Silvia Giordani is full Professor Chair of Nanomaterials at the School of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University. She received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Miami, USA and carried out postdoctoral research at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland and at the University of Trieste, Italy. In 2007 she received the prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award and was a Research Assistant Professor at TCD from 2007 to 2013. In September 2013 she founded the new “Nano Carbon Materials” research lab at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and in December 2016 she was appointed Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Turin, Italy. She acted as Head of School of Chemical Sciences at DCU from 2020 to 2023.Her main research interests are in the design, synthesis, and characterization of a wide range of nanomaterials for applications in smart and responsive bio-related nanotechnologies. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications in International journals from 2001 to date, including Chemistry Society Reviews, Nature Nanotechnology, PNAS, Advanced Materials, ACS Nano and J. Am. Chem. Soc. that collectively have received over 9,000 citations and her results have been highlighted in journals such as Science, Nature, and New Scientist. Prof. Giordani has also presented her work at numerous conferences around the world e.g. in United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and across most of Europe. She has served as the thesis/dissertation advisor or mentor to over 50 undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral fellows. In 2012 she was awarded the L’Oréal UK & Ireland Fellowship For Women in Science and in 2014 she has been invited to give a “Women in Science” Masterclass at the Royal Irish Academy. In 2018 she was awarded the William Evans Fellowship from the University of Otago (New Zealand) and was a Visiting Scientist to the Bio-Nano Institute at Toyo University (Japan). She is Associate Editor for Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology and for Frontiers in Chemistry - Supramolecular Chemistry.

Yuliya Semenova received her Master in Electronic Engineering degree from the National University “Lviv Polytechnic” in Ukraine in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Physics from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1999. She is Professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Technological University Dublin, where she has been since 2001, and Director of Photonics Research Centre since 2019. She has over 350 publications in the field of photonics with over 5500 citations to her work. She has given numerous invited talks and tutorials and supervised to completion 14 PhD graduates. She is an Associate Editor of several journals in her field including IET Electronics Letters,
Journal of Lightwave Technology and Sensors. Her current research interests span both photonics and applications of photonic devices in engineering with a focus on fibre optics. Much of her work to date has been on improving the design and performance of optical fibre sensors with applications ranging from macro- to nanoscales. Some of the specific areas of her interests are: whispering gallery mode effects in microfiber resonators, plasmonic structures and photonic (liquid) crystal fibre sensors.

Dr. Anna Puig Centelles received her degree in computer engineering from the Universitat Jaume I (Spain) and the M.Sc. from the Vrije Universiteit (The Netherlands) on medical protocols. Anna obtained her Ph.D. on computer graphics after doing a research internship in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) and Université de Limoges (France). After working in Academia for many years, Anna started working as project manager focused on neuroscience and satellite technologies. Anna joined the European Commission in 2018 as programme officer in DG CNECT. Her current responsibilities include working as project officer for H2020 and HE projects in HADEA, the Health and Digital Executive Agency established by the European Commission https://hadea.ec.europa.eu
You can follow her on Twitter (@APuigCentelles) and LinkedIn

Amy has a Master and PhD in material science, and is a chartered engineer. After postdocing at the diamond light source in Oxfordshire, and Tampere University of technology in Finland, she moved to Montreal Canada, to work as a project engineer scaling technology between TRL4 to TRL 6 for Pratt and Whitney Canada. In 2020 she returned to the UK working at Imperial college and the Henry Royce institute supporting research in material science and commercialisation. In 2022 Amy joined the deeptech team at Octopus ventures as an early-stage investor. Amy is passionate about EDI, particularly supporting female founders from STEM backgrounds, and improving diversity in venture capital, science and engineering.

Amy holds both a Master's and a Ph.D. in Material Science, and is a chartered engineer. She is an investor in the deeptech team at Octopus Ventures, driving their thesis in advanced materials, manufacturing, and semiconductors.

Prof. Bradley leads a vibrant research team in the field of photonics, with current research interests mainly in the area of nanophotonics. Her research is directly relevant for development of higher efficiency light emitting devices, solar cells and sensing applications. She has previously made significant contributions to the development of novel devices for optical telecommunications systems. In 1992 she received a BSc (First Class Hons.) in Experimental Physics from University College Dublin. She was awarded Forbairt and Trinity College Dublin scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies at Trinity College Dublin, obtaining a MSc in 1994 and a PhD in 1998. During her PhD she studied nonlinear optical processes in semiconductor microcavity systems. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow she worked on the development of semiconductor microcavity devices for lighting applications. In 1999, she became a Lecturer in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, before returning to join the academic staff of the School of Physics in 2000. Subsequently, she was appointed Senior Lecturer and elected to Fellowship of the College in 2009, and promoted to Professor in 2016. Dr. Bradley has won over 3.55 M in competitive funding from Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Research Council. She has published over 140 scientific papers and collaborates with national and international research teams.

Reshma is a Lecturer at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment and the Department of Materials, Imperial College London. Since October 2022, she also holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. Reshma obtained her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2019, and was a research associate in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials at Imperial College from January 2020 to October 2022, before commencing her current role. Her research interests include understanding (electro)chemical reactivity at solid-gas and solid-liquid interfaces in order to develop more active, stable and selective catalysts for electrochemical technologies that can produce renewable fuels and chemicals. She has co-authored over 40 research articles and one book chapter and delivered over 20 invited talks. In recognition of her research, she received the Clara Immerwahr Award in 2023 for outstanding achievements in catalysis research. She was also awarded the Asian Women of Achievement Award 2023, in the field of ‘Science’ by the Women of the Future Programme and received the India UK Achievers Honours 2023 in the area of ‘Education, Science and Innovation’.

Professor Helen Gleeson OBE is the Cavendish Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds. She has held leadership positions in both the University of Manchester (Head of School, Dean for Research for Engineering and Physial Sciences) and at the University of Leeds (Head of School). She has more than 35 years of experience of experimental studies of liquid crystals, from a fundamental, deep understanding of their physical properties to new device inventions and discoveries.

Helen graduated from the University of Manchester in 1983 with a 1st class degree in Mathematics and Physics and with a PhD in experimental physics in 1986. she rapidly progressed as an academic, becoming the youngest professor of physics in decades at Manchester in 2003. She has pioneered many experimental techniques for the study of liquid crystals and devices, developing a deep understanding of their physical properties relevant to uses. She has invented devices including smart, switchable focus contact lenses, novel sensors and, most recently the first molecular auxetic material.

Helen has supervised more than 33 postgraduate students, collaborating with many industrial partners. She has co-edited textbooks for liquid crystals, published more than 185 papers in leading journals and given hundreds of conferences presentations. Her research achievements have been recognised by national and international awards by learned societies; the Hilsum and George Gray Medals of the British Liquid Crystal Society; the Holweck Prize, the Institute of Physics and French Physical Society Bilateral award, and the Rank Prize Lecture in 2016. Helen is very active in outreach and in issues around equality and inclusion. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2009 that acknowledged her work on equality and inclusion in physics in addition to her scientific achievements. She won the 2018 Times Higher Education Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year award, reflecting both her approach to mentoring early career researchers and to improving the environment for minorities. She was appointed as the Institute of Physics Advisor to Council for Inclusion and Diversity in November 2021.

Silvia Bartolucci is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science within the Financial Computing and Analytics Group at UCL. Her research focuses on mathematical modelling and data analysis of complex systems, including analysing current trends and issues in digital economies, problems in market microstructure and analysis of global value chains and credit networks. She co-heads the London SmartBridgeLab, an innovative interdisciplinary collaboration started by academics from Brunel University and UCL fostering research and collaborations at the crossroads of complex systems modelling, engineering and AI. Prior to joining UCL, Silvia worked at Imperial College Business School as Research Associate in the Department of Finance and as a researcher in blockchain technologies at a London-based startup. Silvia holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from King's College London and has a background in Theoretical Physics from Sapienza University in Rome.

Silvia is a lecturer in Advanced X-ray Imaging at the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at the University College London. Silvia is an expert in x-ray imaging, especially nanoscale imaging and in novel schemes of compact light sources, namely laser-plasma driven radiation sources.
She received her Master in Nuclear Physics at the Universita’ degli Studi di Perugia in Italy. After working for six years in industry, she returned to the academia and obtained her PhD in Plasma Physics at the University of Strathclyde (UK) in 2012. After her PhD, Silvia has worked at the University of Strathclyde, CERN (Switzerland), Diamond Light Source (UK) and, since 2020, at the University College London (UK). Her research aims to push the boundaries of x-ray imaging, in terms of information and acquisition modalities, to make it rich in content and easily accessible. Her recent work focuses on translating x-ray imaging techniques born at synchrotron facilities to compact light sources, from standard x-ray tubes to more innovative technologies such as inverse-Compton and laser-plasma sources. In all these cases, she adapts the imaging techniques to the unique properties of the sources, with application ranging from brain imaging to novel battery materials.

Dr Dervil Cody is a Lecturer in the School of Physics, Clinical and Optometric Sciences at Technological University Dublin. She received her BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from Maynooth University in 2010, and her PhD in Physics from TU Dublin in 2014. Her PhD research focused on the development of novel low-toxicity holographic materials. Subsequently, Dervil completed postdoctoral research on the development of optical sensors for detection of aqueous and gaseous contaminants. In 2016 she was awarded a James Flaherty Scholarship from the Ireland Canada University Foundation which facilitated a stay at the Barrett Research Group at McGill University, Montreal. Currently, Dervil is a Principal Investigator in the Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics at TU Dublin. Her primary research interest lies in the development of optical sensors and devices which can be readily clinically implemented, with a view to improving the efficacy of diagnosis/treatment and patient experience. From 2017 to 2019, Dervil was the Lead investigator of the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund Project CACTUS: CAlibration device for quality Control of Therapeutic UltraSound. She is currently supervising/co-supervising 5 PhD students and has active collaborations with St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, University College London, and the Mayo Clinic. She is a professional member of the Irish Association of Physicists in Medicine, and an affiliated member of UCD’s Centre for Physics in Health and Medicine. Dervil is the co-author of several patents and licenses and has worked as a consultant to industry. Full details of Dervil’s publications can be found here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8921-0201

Barbara Johnson, Co-Founder and COO of Kortical, a trailblazing UK AI startup. With a rich history at Coca-Cola and Budweiser, Barbara ventured into AI to fulfill a growing need for accessible Machine Learning (ML) solutions. At Kortical we have a no code platform delivering chatbot & AI technology for mostly ecommerce & finance.

Audrey has over 25 years’ experience in the Higher Education Sector in Ireland. She has an in-depth knowledge of the research & innovation eco-system and funding landscape in Ireland. She has co-developed and implemented large scale (multidisciplinary) collaborative programs across all disciplines with industry partners. Her corporate and agency network in Ireland and abroad has enabled highly successful, impactful long-term engagements between industry and academia. Audrey has recently started in a new role in Trinity Innovation & Enterprise as Innovation Manager (since January 2024) where she will be developing and implementing an innovation maturity model. Previously as Industry Liaison Manager, Audrey identified, developed, and supported industry engagement and the commercialisation of Trinity research. She has extensive experience of collaborating with industry and the business community, developing strategic and beneficial, scaling engagements and partnerships, enabling industry to benefit from Trinity’s teaching, research and infrastructure.
Audrey has also worked with Trinity’s Dean of Research on Trinity’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy and Research Alliances.

In the 2000’s Audrey set up and ran Trinity’s High Performance Computing Centre, building research programmes and networks to accelerate computational science in Trinity following the joint acquisition of Ireland's first supercomputer with Queens in Belfast. Managing a team of 15 securing over €23m in funding from National funding agencies, European Commission, industry and philanthropy. During this time Audrey was co-founder of a Trinity spin out which currently employs 25 people in the data science and scientific modelling sector.

Tonia supports NatWest Markets clients with the structuring and execution of sustainable finance transactions, developing sustainable finance strategies, and engaging with clients, investors, industry associations, regulators and other relevant stakeholders on ESG topics.
Tonia joined from the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) representing the pan-European wholesale capital markets industry.

In her previous role as an Associate Director, Tonia was leading AFME’s work programmes in ESG/Sustainable Finance and Financial Reporting for 3 years, helping to bring industry insights into the development of European, as well as global, policy in these thematic areas. In the past, Tonia has worked for large public accounting and consulting firms for more than 8 years. She has managed a wide spectrum of external assurance and consulting projects across both emerging and developed markets and has been specialising primarily in banking and capital markets sector.

Joined the Bank
September 2021

Education
Tonia holds a BBA in Marketing with a concentration in Accounting from the International Christian University in Kyiv. She is also a Certified Public Accountant in the US.

Over 25 years of combined practical experience and research in Education, Psychology and Behavioural Studies. Serial Entrepreneur in Mental Genetics, Author of bespoke Continued Professional Development educational program for corporate organisations and several publications in journals.
Research Interest: Emotional Intelligence in Education and its integration with Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Yue (Christina) Wang is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and a Lecturer in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology at the University of York. She graduated with a MSc degree from the University of St Andrews and Heriot-Watt University in 2008, and a PhD in 2012 from the University of St Andrews. In 2018, she was awarded a 5-year fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering to work on light-emitting two-dimensional materials for silicon photonics. She now leads a research group at York and her research vision is to combine engineering, physics, and chemistry principles to establish an atomistic understanding of device performance, to advance the fields of energy technologies, biotechnologies, and information technologies

Samantha Pugh is a Professor in STEM Higher Education at the University of Leeds and a National Teaching Fellow. She is the Institutional Academic Lead for Digital Assessment and was the Director of Student Education in the School of Physics and Astronomy (2019-2023). She leads the Pedagogic Research in Science, Mathematics and Engineering (PRiSME) Group at Leeds and is a member of PERG. She was awarded two University Student Education Fellowships in 2010 and 2012 and in 2014 Samantha was shortlisted for the National Enterprise Educator in HE Award. She has a PhD in Colour Chemistry (Leeds, 2001) and PG Cert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2008). Since 2008 she has specialised in curriculum development and discipline-based educational research (DBER) in STEM.

Abby Harrison is a Graduate Research Fellow at Queen’s University studying Arctic region biogeochemistry as a member of the Facility for Biogeochemical Research on Environmental Change and the Cryosphere (FaBRECC) lab. Previously she has conducted immunology/neuroscience research at Harvard Medical School, astrobiology research at the Space Life Sciences Labs, machine learning research at Wellesley College, and limnology research at Lake Baikal, Siberia. Abby holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Wellesley College. Abby has had a passion for space exploration her entire life and is working towards becoming a NASA astronaut. At 15 years old, Abby served as the Earth Liaison for European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, helping to share his experiences living and working in space with those on Earth. She then went on to found and lead The Mars Generation non-profit for 8 years. Under her leadership, this organization reached tens of millions of people with digital science content, engaged more than 2,000 students in our student leadership development program, secured hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide hands-on STEM experiences for young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and aided teachers around the world in developing and delivering space and science curriculum in grade school classrooms. In 2019, Abby was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her innovative work with The Mars Generation. Abby is the author of Dream Big: How to Reach for Your Stars, a book that guides young people in developing the skills necessary to achieve their dreams. Recently Abby was a member of the teaching team for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, where she mentored undergraduate students in designing research proposals for the International Space Station. Her students' research will fly aboard Mission 19 in the spring of 2024. Abby is a prolific public speaker and staunch advocate for the future of space exploration and STEM education. She has delivered hundreds of presentations on these subjects, ranging from grade school audiences to the US House of Representatives.

Abby has trained as a pilot, Rescue SCUBA Diver, and Emergency Medical Technician and is always searching for her next adventure. Abby has studied Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish and is passionate about all types of collaboration in the space industry, including international and private/public sectors. In her free time she creates educational videos and content on social media to excite more people about space and science. You can join Abby on her journey to become an astronaut by following her at @astronautabbyofficial.

Led an ethical financial institution to a significant growth with the use of fintech.

Set up and ran the Credit Suisse Investment Bank multi-asset management business delivering a high return on hybrid capital with a wide spectrum of international institutional and retail clients.

Experienced Chairman, Non Executive Director and Chair of corporate governance, audit and risk committees.

I would like to see more happy entrepreneurs in our world. Developing our company, we are focusing on the problem of the complexity, price, and time delays of online payments. And we want to change how it works and help entrepreneurs sell more cross-border without the extra costs and payment delays.
Fondy is a one-stop shop cross-border payment platform for entrepreneurs who are building great businesses with sales in different countries. Multicurrency payments are more efficient when you can manage your payments, IBAN accounts, and payouts in one platform without any delays, extra charges for FX, and high fees for international transactions. Platforms and marketplaces can automate their split of payments and instant multiparty payouts in different currencies.

Tamta Gamezardashvili is a former sales executive of big tech, ex Salesforce, Google and Palantir. She is now an investor/LP and founder and a CEO of Unorthodox Ventures, Founders’ Social and My Kitchen, Her Story.

Betti Hartmann is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at University College London (UCL), UK. She obtained her PhD in Theoretical Physics from Oldenburg University (Germany) in 2001. Following her doctoral studies, she held post-doctoral positions at the University of Durham, UK from 2001-2003 and at the Université de Tours, France from 2006-2007. In 2006, she completed her German habilitation, a post-doctoral qualification for lecturers at German universities, at the University of Oldenburg. From 2003 to 2006 and 2007 to 2015, she held a Lecturer position at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, and in 2015, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Instituto de Física de São Carlos at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 and left Brazil to join UCL as a Lecturer in 2021 and was promoted to Associate Professor in October 2023.
Her research interests lie in the field of nonlinear phenomena in theoretical physics and applied mathematics, with a particular focus on solitons and black holes. Her research has applications in high-energy physics, including cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics, as well as in low-energy phenomena relevant to condensed matter physics and biophysicss. In 2022, she published a book in German titled 'Vordenkerinnen – Physikerinnen und Philosophinnen durch die Jahrhunderte' in collaboration with a philosopher. The book highlights the achievements of female scientists throughout history. In 2023, she edited a book on current trends in gravity, cosmology and astrophyiscs with contributions solely by female researchers entitled Gravity, Cosmology, and Astrophysic:
A Journey of Exploration and Discovery with Female Pioneers (Springer Nature, 2023). She is also currently the EDI co-chair of the Mathematics Department at UCL.

After graduating from Trinity with a degree in Science of Materials, Jen began her career as an engineer with Canon in Japan. She continued to work in the semiconductor and electronics industries in Europe and the US, primarily in senior applications and systems integration engineering roles. In 2007 she joined the School of Electronic Engineering, DCU as a Senior Technical Officer, and completed her PhD in Electronic Engineering while working there. Jen joined Intel Ireland in 2011 and is currently employed as a quality engineer, where she tackles complex product quality challenges and guides teams though Integrated Circuit (IC) qualification in an ambiguous and fast paced environment. Jen is a keen sea swimmer and you can catch her once a year diving into the dark waters of the Liffey in the historic Liffey Swim.

Dr. Ruth Saunders is the Pathways to STEM coordinator in Trinity Access Programmes. Prior to this she was an Associate Professor in the department of Physics & Astronomy at Humboldt State University. She received her Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics with first class honours in 2000 from Dublin City University in Ireland, her Masters of Science from the University of Oregon in 2004. She returned to Ireland and obtained her PhD from Dublin City University.in 2012. Before joining Humboldt State, she spent 3 years at California Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo.
Ruth’s research is into the world of small, nanophysics. Continuing her thesis work, she conducts both experimental and theoretical research into the growth of Zinc Oxide nanowires. She also models the behaviour of two-dimensional Carbon Nanotube networks. She is committed to exploring the issues surrounding the inclusion of minoritized students in STEM, focusing on the building of communities within Science to support students (and faculty).

Amita Ummadisingu holds a Dr.Sc. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where she worked with Prof. Michael Grätzel on unravelling the formation of hybrid perovskite materials for highly efficient solar cells. In 2019, she joined the University of Cambridge, UK as a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow, hosted by Prof. Henning Sirringhaus. She was looking into the charge transport physics of perovskite thin films. In 2022, she joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL as a Lecturer in Nature-inspired Chemical Engineering. Her current research is focused on understanding and harnessing natural phenomena on the nanoscale for the engineering and design of efficient optoelectronic devices which are compatible with scale-up for manufacturing.

Tatsiana Mikulchyk received her Honour Bachelor Degree in Physics from the Belarussian State University and PhD in Physics from Technological University Dublin (former Dublin Institute of Technology). In 2017 joined the Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics (IEO) as a Postdoctoral Researcher. As a member of the IEO research team, Tatsiana Mikulchyk worked on a number of industry-related projects and she is a co-inventor of 2 patent applications and 3 invention disclosures. Also, she has 26 publications and over 300 citations. Currently, Tatsiana Mikulchyk is a Research Fellow at the IEO Centre and she is leading the research domain focused on the development of a new generation of photopolymerisable glasses for holographic applications.
In 2023 Dr Tatsiana Mikulchyk was obtained an SFI-IRC Pathway Award to carry out her independent research on the development of panchromatic photopolymerisable glass for recording of holographic optical elements for Augmented Reality displays
Current research interests include holographic recording materials and their application for the development of diffractive optical elements by holographic patterning and two-photon lithography.

Dr Pratheeba Vimalnath is a lecturer in innovation, intellectual property and sustainability at the University of Exeter Business School. She researches and teaches in the area of strategic innovation and intellectual property (IP) management, with specialization in IP strategies for collaborative (open) innovation, sustainability transition and circular economy. She also serves as the Modular IP Education Framework (MIPEF) course tutor for the European Patent Office. Prior to joining the University of Exeter, she worked as a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (Department of Engineering) and as an Oxford Martin Fellow at the University of Oxford (Structural Genomics Consortium, Nuffield Department of Medicine). She holds a doctorate in Intellectual Property Management (Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India), a Master’s in Technology Management (IISc, India) and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering (GCT, Anna University affiliate, India).

Pratheeba has published her work in various international journals, won awards for excellence in research and teaching, delivered several invited talks and has experience working for projects funded under the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), British Council’s Going Global Partnership Program, European Commission, Horizon 2020, and NIAS(India)-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) policy research initiative. Her recent work on “Responsible intellectual property strategy for sustainability transition” published in the World Patent Information (WPI) journal has been featured as the top editor’s choice out of all the papers published by WPI in 2023. Prior to joining academia, she had three years of industrial experience in telecommunication and banking domains including experience working in multi-national and start-up environments.

I am a research software engineer working at UCL ARC. My research background is mostly focused on image analysis of microscopy images e.g. volume electron microscopy and X-ray CT. For my PhD at EMBL Heidelberg, I developed open-source software to target specific regions for volume EM and share/explore very large image datasets stored remotely. Later, I moved to a postdoc at the British Museum where I focused on combining X-ray CT and 3D scans of objects in their collection.

I have been lecturer in Biomathematics at Imperial College London since 2021. I got my PhD in Applied Mathematics at King's College London and next held postdoctoral positions with a focus on biophysics and statistical learning at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland) and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris (France).

I am a Senior Lecturer in Statistics in the Statistics Section of the Department of Mathematics. Throughout my career I have been interested in the development of statistical methods for the analysis of high dimensional and complex datasets from the fields of biology, health and medicine. Other interests include the modelling of cyber-security data-sources for the development of anomaly detection techniques.
Previously I was a Lecturer in Biostatistics with a joint position in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (School of Public Health) at Imperial College London. Before joining Imperial, I worked as a Statistician at the University of Cambridge where I also completed my BA in Mathematics, MPhil and PhD in Statistics.

Dr Diana Adela Martin is a Senior Research Fellow based at UCL - Centre for Engineering Education. Her research aims to enhance the integration of ethics, societal responsibility and sustainability in engineering education. Diana is an Associate Editor for Science and Engineering Ethics and The European Journal of Engineering Education, The International Handbook of Engineering Education Research (Routledge, 2023) and The Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education (forthcoming Routledge 2024). She is also the co-chair of the Ethics SIG of the European Society for Engineering Education and a Europe board representative in The Research in Engineering Education Network.

Diana Oliveira is a Research Fellow in Haemodynamic Modelling at Professor Rebecca Shipley’s Group, based at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London (UCL). She is a biomedical engineer with over 7 years of experience in computational modelling of the circulatory system using multidisciplinary approaches which integrate data from medical imaging. Diana has collaborated with healthcare practitioners from the UK, Portugal, Italy, and the USA to address clinically relevant problems of the circulatory system. This includes the development of computational frameworks for the virtual evaluation of aortic valve dysfunction and aortic coarctation and personalised mitral valve modelling. She has also leveraged her modelling expertise by working with Kimal PLC on a EPSRC Impact Acceleration grant to evaluate the performance of design features used in haemodialysis catheters currently on the market. At present, she is applying her skills to assess placental structure and function via the development of fetoplacental blood flow and transport models and the simulation of MRI signals, in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, UCL, and the Department of Perinatal Imaging and Health, Kings College London.

Clinical Research Fellow, ST8 Surgical Registrar
BEng, MEng, MBBS, MRCS, PhD

Senior surgical trainee with a background in Medical Engineering and a PhD in Human factors in healthcare and medical device safety. I have experience in product research and development and development of human factor tools and pathway development for surgical and home use medical devices. During my PhD studies I worked closely with NIHR London IVD and collaborated with MHRA and other agencies with regards to medical device regulation. I have worked closely with MedTech and patients and are able to appreciate their requirements and challenges from both a medical and engineering point of view. I am involved in teaching and training of junior doctors and am a mentor for East of England surgical trainees.

Melody Ni is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London. Melody co-leads Methodology theme within NIHR London IVD (NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in In-Vitro Diagnostics). She is an expert in decision analysis, risk analysis and health technology assessments, with over 17 years experiences working with diagnostic and medtech companies, researchers, funders, innovators and policy makers. She has led the development of a wide range of tools and methodologies to maximise and deliver value to patients, public, clinicians and the healthcare systems by aligning technology capabilities with user needs and stakeholder preferences in the diverse clinical and social settings they are embedded in.

Dr. Baldycheva is a leader of STEMM Laboratory - highly interdisciplinary academic research lab working on applied R&D of smart materials, devices and systems for real world applications and more recently also in the AI and IoT, having produced several innovations and a technology spin-out. STEMM Lab specifically conducts applied research in cooperation with industry and business.
With over 15 years of combined experience in pioneering R&D within prestigious academic institutions such as MIT, TCD, Tyndall and the University of Exeter, Dr Baldycheva is an internationally recognised female researcher, expert in emerging technologies, innovator, and entrepreneur in STEMM, being featured in Forbes and other media.
Dedicated and accomplished female academic with a strong background and a passion for fostering innovation in Nano-Engineering, Opto-Electronics and Photonics, AI and IoT. Combining a solid foundation in academic research and teaching with application and entrepreneurial focus, she aims to contribute to both academia and the business world by bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Dr Baldycheva’s dedication to advancing science and technology extends to her role as a Fellow, Board Member and Trustee of several esteemed Scientific Communities and Societies. Dr Baldycheva is a Fellow of Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) and a Fellow of the Royal Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She is a trustee and chair of the EPMS section of the RMS. At the RMS Prof Baldycheva also actively involved in the outreach activities to support and promote women in microscopy and related disciplines, as well as running and organising events for children.
She is also a founder and trustee of STEMM Global Scientific Society - the first international academic network helping scientists and innovators to connect and to establish collaborations on emerging technologies projects across STEMM disciplines. She is the founder and the main driver behind the Women in STEMM Initiative - It’s Her! https://itsher.today/ featured. Since 2019 she serves on the committee of the Jocelyn Bell Brunel PhD Scholarship to support physicists from under-represented groups.
Since 2015 Prof Baldycheva is an expert in Future and Emerging Technologies at the European Commission. She has published over 100 scientific publications to date with over 1000 citations. She is an editor in chief of the InSTEMM Journal, an associate editor of the Nature Scientific Reports and Discover Nano Journals, and a guest editor in a number of recognised scientific journals.

100+ Publications:130 peer-review & conference proceedings; 1 Patent; H-index: 20; Citations:1288
50+ Highlights in Press: national and international news (incl. Forbes and Forbes Tech Council).
69 Talks: 28 invited, 6 keynote and 4 plenary

15+ experience in the financial services industry, advised senior leadership at financial institutions, PE firms and Pension Funds in the UK, US and Europe, working at top consulting firms. Led design and delivery of strategic advisory solutions, focused on change, growth and sustainable performance increase across the globe.
Led over 100+ deals in the M&A context in the US, the UK and Europe
Advisor to the Board, support operationalization of the strategy
Scaled businesses from idea to multimillion revenue
Currently Senior Director, at Infosys
Ph.D. in International Economics

Sali Davis comes from a legal background with a Masters in Legal Aspects of Medical Practice and joined the Royal Microscopical Society in September 2023 having spent 14 years as the Chief Executive of Optometry Wales, a membership body representing all primary care Optometrists in Wales. Prior to this, she worked for Deloitte and Touche LLP, running a practice review programme for Tax Partners on both a local and national basis. She has also worked as a Project Officer for the Royal College of GPs.

Sali is a lay panel member for Social Care Wales sitting on Fitness to Practise panels for registrants in the Social Care profession. She is also a ‘Mentor Mum’, coaching new mothers who are returning to the workplace following maternity leave.

In 2022 Sali was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the College of Optometrists for her ‘Outstanding contribution to the Profession in Wales’.

Anna Hankin is a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Her principal interests and expertise are in the science and engineering of electrochemical energy conversion, CO2 reduction and separation processes for industrial effluent treatment and material recycling. Her academic research projects have all been aimed at solving industrial problems and involved experimental and numerical modelling components. The strategy followed in former, current, and future projects is to progress from theoretical assessments of a given problem, to small-scale experimental investigations and process modelling, and then on to system design, operation, characterisation and scale-up. Check out her group website for further information:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/electrochemical-systems-laboratory/

Initially a technologist by trade, Colin has been designing, managing, and delivering support programmes for a number of years.
A keen advocate of sustainable product and service development, Colin aids impact driven founders and business leaders to plan and deliver robust technology strategies.
At Exeter Innovation, Colin is responsible for acceleration and knowledge exchange programme management, business support, and technology development support.

Professor Ortwin Hess holds the Chair Professorship of Quantum Nanophotonics and an SFI Research Professorship at Trinity College Dublin and held until 2023 the Leverhulme Chair in Metamaterials in the Blackett Laboratory/Department of Physics of Imperial College London where he is now an Academic Visitor. Since July 2023 Professor Hess is also the Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal APL Quantum.

Bridging condensed matter physics and quantum optics, Professor Hess's research interests and his group's activities are in Quantum Nanophotonics, Active Metamaterials and Laser Physics and are currently focused on active (photonic, electronic and magnetic) metamaterials, quantum nano-photonics and spatio-temporal dynamics of (plasmonic and semiconductor) nanolasers.

Ajay is based in London and Silicon Valley and invests in tech. He’s been a serial founder with multiple exits. He also supports diverse and female founders.

Professor Yang-Hui He is a mathematical physicist working on the interface between geometry, number theory and quantum field theory/string theory. Recently, he helped introduce machine-learning into the field of pure mathematics by using AI to help uncover new patterns and raise new conjectures (cf. interview by Science [Vol 365, July, 2019] and by New Scientist [Dec 9 Issue, 2019]).

Yang studied at Princeton University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Physics, with a Certificate in Applied Mathematics and a Certificate in Engineering, Summa cum Laude (Highest Honours, Phi-Beta-Kappa). He then obtained a Certificate in Advanced Mathematics (Tripos) at the University of Cambridge, with Distinction. He went on to receive his PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics from MIT. Yang continued with postdoctoral work in the University of Pennsylvania before joining University of Oxford as the FitzJames Fellow in Mathematics and then the UK STFC Advanced Fellow in theoretical physics.

Yang joined City in 2010 as Reader. He is currently Professor of Mathematics. He concurrently holds the Chang-Jiang Chair Professorship at NanKai University, China and jointly remains a Tutor and Lecturer at Merton College, Oxford where he taught since 2005. In 2021, he became Fellow of the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the Royal Institution, and is thus splitting his time.

Dr. Cohen is a Visiting Scholar at the Nicholas School for the Environment where his studies focus on wildlife conservation in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Park, and connections to biodiversity and agriculture. His work is mentored by Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation at Duke University. While there, he completed the “Environmental Communication Certificate Program” in the Nicholas School of the Environment.
His PhD is in plant genetics, earned after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal. Following a lengthy career in international development, he taught biology in secondary school, becoming familiar with the lack of diversity found in the standard curriculum, which did not reflect the diversification of students attending public schools nor did it address the needs of underrepresented students in the life sciences.
From this interest, came studies on courageous science, including environmentalist Rachel Carson and plant explorers Nikolai Vavilov and Calvin Sperling. He has also published a recent article on women naturalists and implications of their work for secondary and undergraduate biology courses. As regards laboratory practice, he has remained dedicated to microscopy since his dissertation on cytogenetics of trisomy in maize. Now he is documenting the global utility of microscopy, its centrality combatting illness, applications in forensic science, and for investigating biodiversity.
His presentation today focuses on recognizing in barriers to research imposed upon or otherwise attributed to minority and underrepresented groups, concluding with advances in microscopy.