We have an amazing line up of speaker for this year’s conference. Find out more about who will be sharing their projects and learning with us on November 3rd!

Hannah Fox – Silk Mill Project Director, Derby Museums Trust

Hannah is the Project Director for the re-development of Derby Silk Mill; the site of the world’s first factory; as a new Museum of Making. By embedding co-production and human centred design methodologies into a major museum development, citizen curators and makers are at the heart of the £17m project to ‘make’ the Museum of Making. This project features in several national and international publications, including Nina Simon’s latest book “The Art of Relevance”. Hannah is a National Arts Strategies Creative Communities Fellow – a global network of cultural and social entrepreneurs, She also mentors staff and organisations working in cross-sector projects for social impact and is a board member of FIGMENT, a global participatory arts programme.

May Abdalla and Amy Rose – Co Directors, Anagram; Susie Thornbury – Assistant Director, Imperial War Museum

Susie Thornberry is Assistant Director at the Imperial War Museum. May Abdalla and Amy Rose are co-directors of Anagram, an award-winning creative collective making immersive experiences that bring together innovative digital interaction and stories told from real life.

Kevin Bacon – Digital Manager, Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove

Kevin Bacon is Digital Manager at Brighton & Hove’s Royal Pavilion & Museums, where he has worked since 2003. Having previously worked in both front of house and as a curator, he became RPM’s first digital lead in 2011.

Lotte Belice Baltussen – Project Manager, Digital Strategy, Anne Frank House

Lotte Baltussen is Project Manager Digital Strategy at the Anne Frank House, where she is responsible for developing and implementing the plans for renewing the online landscape. She has managed a wide variety of digital projects in the heritage sector, both as a freelancers and at Research & Development department at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

Rob Cawston – Head of Digital Media, National Museums Scotland

Rob is Head of Digital Media at National Museums Scotland overseeing strategy and planning, alongside a broad range of online and in-gallery digital experiences. He has over 15 years’ experience leading digital design, product management and storytelling in the arts and culture sector. Previous roles have included openDemocracy, BAFTA, and the Royal Institution.

Rafie Cecilia – PhD Candidate, UCL

Rafie is a second year PhD candidate at UCL. Her research examines the impact of technology on the experience of blind and partially sighted visitors in museums. Additionally, Rafie has six years of experience working and volunteering in museums and galleries. She is an advocate of inclusion, accessibility, empowerment, equity, and equality.

Karen Drost – Specialist Interactive Presentations / Curator of Exhibition, Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision

As an Interactive Museum Presentations Expert, Karen is responsible for concept development and has the creative lead in interactive presentations aimed at the Sound and Vision audience. Starting in 2006, Karen has worked on large exhibitions like Van Kooten en De Bie, Your Serious Radio and Let’s YouTube. With a background in museums as well as advertising, Karen always looks for a combination of appealing presentations and cutting edge technologies.

Susan Griffiths – Community Engagement Officer, Oxford University Museums

Susan Griffiths works as the Community Engagement Officer for the Oxford University Museums Partnership, including the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers Museum, Museum of the History of Science and Museum and Natural History. Her role involves engaging with a wide variety of audiences who have difficulties physically accessing the museums or who are not currently museum visitors. This is achieved through outreach activities and projects within the museums, which involve exploring the use of appropriate technology for different audiences.

Sarah Huws – Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Sara is Digital Content Officer at the Digital Media Department at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Her job involves training and facilitating a network of around 70 digital producers, running pilot projects and being on the internet. She is also the co-founder of East End Women’s Museum in London

Abira Hussein – Transforming Archive Trainee, London Metropolitan Archives

Abira Hussein is a Transforming Archive trainee, led by the National Archive in collaboration with the London Metropolitan Archives.She also currently undertaking a research residency with the British Library exploring their digitised collections, and is currently completing an MRes in Clinical Research at Imperial College, and working on Healing Through Archives, a Somali digital archive project.

Frances Jeens – Head of Learning, Jewish Museum, London

Frances is Head of Learning at the Jewish Museum and is responsible for all Learning programming across the organisation. Frances has a strong interest in the use of technology across the sector. Frances has an MA in Museum Studies from UCL and has previously worked at Alderney Museum, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and The Royal Collection.

Alison John – Yello Brick

Alison John is producer at yello brick, a creative agency that creates immersive experiences through digital platforms and live events. In the past yello brick has made an epic urban adventure game in the streets of Cardiff, a site specific storytelling app for cycle routes in Wales and an online interactive event for new opera audiences. Alison is also co-producer of playARK Festival, an annual event in Cardiff that explores story, games and playful experiences in theory and practice (www.playARK.co.uk) and is Director of ARK LAB, a company that creates projects for social good.

Jenny Kidd – Cardiff University

Dr. Jenny Kidd lectures and researches across the fields of digital media and the creative industries in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. She is Co-Director of the School’s Digital Media and Society research group. Jenny is the author of Representation (Routledge, 2015), Museums in the New Mediascape (Routledge, 2014), and co-editor of Challenging History in the Museum (Routledge, 2014) and Performing Heritage (MUP, 2011). She works closely with creative industry partners, most recently, with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Imperial War Museums and Historic Royal Palaces.

Bridget McKenzie – Director, Flow Associates

Bridget McKenzie is founding director of Flow Associates, helping cultural organisations thrive, supporting them and their audiences to learn, connect, create and flourish. She has carried out a number of research and policy projects about digital change and cultural learning, with a primary concern for young people facing a challenging future.

Maurice Mersinger – Founder/Music Composer/Concept, king klang klong

Maurice Mersinger is one of the founders of kling klang klong, a studio for sound, music and interaction. The studio pursues a research on sensor interfaces, motion-to-sound software, generative composition and concepts of interaction between sound and audiences. Maurice has studied cultural science and worked in the fields of theater, exhibition and music as artist and creative director ever since. He will be sharing some insights on the work kling klang klong has developed in acoustic scenography for museums and other closed and open environments

Jo Morrison – Programme Director: Digital Innovation, Calvium

Dr. Jo Morrison works at the intersection of design, research and business. Jo has a wealth of experience of directing digital projects for the education and cultural sectors – having been founding Creative Director of Futurelab and Digital Projects Director at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Focussing on digital innovation and multidisciplinary collaboration, she creates and delivers successful strategies and projects to maximise impact, accelerate growth and create meaningful visitor experiences. Cultural partners have included the V&A, the National Space Centre and the BBC.

Ross Parry – Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), University of Leicester

Dr Ross Parry is Associate Professor (Museum Studies) and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital) at the University of Leicester, UK. He is also one of the founding Trustees of the Jodi Mattes Trust (for accessible digital culture). Currently, Ross is leading a major £0.6mn national project (2017-2020), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and working with a network of 17 institutional partners, to develop a digital literacy framework for the UK museum sector.

Alex Reynolds – Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Southampton Solent University

Alexandra Reynolds is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Creative and Digital Industries Hub at Southampton Solent University. Her research explores critical and meaningful uses of digital media in museums and wider cultural organisations, with emphasis on collaboration and co-creation.

John Sear – Game Designer, Museum Games

John Sear is a real-world game designer and creative technologist who freelances through his company ‘Museum Games’. John is a veteran game designer of 20+ years working in the game industry who now develops unique and magical experiences for public spaces. Originally starting out building games for console platforms, moving through the mobile space he now develops games for cinemas, car-parks and other outdoor and indoor spaces. This had led him to work much closer with the GLAM (galleries, libraries archives & museums) sector. In addition to the bespoke high-end experiences for larger venues he also works with much smaller cultural institutes training them in the skills needed to develop their own DIY interactives.

Adam Sibbald – Learning Producer, Historic Royal Palaces

Adam currently works on large-scale immersive and interactive events at the Tower and is currently developing several new Podcast strands for Historic Royal Palaces. He has a background in Theatre as producer and director and has keen interests in digital technologies, gaming, comic books and many other geeky subjects.

Lucy Yates – Programme Manager, Travellers’ Tails, National Maritime Museum

Lucy Yates has worked in the fields of heritage and education for over a decade. She is currently the Programme Manager for Travellers’ Tails, an HLF- funded project around the National Maritime Museum’s acquisition of two George Stubbs paintings of a kangaroo and dingo. Her most recent project has been running the Travellers’ Tails pop-up museum in Lewisham Shopping Centre.