Academic speakers

Adam’s keynote presentations are an illuminating conversation that not only inspire strategic innovation but also unleash personal and team creativity and improve organizational culture. He speaks with warmth and compassion on generational paradigms of work and leadership encouraging organisations to have different and better conversations, creating a simple approachable path to transforming business success.

Adrian Furnham was educated at the London School of Economics where he obtained a distinction in an MSc Econ., and at Oxford University where he completed a doctorate (D.Phil) in 1981. He has subsequently earned a D.Sc (1991) and D.Litt (1995) degree. Previously a lecturer in Psychology at Pembroke College, Oxford, he was Professor of Psychology at University College London since 1992-2018. He has lectured and given keynote speeches globally in many of the World's largest organisations.

Alison is an economist and Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London. Alison's study focus is based upon the relationship between education and the labour market. Her latest book is The XX Factor, from this basis, turns to focus upon the current reality that is the relationship between women and work. Alison discusses how women are moving boldly into the ranks of the power and business elite, but at the cost of creating a new society.

As the author of “Getting China and India Right” and “The Quest for Global Dominance”, as well as the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching, Anil has been recognized by BusinessWeek as an outstanding faculty in its ‘Guide to the Best Business Schools’. He is ranked by Management International Review as one of the ‘Top 20 North American Superstars’ for research in strategy and organisation. He has written or contributed to over 70 academic papers, seeking to advance economic and strategic theory as well as practice. He is a regular contributor to the Wall St Journal, the Financial Times and numerous other newspapers and major management journals. A regular speaker at major conferences, Anil also serves as an adviser and director for corporations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Augusto Lopez-Claros was chief economist and director of the Global Competitiveness program at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, and is also a former Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund in Russia.

Charles Bean was Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy at the Bank of England from 2008-2014. From 2000 – 2008, he served as Chief Economist at the Bank.

Charles Spence is an Oxford University Professor who has done a huge amount of research on food and drink and how it affects our cognitive and sensory behaviours. He has also published a number of books and won numerous international awards.

Chicco is Chairman of the Board of Roma Metropolitane, the company in charge of the construction of the new underground lines in Rome. He is also a Senior Partner at Rothschild Italia, a member of the Board of Directors of Lloyd Adriatico and RAS, Chairman of the Board of Telit Communications PLC and Chairman of the Board of E.V.A., a company developing hydropower generation plants. He is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the European Carbon Fund and also Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 20th World Energy Congress.

Chris Roebuck specializes in showing individual leaders and organisations how performance can be increased to add value, serve customers better, build brand and boost bottom line by 10% + for no cost using knowledge they already have.

Dr. Daniel Hulme is the CEO of Satalia, an AI solution provider that also uses AI to operates as a decentralised organisation without traditional corporate structures. Daniel is also the Entrepreneur in Residence for UCL’s Computer Science department, which is one of the world’s leading AI research institutions. He has a Masters and Doctorate in AI from UCL and is a faculty member of the Singularity University. Daniel has Advisory and Executive positions across many companies and actively promotes purposeful entrepreneurship and technology innovation across the globe.

Daniel Kahneman is regarded by many as the most influential psychologist, winning a Nobel Prize in economics for the development of Prospect Theory, even though he has never had any formal education in the subject. He began his academic career studying visual perception at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem but went on to focus on judgment and decision-making when he started collaborating with Amos Tversky. Together they created the field of behavioural economics by picking apart the unreliable mind, noticing how it can trick us into thinking we are making rational decisions on the basis of expertise, even when evidence shows to the contrary.

Daniel Susskind is Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he teaches and researches. He worked for the British Government in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and also as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.

Dave Ulrich is an academic advocating a radical transformation in HR, stating it is time for HR to step up and take a seat with the decision makers. Dave has published over 25 management books and over 200 articles and book chapters. His teaching and research addresses the question how to create an organisation that adds value to employees, customers, and investors? Dave studies how organisations change fast, build capabilities, learn, remove boundaries, and leverage human resource activities. Dave has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200 corporations.

David Blanchflower is a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and most notably was the first influential person within UK banking to raise the alarm about the credit crunch.

David began his career as an architectural psychologist studying the interactions between people and buildings, publishing and providing consultancy on the designs of offices, schools, prisons, housing and other building forms. His work in architecture led to studies of human reactions in fires and other emergencies. David went on to pioneered investigative psychology in Britain, setting up journals and aiding the police in 1985 on the Railway Rapist case. He was the Professor of Psychology at the University of Surrey for ten years, where he developed investigative psychology. David went on to set up the Centre For Investigative Psychology which is based at the University of Liverpool. Since 2009 he has been at the University of Huddersfield and is the founder and director of the International Academy for Investigative Psychology, a professional academy for researchers seeking to apply social science to investigative and legal processes.

Professor David Guest joined King’s College London in 2000 and has since had a spell as Head of Department and Deputy Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy. He has written and researched extensively in the areas of human resource management, employment relations and the psychological contract, motivation and commitment, and careers. David is currently Chair of the Examination Board for the MSc in Human Resource Management and Organisational Analysis.

ITN Science Editor, Deborah is the former investigations editor of the BMJ. As investigations editor of the BMJ, much of her work has focused on drug and medical device regulation, access to clinical data, cost of medicines, research integrity and conflicts of interest. She has collaborated on documentaries with the BBC Panorama and Newsnight, Channel 4 News and Dispatches, The Telegraph, as well has having worked with the Cochrane Collaboration.

Dr Aleks Krotoski is a researcher and journalist who writes about and studies technology and interactivity, focusing on the makeup of online relationships, online influence, and information diffusion through the social networks of the Web.

Ed Balls is Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Visiting Professor to the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Chairman of Norwich City Football Club.

Fons Trompenaars is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and author in the field of cross-cultural communication, known for the development of Trompenaars' model of national culture differences.

Dame Frances Cairncross is an economist and former journalist with a strong interest in higher education, in the future of the press, and in the impacts of technological change on society and on the global economy.

Garry Hunt is a uniquely skilled public speaker, facilitator & international businessman who has performed at such diverse places as the London Palladium, The Royal Institution, The Royal Society, company Boardrooms, Universities & TV studios throughout the world. He has a wide range of talents, as an international businessman, scientist, TV, radio broadcaster, author & speaker.

George McGavin is a British entomologist, author, academic, television presenter and explorer.

Germaine Greer is an Australian theorist, academic and journalist, who is regarded as having been a major feminist voice of the mid-20th Century.

Gilly is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge; she is also a Fellow of St Catharine’s College. She has published widely in the fields of history, archaeology and the heritage of the German occupation of the Channel Islands, 1940-1945. She also regularly speaks at international conferences in these areas. She is particularly passionate about victims of Nazi persecution and has pioneered the concept of ‘Occupation Archaeology’, the archaeology of military occupation during WWII. She is a firm believer in the role of academics as activists and interventionists in the memory and heritage of those they study.

Haiyan Wang is Managing Partner of the China India Institute, a research consultancy with a focus on creating winning global strategies that leverage the transformational rise of China and India. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Strategy at INSEAD.

Dr Hannah Fry is an Associate Professor in Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL.

A superb speaker, Helen Sharman OBE enthuses her audience about Space, STEM and the wonders of science. She describes the meticulous training and preparation, learning Russian, the launch and landing, how weightlessness feels, her science experiments, the team spirit, and adjusting to life back on Earth. Awarded the OBE in 1993, Helen Sharman is a full-time scientist, a pioneer, a role model for young people (of all ages!) and an inspiration.

Ian Goldin is Director of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford. Ian was Vice President of the World Bank from 2003-6 and prior to that the Bank's Director of Development Policy from 2001-3. From 1996 to 2001 he was Managing Director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and served as an adviser to President Mandela. He succeeded in transforming the bank to become the leading agent of development in the 14 countries of Southern Africa.

Dr Imran Awan is an author, academic and researcher who is exploring the role of crime and its impact on society.

With over 25 years experience in future analysis, James is a remarkable record as a writer, analyst, and presenter. James is also a leading futurologist and author of considerable reputation. James has a zealous interest in key trends and statistics facing current and future businesses. James' work challenges organisations to better anticipate change and adapt faster.

Globally respected and prominent figurehead in climate change, clean energy, sustainability, and water; the factors regarded as the rasion d'etre for any society seeking, not only to survive, but to evolve. He is currently affiliated with Yale University, and is a world leading academic in the field of environmental law and policy. Former international barrister with an extensive knowledge of government financing and climate change.

James Naughtie is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. From 1994 - 2015 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.

Jeffrey is the President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance a non-profit organisation aimed at ending extreme global poverty, as well as being the Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and other key roles in organisations involved with environment and sustainability. Jeffrey has spent much of his career wrestling with the issues of world poverty and health and environmental sustainability but he made his name in the mid 80's and 90's as an economist working with countries undergoing massive upheaval. His best-selling books include Common Wealth (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011) in which he turns his attentions homewards and calls for a kinder more responsible society in the wake of repeated economic crises. He has also written hundreds of learned articles and a text book on macroeconomics that is used worldwide

John Amaechi OBE partners with organisations to help leaders move from being transactional to transformational. He focuses on improving performance, solving intractable people problems and creates thriving workplaces despite the challenges and disruption of the modern world. Prior to founding his own firm, John spent several years as a professional athlete, becoming the first Brit to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

John is a world leading management thinker and economist; his work has been mostly concerned with the application of economics to the analysis of changes in industrial structure and the competitive advantage of individual firms. John is a distinguished academic, a successful businessman, an adviser to companies and governments around the world, and an acclaimed columnist. Looking at all aspects of economics from investment to monetary supply, industry and markets to government and world finance, John provides an illuminating, accessible, and often surprisingly amusing analysis of the complexities of money.

John Kotter spent over 30 yrs at Harvard studying change before forming his own organization Kotter International which helps leading companies implement their change strategies. His internationally bestselling "Leading Change", which outlines an actionable, 8-step process for implementing successful transformations, became the change bible for managers around the world. His academic articles in the Harvard Business Review have sold a million and a half copies and have been reprinted many times. His influence has been hailed by BusinessWeek, Fortune, The Financial Times and countless other publications around the world, being ranked number 34 in the Thinkers50 list of top business gurus 2011, as well as Business Week magazine's number 1 "leadership guru" in America 2001.

Joseph is the co-founder and co-president of Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue; as well as a University Professor and co-chair of the Committee on Global Thought for New York University. He is regarded worldwide as a leading economic educator, and his textbooks are available in over a dozen languages. He is also the founder of The Journal of Economic Perspectives, one of the leading journals of economics.

Kevin has worked as a doctor with NASA and now he currently flies as part of a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) crew in the UK. He is a frontline emergency physician whose expertise lies in understanding teamwork, risk management and decision making under extreme pressure.

Laurie Taylor’s career has included stints as a teacher, a salesman, and actor, and as a lecturer and Professor of Sociology at York University, where he supposedly became the model for Howard Kirk in Malcolm Bradbury’s 1975 campus novel The History Man.

Lenny Henry is the founding member of Comic Relief and an award winning comedian. His media career spans over 30 years as a documentary maker and communicator. Lenny has recently completed a BA Honours in English Literature with the Open University.

Linda Papadopoulos is a Canadian psychologist of Greek Cypriot descent, based in England. She is the author of books such as Psychodermatology, Becoming a Therapist, Psychological Approaches to Dermatology, the popular psychology books The Man Manual and What Men Say what Women Hear, which make the claim that there are inherent gender differences in relationships, and Mirror Mirror: Dr. Linda's Body Image Revolution, a book on using CBT to promote a healthy body image.

Lord Jim O’Neill is a retired chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a British economist.

Lynda Gratton a British organisational theorist, consultant, and Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and the founder of the Hot Spots Movement, known for her work on organisational behaviour.

Margaret Mountford is a British lawyer, businesswoman and television personality best known for her role in The Apprentice. Returning to education later in life, she completed her PhD in 2012 at University College London. Margaret also chairs the Bright Ideas Trust. BIT was set up by the first Apprentice winner Tim Campbell, and helps young people start their own businesses.

Maurice Glasman is an English academic, social thinker and Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He is a senior lecturer in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University and Director of its Faith and Citizenship Programme. He is best known as the originator of Blue Labour, a term he coined in 2009.

Melanie Windridge works as a consultant with science and technology start-up businesses – including Tokamak Energy in nuclear fusion – and in education. An expert in the aurora and in fusion energy, she likes to combine her scientific knowledge and experience with her love of adventure to promote a better understanding of science through writing, public lectures, science festivals, videos and television.

Professor Merlin Stone is one of the UK's top experts in marketing, customer management and customer insight. After a long career in management, research, management consulting and universities, he now runs his own consulting, research and training practice.

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, bestselling author, acclaimed public speaker, renowned futurist, and populariser of science. As co-founder of String Field Theory, Dr. Kaku carries on Einstein’s quest to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into a single grand unified theory of everything.

Trend forecaster, academic, product developer, writer and broadcaster, Morgaine lives and breathes ideas and future trends. She asks the question 'why' so that she can deliver the 'what'. Identifying why people aspire to new things, she discovers what will be desirable and aspirational in the future. She endeavors to make food fun, informative and a social commentary on culture, class, behaviours and belief. She is the founder and director of Bellwether: Food Trends, a fashion/design/food/social trend (digital and print) compendium for global markets.

Hack has turned adversaries into allies throughout the world. Her pioneering work on engagement leadership and her unique framework Strategic Relational Engagement (SRE™) is based on decades of real-life success in bringing together diverse stakeholders to find common ground and achieve great goals. Named one of Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, Hack works with executives of Fortune 500 companies, heads of state, and leaders of global organizations.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb has devoted his life to immersing himself in problems of luck, randomness, human error, probability, and the philosophy of knowledge.

Nick Bostrom is a Professor at Oxford University, where he is the founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and works on AI policy and foundations of macrostrategy; advising some actors in the AI space as part of AI giant DeepMind’s ethics board.

For almost 20 years Otmar Issing has been one of the most influential European central bankers. Otmar holds honorary doctorates from several universities, and is the author and publisher of important economic literature (Monetary Policy in the Euro Area, Cambridge University Press, 2001). The architect of the 'Two Column Strategy': Economic indicators as well as monetary criteria (i.e. growth of money supply) have to be considered for any decisions on interest rates.

Parag Khanna is a leading global strategist, world traveler, and best-selling author. He is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is also the Managing Partner of Hybrid Reality, a boutique geostrategic advisory firm, and Co-Founder & CEO of Factotum, a leading content branding agency.

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Before heading the independent research institute Paul was the Treasury’s Director of Public Spending. Now heading arguably the country’s leading economic research organisation, Paul considers the size of cuts to come, welfare and tax. He also examines radical changes in pension policy and how well pensioners are doing relative to those of working age; the behaviour of the labour market; and how we have witnessed a fall in living standards combined with a fall in inequality.

Author of eight books, including "Leading Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise", Peter delivers bespoke masterclasses that fuse together his passion for music to facilitate businesses with leadership, strategy, innovation and creativity. Peter uses a rich mix of business intelligence with the power of music to inspire, inform, and engage his audience in ways that stay with them forever.

Prof. Lord Robert Winston is famous for his enormous work on gynaecology and fertility. He has written books on fertility, pregnancy and conception. He is best known on television for his pioneering series ‘Child of Our Time’ and is Patron of child bereavement charity Winston’s Wish.

Steve has an unparalleled reputation for giving people an edge – as well as the confidence to overcome defeat. His specialist interest is in the working of the human mind and how it can reach optimum performance applied to all walks of life. He works with Liverpool Football Club, England Football and Sky ProCycling, and has current and past involvements in many other Olympic and non-Olympic Sports, including British Cycling, England Rugby, World Championship Snooker and Premier league Football.

Known for her social media campaign to save Bletchley Park, Sue Black is a computer scientist and a passionate advocate for women in tech. Navigating her PHD at 25 years old as a single parent of three, she found technology to be her saviour. Now, she has created networks and social enterprises to pass on her knowledge and empower people.

Richard is the UK's most celebrated nature writer and a major voice in promoting environmental issues. He is an experienced speaker on topics such as the Environment and Nature. As well as delivering regular lectures, he contributes frequently to BBC radio.

Rita McGrath is regarded as one of the world’s top experts on strategy and innovation with particular emphasis on developing sound strategy in uncertain and volatile environments. Her ideas are widely used by leading organisations throughout the world, who describe her thinking as sometimes provocative, but unfailing stimulating. She fosters a fresh approach to strategy amongst those with whom she works.

Robert Phillips is the author of the ground-breaking and controversial Trust Me, PR is Dead; a Visiting Professor at Cass Business School; and co-founder of Jericho Chambers. Robert advises major companies and organisations committed to a better society and the common good – helping them navigate towards meaningful change through what they do, not what they say.

Samira Ahmed has presented Radio 4’s PM, The World Tonight and Sunday. She also presented two Proms for BBC Four and is one of the presenters of Night Waves.

Sarah Harper is a British gerontologist. She achieved particular acclaim when she established Oxford's Institute of Ageing, and became the University of Oxford’s first professor of Gerontology.

Sarah Wood OBE is co-founder and CEO of video ad tech company Unruly, where she ensures the company delivers the most awesome social video campaigns on the planet. Sarah was named one of 15 Women to Watch in Tech by Inc. and one of 10 London-Based Entrepreneurs to Watch by Forbes.

Simon Schama, CBE is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University, New York.

Sir Crispin is a leading international authority on climate change and environmental issues, and is best known for bringing these issues to the attention of governments at the highest level, and thereby influencing policy. He is author of the ground-breaking book Climate Change and World Affairs (1977 and 1986) and Mary Anning of Lyme Regis (1996). He has contributed to many books on environmental issues (including human population, and conservation of biodiversity).

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English engineer and computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web.

Stéphane Garelli is widely considered to be one of the top lecturers on economic and business matters. He has a unique ability to analyze and describe the world economic environment as it evolves, and to draw conclusions about what changes in the world economy actually mean for companies and individuals alike.

Stewart Wood was an Oxford lecturer who became a full time political adviser to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, first at the Treasury and subsequently in 10 Downing Street. He then became a Shadow Cabinet member under Ed Miliband.

Tanya Byron is best known for her work as a child therapist and specialises in emotional resilience in both young people and adults.

The author of Neuroscience for Leadership: Harnessing the Brain Gain Advantage and The Source. Tara examines the science behind leadership as well as offering fascinating insights in to resilience, performance, bias, stress and change. She considers what individuals and teams can achieve once they understand why they think, feel and act the way they do.

Thierry Malleret is the managing partner of the Monthly Barometer, a succinct predictive analysis exclusively provided to private investors and some of today's most influential opinion and decision-makers.

Professor Tony Travers is the director of LSE Greater London Group, a research centre at the London School of Economics concerned with issues relating to the government and economy of London and South-East England. Tony is a illustrious commentator on the public sector and local government, especially in regards to London. Tony regularly comments on the BBC and in-print publications, including The Guardian newspaper.

One of the top 20 most influential HR thinkers, Professor Hope-Hailey is a leading researcher in the fields of business strategy, HR, and change.

Vic Strecher has been a Professor at the University of Michigan's Schools of Public Health and Medicine since 1995. Dr. Strecher founded the UM Center for Health Communications Research, a collaborative research-focused organization of health and behavioral scientists, educators, software engineers, and artists. Currently, as Director for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, Dr. Strecher is working in the UM School of Public Health and the University of Michigan to create an environment that promotes more direct dissemination of research and teaching efforts to improve the public’s health nationally and globally.

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger’s areas of expertise include data privacy; information innovation and governance; memory and forgetting in a digital age, and electronic government, making Viktor a sought after and revered keynote speaker.

Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran looks deep into the brain’s most basic mechanisms. By working with those who have very specific mental disabilities caused by brain injury or stroke, he can map functions of the mind to physical structures of the brain.