creator

YouTube / Blue Peter

Nick Royal

GAIN Programme Manager

University of Surrey

Kristina Glushkova

Project Director (UCL),

Creative Experience Lab

Richard Wormwell

Head of Innovation

dock10

Tony Steffert

Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer

SONA

Jo Morrison

Director of Digital Innovation and Research,

Calvium

Kasper De Graaf

i-PLACE

Director

Wiebke Thormählen

Director of Research

Royal Northern College of Music

David Gochfeld

Performance Lab Fellow

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Piotr Mirowski

Senior Staff Research Scientist

Google DeepMind

Ralph MacKinnon

Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

Leah Greene

Head of Simulation and Senior Lecturer

University of Salford

Carolyn Nasiff

Operations/Business Development Manager

Save Your Wardrobe

Laura Partridge

Associate Director

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Ben Woods

Creator Economy Analyst

MIDiA Research

Garth Williams

Director

Safety Catch Ltd

Helena Daffern

Director

CoSTAR Live Lab

Philip Hughes

Founder & CEO

The Digital Creator Association

Bhavini Ghedia

Elevate Board Member

Elevate Board – London Legacy Development Corporation

Tupac Martir

Creative Director

Satore Studio

Guy Gadney

Founder & CEO

Charismatic.ai

Gary Hilton

CEO

GAS Music

Andrew Chitty

Project Director (Loughborough London)

Creative Experience Lab

Pete Woodbridge

R&D Innovation Manager

Music Futures

Sam Ingleson

Associate Dean; Knowledge Exchange, School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology

University of Salford, Manchester

Janine Smith

Interim Co-MD, 4Studio

Channel4

Jen Topping

Writer

Business of TV

Eva Martino

Innovation Lead

University of Bath

Charlotte Parish

Senior Consultant

Connected Places Catapult

Alisha Kadri

Founder

One Giant Leap

Joceyln Cunningham

Director

Lancaster Arts

Lamberto Coccioli

Director

CreaTech Frontiers

Taejun Lee

Professor

KDI School of Public Policy and Management

Emma Cooper

Knowledge Transfer Manager – Creative Industries

Innovate UK Business Connect

Alex Boyd

Found Director

EcoGPX

John Merry

Chair

Key Cities

Anna Collinge

Senior Consultant, Cities Planning and Design

Arup

Florian Block

R&D Lead, AI & Immersive

dock10 / University of York

Sougwen Chung

Artist and researcher

Studio Scilicet

Zara Beth

Content Creator

Zara Beth

Tia-Monique Uzor

Lecturer

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Sarah Ellis

Director of Digital Development

The Royal Shakespeare Company

Gabby Shiner Hill

Director

shinerhilldesign

Ruth McCullough

Executive Producer

Immersive Arts

Kati Price

Head of Experience & Digital

V&A

Aurora Hawcroft

Programme Manager, Digital Innovation (Arts)

British Council

Richard Koeck

Director

MusicFutures

Shanaz Gulzar

Creative Director

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture

Sean Carroll

Business Development Manager

TEND VR

Jane Ollis

Founder

SONA

Julie McCarthy

Strategic Lead for Creative Health

GMCA

Shama Rahman

CEO and Founder

Neurocreate

Thomas Keane

Co-Founder & Creative Director

Meaning Machine

Grace Miller

Head of Failure and Experimentation

FlightStory

Bambo Soyinka

Research Director and Professor of Story

StoryArcs

Robyn Winfield-Smith

Theatre & Emerging Technologies Lead

Hat Trick Productions

Chao Tayiana Maina

Founder & Digital Heritage Specialist

African Digital Heritage

Hilary Knight

Director

Change&

Katie Martin

CEO

Audience Insights

Nicola Osborne

Co-Investigator

CoSTAR Realtime Lab

Owen Hopkin

Director of New Technologies and Innovation

Arts Council England

Angie Bual

Creative Director

Trigger

Audra Gill

Head of Creative Industries

Arts and Humanities Research Council