An award winning Computer Scientist, Technology Evangelist and Digital Skills Expert, Professor Sue Black was awarded an OBE for “services to technology” in the 2016 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. She is Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University, a UK government advisor, thought leader, Trustee at Comic Relief, social entrepreneur, writer and public speaker. Sue set up the UK’s first online network for women in tech BCSWomen in 1998 and led the campaign to save Bletchley Park. Sue’s first book Saving Bletchley Park details the social media campaign she led to save Bletchley Park from 2008-2011, it has been an Amazon UK bestseller.

Jo is TransFIRe’s Senior Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Project Manager, and Founder of Inclusioneering Limited, a social enterprise supporting engineering and tech organisations with data-led culture transformation for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Jo began her career as an engineer, developing enterprise software for global industry. Having pivoted her focus from the technical to human dimensions of engineering, Jo now works as a Business Psychologist.  Jo has held leadership roles in industry, and shared evidence with government about inclusion in tech and engineering fields.  She is a Trustee for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Board member of AI ethics and audit charity, ForHumanity.

Professor Mark Jolly

Mark is Professor and Director of Manufacturing and Materials, with over 40 years’ experience in manufacturing. He is Director of the UKRI Transforming the Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (TransFIRe), and co-Director of the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing. Mark is on the Royal Academy of Engineering National Engineering Policy Centre working group on Materials for Net-Zero, and is a co-lead on the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Centre of Excellence for Materials for Extreme Environments. Mark’s main areas of current research are in circular economy and sustainability including resource efficient manufacturing, process modelling and novel casting processes.

Dr Shini Somara

Shini believes it is her purpose to socialise science, engineering and innovation by creating STEM content in the form of books, TV and digital media.

Originally a qualified Mechanical Engineer herself, she specialised in the research and development of computational fluid dynamics, which resulted in an engineering doctorate qualification in 2004.

Shini loves learning about scientific research and technological advancement and sharing this passion with others as a STEM* Media Producer through her production company eSTEAMd Media.

On the side of her professional work, Shini has produced and hosted three podcast series. Her latest podcast series “Innovators Making a Difference” launched in January 2024 features conversations with trailblazers and pioneers in STEM.

Shini’s seventh STEM book entitled “Engineers Making a Difference” has been donated to all secondary state schools in the UK (over 16K copies), thanks to the generous support of Imperial College London and The Gatsby Foundation.

Dr Rhys Morgan

Dr Rhys Morgan is the Royal Academy of Engineering’s strategic lead on engineering education, skills and inclusion, guiding the development of its research, policy and programme activity. His portfolio of work includes analysis of the UK engineering skills base and the capacity and capability of UK engineering education to deliver the workforce of the future.  He sits on and advises various government skills taskforces including nuclear, quantum and transport. He has led major activities including Formula 1 champion Sir Lewis Hamilton’s commission into improving the representation of Black people in UK motorsport, research into the state of UK STEM education and pedagogies for teaching engineering in schools, colleges and universities. Rhys also advises on the Academy’s broader engagement with the engineering profession including the collective of 40 Professional Engineering Institutions, the Engineering Council and EngineeringUK.