Future Trends Speakers

Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Maggie has led projects making anything from land mine detectors to satellite sub-systems that measure variables like wind speed to improve our knowledge of climate change. In presentations the Sky At Night expert talks about exploring space with missions like Rosetta, and how we live in a galaxy with 200 billion stars. Maggie believes that with 100 billion galaxies in the universe, there must be life out there – simply as a matter of probability.

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.

Anne Applebaum

Anne is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. A Washington Post columnist for fifteen years and a former member of the editorial board, she has also worked as the foreign and deputy editor of the Spectator, and as the political editor of the Evening Standard. Her book, The Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, considers why some of Anne’s contemporaries have abandoned liberal democratic ideals in favour of strongman cults, nationalist movements, or one-party states.

Christine Armstrong

Communications and management expert, and acclaimed author, Christine considers what modern, values-driven, inclusive organisations should look like and how they should operate. Touching on work-life balance, workplace culture, 'hybrid work',  management and mental health, she examines the new challenges to old ways of doing business. From remote working to diversity strategies, she points out the misleading assumptions and dares organisations to think differently about what they do, how and where they do it. She was named sixth out of the top fifty Future of Work influ...

Ros Atkins

Ros joined the BBC as a producer on Five Live and is now the BBC News Analysis Editor and presenter of The Media Show on Radio 4. He produces viral explainer videos on topical news stories that led to him being labelled been labelled 'Explainer-in-Chief', and founded the BBC's 50:50 Project which aimed to increase the representation of women in journalism. He is also the author of The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence.

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.

Ed Balls

Noted as one of the leading economic voices in the Labour governments of the 1990s and 2000s, Ed was a key architect of policies from the independence of the Bank of England to the minimum wage. Having left frontline politics his new life has encompassed academia in the US and UK, presenting documentaries, analysing the big stories alongside George Osborne on Political Currency, and, of course, a celebrated turn on Strictly Come Dancing.

Georgie Barrat

On TV Georgie is part of the Gadget Show team and a regular tech correspondent. Away from reviewing the latest apps and devices she considers the implications for business and society of developments in the digital world, the changing expectations of the next generation of employees, and how to encourage more women to work in tech.

Jamie Bartlett

Jamie is the creator and host of the popular BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen and is the author of The People Vs Tech, The Dark Net and Radicals. He has explored everything from online subcultures and hackers to blockchain and cryptocurrencies to the threat social media has on democracy.

Carl Bildt

Once UN High Representative in Bosnia, Bildt challenges Europe and the US to find a common vision to meet the threat to world order. Now that we are endangered by weak states and shadowy structures, how can we prevent a clash between fundamentalists and reformers within a civilisation becoming one between civilisations?

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.

Todd Buchholz

As well as serving under George Bush Sr, Todd has headed a $15bn hedge fund, lectured on economics at Harvard and co-produced a Broadway hit. He has also written about global upheaval in Market Shock. Todd looks at macro and geopolitical issues, like the crisis in Syria, and the impact they have on financial markets and business strategy.

Alastair Campbell

Alastair ran Labour’s communications for ten years, in and out of government. Alongside co-hosting The Rest is Politics podcast, he advises on both political and organisational strategy, as well as working extensively with charities and campaigning around mental health. He’s written a slew of books including Winners, drawing inspiration from high achievers in sport, business and politics. In presentations Alastair explains what to do when you come under pressure: “Challenge your basic assumptions, put yourselves in your opponent’s shoes, devise a tight plan from t...

Calum Chace

After working for the likes of the BBC, BP and KPMG, Calum took a wealth of business and media experience and combined it with a passion for technology and robotics. Now one of the leading commentators on artificial intelligence, he looks at the vast potential for both good and ill, considering the development of AI, its portrayal in the media and in fiction, and what might await us in the future.

Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Tomas uses science and tech to help organisations predict human performance. He creates tools that help organisations predict human performance and improve the ability for people to understand themselves better.

Lavinia D. Osbourne

A Blockchain, Web 3.0 & NFT specialist, Lavinia is a consultant and thought leader sharing her knowledge to help break down barriers within these emerging technologies. She founded Women in Blockchain Talks and Crypto Kweens to help provide resources to those underrepresented.

Professor Lewis Dartnell

Lewis is an astrobiology researcher and professor at the University of Westminster. The author of The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch, Lewis also writes for The Guardian, The Times, and New Scientist. On TV he has appeared on the BBC, Discovery, and National Geographic channels.

Alex Depledge

Leaving her job at Accenture for the uncertainty of a startup, Alex and her friend Jules started helping.com (formerly hassle.com). The pair got through the challenges, the mistakes, and the lack of investment to build a company that sold for over £20million. They’ve repeated the process with Resi, a disruptive architecture and planning business that is now a market-leader. Alex looks at the lessons she's learned, from startup mindsets to the future of the workplace, the pressures on leaders to balancing culture and growth (including a dramatic increase in Resi's...

Lyse Doucet

One of the BBC’s most widely respected journalists, Lyse has covered some of the most tumultuous events around the world, from the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan to the Arab Spring uprisings and the war in Ukraine. Despite the conflict and terror, she’s an unshakeable optimist, seeing the humanity and unity of people in the toughest of circumstances. She analyses the political and social uncertainty the world faces, and considers the nature of risk. She also reveals the lighter side to reporting from some of the world’s most dangerous places.

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Matthew Drinkwater

Working at the cutting-edge of fashion, technology and retail, Matthew demonstrates how the fashion industry is being changed in every facet of its operation from manufacture and supply chain to retail and design. From what clothes can do (monitoring your activities, charging your phone) to how VR could replace high street shop to how robots could replace craftspeople, he finds important lessons for any industry in collaboration, disruption and future strategy.

Keren Elazari

Hacker turned cybersecurity expert and academic, Keren looks at everything from corporate espionage to national security and geopolitics, as they are played out on, and being radically changed by digital and social media. The acclaimed TED speaker looks at why hackers might hold the key to the future of the internet, common security myths, and the intersection of business, commerce and society.