Bett 2024 presented the best and the brightest voices in education, technology and beyond, with an unrivalled line up of speakers from across the globe.
BETT 2024 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux is a documentary presenter best known for producing immersive documentaries that explore the often controversial and complex aspects of the human condition. Using a gentle questioning style and an informal approach, he has shone light on intriguing beliefs, behaviors and institutions by getting to know the people at the heart of them – from the officers and inmates at San Quentin prison to the extreme believers of the Westboro Baptist Church, from male porn performers in California to young women with eating disorders in London.
Louis graduated from Oxford in 1991 and got his break in television in 1994 working for the American documentary maker Michael Moore, who hired him as a writer and correspondent on his show, TV Nation. He then went on to make the Bafta-winning series Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, When Louis Met…, and a series of award-winning specials including The Most Hated Family in America, Miami Mega Jail, Altered States and the feature-length documentary, My Scientology Movie.
Over the years, Louis has kept true to a way of working that is uniquely his own: by charming his subjects, he’s able to offer rounded portraits of the people involved in complex social issues and human dilemmas, while always resisting easy judgments.
Louis has won numerous awards, including three BAFTAs, an RTS award, and Grierson’s Trustees’ Award. Louis’ second book, Gotta Get Theroux This, was published in 2019. In 2020 Louis launched his award-winning BBC Sounds podcast, Grounded with Louis Theroux. He lives in Northwest London with his wife and three children.
Loyle Carner
Loyle Carner is one of the most accomplished British rappers in history. Since his first musical statement on 2014 EP A Little Late to the new Mercury Prize nominated album hugo, the South London MC has displayed immense emotional intelligence and lyrical wizardry as one of modern UK hip-hop's most distinctive voices, tackling his personal politics, his family, masculinity, pain and more. A graduate of the BRIT school, he's amassed over 790 million global streams, fronted multiple sell-out headline UK & EU tours, and appeared on TV shows such as Later With Jools Holland and The Graham Norton Show. Two of his albums have cracked the top five of the Official Albums Chart, he's won an NME Award with multiple nominations for the prestigious Mercury Prize and BRIT Awards. He also runs a cooking school for children with ADHD called Chilli Con Carner. Loyle received an ADHD diagnosis in childhood , and credits his mother, a special educational needs teacher, for helping him find a way to channel his energy through preparing amazing food. He speaks very eloquently about growing up with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, how he found peace through cooking, and how he's come to see ADHD as a superpower.
Alisha Johnson Wilder
Alisha Johnson Wilder is the Director of external engagement for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives at Apple, focusing on the company's global environmental initiatives, community education programs, product accessibility efforts, community investment and government affairs. She also leads Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, a long-term effort focused on dismantling systemic barriers for communities of colour through education, economic empowerment, and criminal justice reform. Prior to joining Apple, Alisha served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Communications Director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Senior Advisor at the U.S. State Department. Alisha serves on the advisory board of MIT's Climate and Sustainability Consortium. She is also the inaugural recipient of AfroTech's Corporate Catalyst Award. She holds bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism and sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Baroness Floella Benjamin
Renowned for being one of Britain's favourite presenters on the iconic children's TV programmes Playschool and PlayAway, Floella is an actor, presenter, writer, independent producer, politician, and children's advocate. She has received numerous awards, including an OBE, a BAFTA Lifetime Award, the Women in Film & Television Lifetime Award, and the JM Barrie Award for her legacy to children's creative arts. She has written over thirty books including 'My Two Grannies' and 'Coming to England', the inspiring true story about moving to Britain as part of the Windrush generation. From 2006 to 2016 she was Chancellor of the University of Exeter and in 2010 entered the House of Lords, where she speaks on diversity, equality and children's issues.
Charlene White
Award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and presenter Charlene White is a pioneer at the forefront of news broadcasting. Charlene has worked as a writer for the New York Post, a presenter for BBC Radio 1, BBC News Channel, BBC Five Live, BBC Three and currently hosts Loose Women. She was the first Black woman to present ITV News at Ten and uses her platform to educate children about race and racism, mentor aspiring journalists, and work alongside various organisations to achieve better representation of women and minorities in the industry. Charlene investigates what it means to be Black and British in her documentary Empire's Child, delving into her Jamaican ancestry and its links to the British Empire. She has co-hosted the notable documentary Has George Floyd Changed Britain? with Sir Trevor McDonald exploring the impact George Floyd's death had on people living in the UK. Most recently, she has taken part in the twenty second series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' on Loose Women's regional tour and her debut novel Home will be published Spring 2024.
Cigdem Ertem
Cigdem Ertem is General Manager for Education in Intel's Sales and Marketing Group and Chair for Education Center of Excellence across Intel. She leads a global team for building sales strategy and developing and deploying value added tools, solutions, and programs for Intel. She is working closely with partners worldwide to drive digital transformation in education vertical. Her passion area is creating awareness in skill building for students to prepare them to be successful in the disruption of 4th Industrial revolution and help achieve their full potential.
Dan Fitzpatrick
The author of the acclaimed book, The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education, Dan imparts invaluable insights and strategies for harnessing AI in education. Named Tech Champion Award at the Digital Industry Dynamite Awards, Dan is returning to Bett after hosting one of our most popular sessions in 2023.
Dan is a regular contributor in the media on all things AI and education, having recently been featured in Time Magazine and on CNN, Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio 4 and ITV News.
His former roles include serving as Director for Digital Strategy at Education Partnership North East, and as a senior leader at a secondary school. Presently, he’s the founder of The AI Educator, a network of educators interested in learning about AI, and Director at Thirdbox.org, a training company that supports businesses to use AI tools.
Dan holds an M.A. from Durham University, a PGCE from UCL, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Design Thinking & Innovation from MIT.
Hayley Mulenda
Hayley Mulenda is a multi-award winning international speaker, author and change agent. After nearly taking her own life at the age of 18, Hayley realised how mental health issues are increasingly affecting millennials and she was passionate to do something about it. Hayley's experience and insight on diversity and inclusion, mental health and well-being helps leaders bridge the gap with millennials and Gen-Zs in to creating a safe spaces and mentoring hundreds of young people from diverse and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Hayley sits on the board of Wagamama as well as consulting their CEO to help reach young people from more diverse backgrounds. Her unique set of skills has given her access to C-Suite Executives and Graduates from FTSE 100 and Fortune 50 companies, helping provide strategies that help employees with wellbeing and inclusion. As well as working with the private sector, she has been able to work with Government officials as well as The Commonwealth Secretariat to give her thoughts on social mobility and young people.
Jaime Teevan
Jaime Teevan is Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow at Microsoft, where she is responsible for driving research-backed innovation in the company’s core products. Jaime is an advocate for finding smarter ways for people to make the most of their time and leads Microsoft’s future of work initiative, which brings researchers from across the company together to study how the pandemic has changed work. Previously she was Technical Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and led the Productivity team at Microsoft Research. Jaime was recently inducted into the ACM SIGIR and SIGCHI Academies and has received the TR35, BECA, and Karen Spärck Jones awards. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. from Yale, and is an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington.
Jason Arday
Jason Arday is Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. Previously, Jason was Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow in the School of Education, College of Social Sciences.
In March, 2023, his appointment at the University of Cambridge, UK. At the age of 37, made him the youngest Black person ever appointed to a Professorial Chair and one of the youngest people ever to be appointed to a full Professorship in Oxbridge's history. He has been called on by numerous organisations including the Governments of England, Scotland and Wales, to consult and develop anti-racism strategies.
Professor Arday has also held the position of Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University in the Department of Sociology and Deputy Executive Dean for People and Culture in the Faculty of Social Science and Health. He is a Visiting Professor at The Ohio State University in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and an Honorary Professor at Durham University in the Department of Sociology. Jason holds other Visiting Professorships at University of Glasgow and Nelson Mandela University. He is a Trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading Race Equality Thinktank and the British Sociological Association (BSA). Jason sits on the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) National Advisory Panel and the NHS Race and Health Observatory Academic Reference Group. Jason is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).
Jeffrey Boakye
Jeffrey Boakye is an ex-teacher turned writer, speaker and educator, known for weaving together the complex issues of our time in an accessible and engaging way with a particular interest in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture. He draws on his insights as an English teacher of 15 years in London, to provide training to schools, universities, MAT's, charities and businesses. Jeffrey also remains active in the classroom by delivering sessions and workshops to school students. He's also a Senior Teaching Fellow at Manchester Institute of Education, helping to train new teachers. Jeffrey is the critically acclaimed author of six books, publishes a very popular Substack newsletter called Are You Sitting Comfortably?, co-hosts BBC Radio 4's Add to Playlist, and in January 2023 the University of Leicester bestowed the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters on Jeffrey, recognising his work in equality, education and writing.
Kay Firth-Butterfield
Kay Firth-Butterfield is the CEO of Good Tech Advisory. She is the former Head of Artificial Intelligence and member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum and is one of the foremost experts in the world on the governance of AI. She is a Barrister, former Judge and Professor, technologist and entrepreneur who has an abiding interest in how humanity can equitably benefit from new technologies, especially AI. She co-founded the Responsible AI Institute and was the world's first Chief AI Ethics officer in 2014. Kay is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Texas and the author of books on Human Rights, AI and Modern Slavery. Kay is Vice-Chair of The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems and was part of the group which met at Asilomar to create the Asilomar AI Ethical Principles. She sits on the Polaris Council for the Government Accountability Office (USA), the Advisory Board for UNESCO International Research Centre on AI, the Advisory Board for international company ADI, EarthSpecies and AI4All. Kay has advanced degrees in Law and International Relations and regularly speaks to international audiences addressing many aspects of the beneficial and challenging technical, economic and social changes arising from the use of AI. Kay is an Associate Barrister (Doughty Street Chambers), Master of the Inner Temple, London and served on the Lord Chief Justice's Advisory Panel on AI and Law. She has been consistently recognized as a leading woman in AI since 2018 and was featured in the New York Times as one of 10 Women Changing the Landscape of Leadership.
Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen is one of Britain's best loved writers and poets for children and adults. He is currently Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children's Literature.?Michael is also a popular broadcaster and has presented BBC Radio 4's acclaimed programme about language, 'Word of Mouth' since 1998, as well as regularly presenting documentary programmes for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3, including the Sony Gold Award-winning 'On Saying Goodbye'. Michael has published in the region of 200 books for children and adults, including three booklets for teachers on writing and reading. He writes up a monthly news page on the website and a blog for teachers giving ideas for writing.
Mr P Ict
Lee Parkinson, also known as Mr P Ict, has been a Primary School teacher for 15 years, during which time he's built up a wealth of ideas on how to use technology creatively across the curriculum. He continues to work part time in school as well as leading CPD and INSET training, in the UK and internationally, on raising standards using technology. His work supports teachers to inspire, empower and make learning more purposeful and accessible. He's also passionate about reducing unnecessary workload and is a founder of TeachMateAI.com, a platform that supports teachers with a range of tasks. Through his humorous and engaging approach to life in the classroom Mr P Ict has become one of the most followed teachers in the UK. He's the host of Two Mr Ps in a Podcast, along with his brother, and has published two books. He's been a guest on This Morning, Lorraine and Steph's Packed Lunch, and has created content in the education space for the BBC.
Namya Joshi
Namya is an inspiring 16-year-old Minecraft Student Ambassador at Microsoft. Living life by her own motto #EachOneTeachTen, she has spent the last five years designing and delivering free coding workshops for more than 15,000 teachers and young people, especially girls, in India and all over the world.
And that's not all! Namya works passionately to raise awareness about social issues using game-based learning with STEM to provide solutions for the problems facing humanity.
Her outstanding work has not gone unnoticed as she has picked up many prestigious accolades such as the Pradhanmantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2021, Diana Award 2021, Global Child Prodigy Award 2022 and Global Impactor Student IMPACT Award 2022.
Don't miss out on her sessions:
- Why game-based learning holds the key to social-emotional development
- Building engaging game-based lesson plans
Rose Luckin
Rosemary (Rose) Luckin is a UCL Professor renowned for her research into the design and evaluation of educational technology, in particular Artificial Intelligence (AI). She was named as one of the 20 most influential people in education in the Seldon List, 2017, and is frequently asked to provide expert evidence to policy makers, in both Houses of the UK Parliament and the European Commission. She is also the first non-American to win the coveted ISTE impact award.
Rose has published prolifically in academic journals, books and conferences proceedings. Her 2018 book: Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: The Future of Education for the 21st Century is available in English and Mandarin. In this book, Rose describes how AI can be used effectively to support teaching and learning. Her most recent book, published in 2022, is a collaboration with award-winning head teacher Karine George. AI for Schoolteachers is an essential and accessible guide to AI for anyone involved in education. Rose is also lead author of Nesta’s influential Decoding Learning report published in 2012 and Pearson’s Unleashing Intelligence, published in 2016.
Rose is also Founder of Educate Ventures Research Ltd., a London hub for educational technology start-ups, researchers and educators involved in evidence-based educational technology and leveraging data and AI for educational benefit.
Rose has taught in the secondary, further education and university sectors and is president of the Self-Managed Learning College in Brighton. She has also spent time in University Management as a Director of Undergraduate Studies and Pro Vice Chancellor.
Rose is also the host of the EdTech podcast.
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Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP
Gillian Keegan was appointed Secretary of State for Education on 25 October 2022. She was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Africa) at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office from 7 September 2022 to 25 October 2022. She has also held roles as Minister of State (Minister for Care and Mental Health) at the Department of Health and Social Care (September 2021 to September 2022) and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills) at the Department for Education (February 2020 to September 2021). Gillian was elected as Conservative MP for Chichester on 8 June 2017.
Shivani Stumpf
Shivani Stumpf is the Chief Product and Innovation Officer at PowerSchool, a leading provider of cloud-based K-12 software. Responsible for developing PowerSchool's strategic product vision and managing the company's overarching product roadmap and product innovation, Shivani is an innovative leader with over two decades of experience and a strong track record in guiding product, technology and business strategy for SaaS companies and leveraging data and AI to drive transformative growth. Since joining PowerSchool in October 2020, Shivani launched the first education data-as-a-service platform, Connected Intelligence, to forge equitable pathways and economic mobility for all individuals. Prior to her current role at PowerSchool, she was Vice President of Analytics at PowerSchool, following the acquisition of Hoonuit, a K12 Edtech Analytics business where she led product and technology strategy as Chief Technology Officer.
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