2025 Speakers

Angie’s been staging live shows for British forces for over two decades — usually somewhere hot, cold, or just plain inhospitable.

After 10 years at the BBC, she swapped studios for sandbags and hasn’t looked back (well, maybe once or twice). Nothing makes her happier than seeing a crowd forget where they are — even if it’s in the middle of a desert, muddy field, or concrete jetty.

Jørgen Bang has 30 years of experience in the internet industry (help!). As an agilist he is currently learning how to do product discovery, always as part of a team and preferably data-driven. Clever UX makes him happy!

Jørgen joined Sveriges Radio (SR) in 2011 as an arrogant front-end developer, fell in love with public service media and has no plans to leave (until they kick him out). For five years he’s been in the role of Product Owner for SR’s digital news offering in app and web.

This year he’s been working on SR’s AI-powered conversational news search, a chatbot-like tool that lets you ask about any news story, big or small, recent or in the past. His talk will tell you all about it!

Marianne Bouchart is the founder and director of HEI-DA, a media development nonprofit building data journalism, fact-checking, AI, and innovative news projects around the world. She worked with large news organisations such as the BBC World Service (UK) and Radio France (France), as well as smaller teams such as RTI (Ivory Coast), Radio Okapi (DRC), or Radio Ndeke Luka (CAR).

She was the executive director of the Sigma Awards data journalism competition from 2019 to 2024. Before launching HEI-DA, Marianne spent 10 years in London where she worked as a web producer, data journalism and graphics editor for Bloomberg News, amongst others.

Jon has spent more than three decades in radio studios, with the last fifteen years at the frontline of visualisation. As Managing Engineer for Global’s London operations in Leicester Square, he leads major studio projects and oversees the team that keeps some of the UK’s busiest radio brands on-air.

Jon’s special interests span large-scale Audio-over-IP, studio visual and acoustic design, and above all – microphones.

Stephanie Hirst is one of the UK’s most loved broadcasting stars. She’s been a
fixture on BBC & Commercial radio during the past 25 years and played at the
highest level behind the mic.

Alongside her Radio & TV work, she also dedicates a large amount of her time as a
Public Speaker, sharing her inspirational ‘Believe Achieve’ keynote to businesses
and conferences worldwide.

She is a Fellow of the Radio Academy, recipient of an Honorary Degree from Leeds
Beckett University & currently broadcasts nationally on Bauer’s ‘Hits Radio’ and ‘Greatest Hits Radio’.

Over a 20 year career, Richard has worked in most parts of the radio business in Arqiva from operations, to design to projects.

Today he takes a wider view of the radio business as head of the business unit.

Richard has 25 years’ of experience as a radio specialist in Arqiva.

His current role is as a technical architect for radio and over the last few years has been the primary design force for Arqiva’s new DAB platform.

Simone Lombardi is an Italian sound engineer and music producer based in London. He began his career as a trainee studio manager at the BBC, developing his craft on news, sport and classical music broadcast. After two years he joined “Group 2”, the department responsible for all the pop & rock live music on BBC Radio: he quickly established himself as one of the regular engineers at the legendary Maida Vale studios, recording and mixing iconic programs like the Live Lounge and Peel Sessions with a multitude of world-class artists.

He subsequently specialised in live music outside broadcast, covering major national festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and T In the Park. He is passionate about music production and has released commercial records for leading independent record labels like Rough Trade, as well as his own work on the pioneering electronic dub label Universal Egg.

Matthew Martin joined the BBC Master Control Room (MCR) as a Radio Engineer in 1998 and has stayed there ever since.

Over that time he has become an expert in providing software solutions to technical broadcast problems. He is currently a Team Leader specialising in audio, automation and control systems.

Dan McQuillin, Founder and Managing Director of Broadcast Bionics, has spent 30 years leading innovation across the global broadcast industry. Recognised with the Queen’s Award for Innovation and named a RadioWorld Industry Innovator, he has guided major broadcasters through multiple waves of technical transformation. Under his leadership, Broadcast Bionics continues to shape the future of radio while investing in the next generation of talent.

Monica Palomo is a Spanish broadcast engineer with nearly 30 years of experience in media technology.

After starting her career in Spain, she has spent the last two decades in Portugal, leading complex engineering projects across Europe, Brazil, the U.S., and Africa. Currently Director of Engineering, Systems & Technology at RTP and a member of the EBU Technical Committee, Monica combines deep technical expertise with strategic vision.

Passionate about innovation, collaboration, and lifelong learning, she holds postgraduate and master’s degrees in technology management and is proud to contribute as a woman in broadcast engineering.

James has been working as an engineer in the broadcast industry for over 25 years.

He is happiest when up to his elbows in cables.

John is volunteer radio presenter, engineer and company director (Chair) for Castledown FM – a community radio station in Wiltshire.

He’s also a Senior Systems Consultant at Clear-Com by day.

James is an airline pilot with more than 26 years experience, including 13 serving as a Captain on worldwide operations.

In addition to his extensive aviation background, James is a trained aviation accident investigator with a particular focus on Human Factors and Safety Management.

Drawing on these expertise, he has delivered Human Factors training and consultancy to organisations within both the Broadcast and Oil and Gas Industries.

James maintains a strong professional interest in the integration of technology, communication and human performance and is committed to advancing the effectiveness of time critical human decision making through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Dr Emma Young is a media innovation leader with specialist experience across AI, broadcast and immersive media. As Senior Director of AI Production Technology at Deluxe, she works with studios to integrate groundbreaking AI tools that enhance creativity and transform production workflows.

Emma serves on the steering committee of the Audio Mostly conference, and is an annual specialist judge for the Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards.