Sean Blanchfield

 
Sean Blanchfield is a well-known Irish technology entrepreneur, investor, advisor and startup community organiser. He is best known as a founder of Demonware, an online technology firm that serves over 300 million gamers, including those of Call of Duty, the world’s most successful video game franchise. After Demonware’s acquisition by Activision Blizzard in 2007, he pursued a number of ventures in industries as diverse as social games and operational excellence. He is currently CEO and co-founder of Scale Front, a Dublin-based startup lab. He also organises Techpreneurs, an invite-only monthly meeting of over 100 of Ireland’s leading technology founders.

Christina Chang

 
Christina Chang is a Marshall Scholar studying for an MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on developing a new energy technology that uses sunlight to synthesise chemical fuels. Christina is a United States Presidential Scholar, a Goldwater Scholar, and an alumna of the Research Science Institute. She graduated from Princeton University in 2012, having received the Pyka Prize in Physics, the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, and the Spirit of Princeton Award. Outside of the lab, Christina is passionate about furthering science education. In 2009, she co-founded an after-school mentoring program for underserved secondary school students in New Jersey. Her ultimate career goal is to address the global energy crisis through scientific research and public engagement.

Peter Collett

 
Peter is a psychologist and a former Oxford don. His books include Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car, and Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms. His most recent book is The Book of Tells: How to Read People’s Minds from Their Actions.

Peter was resident psychologist on Big Brother for the first four series. He presented Body Talk, an award-winning two-part TV series on Channel 4, followed by What They’re Really Thinking, a programme about the revealing mannerisms of British politicians. In 2010 Peter co-presented an eight-part series on psychology and body language for Sky1. He has written articles for newspapers and magazines, spoken at conferences and provided consultancy for a wide range of organisations.

Ruth Davidson

 
Ruth Davidson is a Scottish politician, currently leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow regional list. After graduating from Edinburgh University, she worked as a BBC journalist and signaller in the Territorial Army. Ruth left the BBC in 2009 to study at Glasgow University before pursuing a career in politics.

Fiona De Londras

 
Fiona de Londras is Professor of Law at Durham University where she is also Co-Director of the Durham Human Rights Centre (www.dur.ac.uk/hrc). Fiona’s research interests are particularly in human rights and constitutionalism and she is currently finalising a book (to be published by Cambridge University Press) considering the challenges privatization of counter-terrorism poses for transparency, accountability and protection of human rights. She is the founder of the blog Human Rights in Ireland (www.humanrights.ie) and tweets @efdel.

Paul Dolan

 
Dr. Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at the LSE. There are two main, and related, themes to his work. The first focuses on developing measures of wellbeing that can be used in policy. The second considers ways in which the lessons from the behavioural sciences can be used to understand and change behaviour. He is particularly interested in the use of natural field experiments to address these research themes. Amongst other professional roles, he is Chief Academic Advisor on Economic Appraisal to the UK Government Economic Service, a member of the National Advisory Forum on wellbeing in the UK, and on a National Academy of Sciences Panel on wellbeing in the US.

Samuel Dorison

 
Sam Dorison is currently pursuing an MSc in Security Studies at University College London, where he is a 2012 Marshall Scholar. His coursework includes issues relating to terrorism as well as topics in political economy. In his previous position at Harvard Kennedy School, he focused on US politics, nuclear proliferation, and issues concerning Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has also worked in McKinsey & Company’s public sector practice in Washington, DC, and at the human rights law firm Appeal for Justice, which represents detainees held at Guantánamo Bay. With Appeal for Justice, he twice visited Guantánamo to interview detainees. In 2011, Sam graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He received the School’s prize for best thesis on US foreign policy for his work titled ‘Counting the Days: Factors Influencing Length of Detention at Guantánamo Bay’.

David Grier

 
David Grier is an inspirational speaker, chef, author and extreme adventurer, having just completed the first solo run of India 4008 km in 93 days. Previous to this he has paddled from Africa to Madagascar (a distance of 500 km) and then ran the island from south to north ,a distance of 2700 km. David did the first ever continuous joint run of the Great Wall of China, some 4200 km in 98 days. Plus the first ever continuous run along the coast of South Africa from Oranjemund via Cape Town to Mozambique, 3300 km in 80 days. He has also run from John O’Groats to lands End, the length of Ireland as well as Hadrian ’s Wall
 
David was born on the 16th of January 1960 into a Cape wine farming family in South Africa, and with this base he never lost his roots for the love of the outdoors. With food, wine and adventure close to his heart, David set out to take all of his passions to the extreme, and explore the limits of the human mind and body. These journeys are not about David himself, but he wanted to make a difference in the lives of children born with cleft lips and pallets. Through these journeys enough funding was raised to enable some 1800 children to receive corrective facial surgery through Operation Smile.

Corina Kwami

 
Ms Kwami is a jazz, soul and funk performer and aspiring social epidemiologist. After finishing her degree at Georgetown University, Corina worked and performed in Switzerland and Germany. She has also launched an initiative, “Jazz, Swing & Funk Walking Tours Berlin” which provides interactive, historic tours of jazz in Berlin in order to promote dialogue on culture and performance in an urban setting. The tour includes visits to sites in several of Berlin’s neighborhoods where jazz, swing and funk have developed alongside historical milestones with surprise performances at each site. She is currently a degree candidate at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Douglas Murray

 
Douglas Murray is the Associate Director at the Henry Jackson Society, having joined in April 2011. He previously founded the Centre for Social Cohesion, a think tank studying extremism and terrorism in the UK. A bestselling author and award-winning political commentator, Douglas is a columnist for Standpoint and writes frequently for a variety of other publications, including the Spectator and Wall Street Journal. A prolific debater, Douglas has spoken on a variety of prominent platforms, including at the British and European Parliaments and the White House. He has authored books on neoconservatism, terrorism and national security as well as on freedom of speech. His latest book, Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry, was published in November 2011.

David Royston-Lee

 
A senior executive coach, mentor and advisor on career strategy with a background in business psychology, management consultancy, recruitment and marketing communications. He began his career in sales and recruitment prior to his appointment as Head of Career Management Services at KPMG. David became Human Resources Director of Ogilvy and OgilvyOne London, and then Chief Executive of the Communications, Advertising & Marketing Foundation.
 
David is a chartered business psychologist with a degree in Economics, Sociology and Psychology and an MSc in Occupational Psychology. He is also a member of the Institute of Personnel & Development; a founder member of the Association of Business Psychologists and a Freeman of the City of London.

Rachael Sage

 
Singer, songwriter, producer, and MPress Records founder Rachael Sage is a soulful vocalist and innovative keyboardist who has become one of the busiest touring artists in independent music, performing 150+ dates a year throughout the US, UK, Europe and Asia. She has earned a loyal following for her infectious melodies, poetic lyrics, and often-outrageous, colorful stage banter. She has shared stages with Sarah McLachlan, Judy Collins, Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn, The Animals and Ani DiFranco; brought 2 critically-acclaimed shows to the Edinburgh Fringe; and has received numerous songwriting awards, including The John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Grand Prize) and several US Independent Music Awards.
 
Sage, a former ballerina who attended the School of American Ballet in New York City and went on to study drama at Stanford University, is also a visual artist. She paints and designs her own album artwork, and has recently had her work presented by several New York galleries. She has released 10 albums on MPress Records; the latest, “Haunted By You” was just released in the UK and Ireland.