Meet our Speakers
UK Internet Governance Forum Meeting 2025 | Thursday 11th December
Keynote address | 09:15 – 09:30 (GMT/BTC)
Baroness Liz Lloyd CBE
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Digital Economy), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Department for Business and Trade
Baroness Lloyd of Effra CBE was appointed to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade on 11th September 2025. Across both of her briefs, Baroness Lloyd’s responsibilities include digital inclusion, tech adoption and skills. Baroness Lloyd previously held various roles in Tony Blair’s administration, including home affairs advisor, working on foreign policy at the No 10 Policy Unit, and later as his Deputy Chief of Staff between 2005-2007.
Session: Digital Fragmentation from a User Perspective | 09:30 – 10:30 (GMT/BTC)
Izaan Khan
Internet Society Youth Standing Group (Chair)
Izaan is a Privacy Manager within Deloitte’s Cyber Practice, and member of the Internet Society’s Youth Standing Group. He graduated with first class honours in law from the London School of Economics, and was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2022. He is a former ISOC Youth Ambassador to the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF), and former YOUthDIG Fellow for the European Dialogue on Internet Governance.
He has been involved in various UN activities, including as a key member of the drafting team for the Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation’s final report which was presented at the UN IGF in Kyoto. He is also deeply passionate about digital rights and bringing youth voices to internet governance processes.
He has been involved in various UN activities, including as a key member of the drafting team for the Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation’s final report which was presented at the UN IGF in Kyoto. He is also deeply passionate about digital rights and bringing youth voices to internet governance processes.
Sheetal Kumar
Digital Rights Advocacy Expert
Sheetal Kumar is a freelance consultant and expert on advocacy for digital rights, who specialises in research, capacity building, as well as advocacy strategy development and implementation relating to technology policy, gender and human rights. She has been a co-facilitator for the UN IGF’s Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation since 2022.
Rachel Coldicutt
Founder & Executive Director, Careful Industries
Rachel Coldicutt is a researcher and strategist specialising in inclusive, community-powered innovation and the social impacts of new and emerging technologies. She is founder and executive director of research consultancy Careful Industries.
She was previously founding CEO of responsible technology think tank Doteveryone where she led influential and ground-breaking research into how technology is changing society and developed practical tools for responsible innovation. Prior to that, she spent almost 20 years working at the cutting edge of new technology for companies including the BBC, Microsoft, BT, and Channel 4, and was a pioneer in the digital art world. Rachel is an advisor, board member and trustee for a number of projects, companies and charities. From 2020-2023 she served as a non-executive director at Ofcom and is currently a sub-committee member of the UK government’s Digital Inclusion Action Committee. In 2019, Rachel was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services for the digital society.
She was previously founding CEO of responsible technology think tank Doteveryone where she led influential and ground-breaking research into how technology is changing society and developed practical tools for responsible innovation. Prior to that, she spent almost 20 years working at the cutting edge of new technology for companies including the BBC, Microsoft, BT, and Channel 4, and was a pioneer in the digital art world. Rachel is an advisor, board member and trustee for a number of projects, companies and charities. From 2020-2023 she served as a non-executive director at Ofcom and is currently a sub-committee member of the UK government’s Digital Inclusion Action Committee. In 2019, Rachel was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services for the digital society.
Alice Taylor
Research Manager from Oxford Information Labs Ltd
Alice Taylor is a Research Manager from Oxford Information Labs Ltd, and a Presenter for The Internet Seriously Youtube Channel. Alice runs a TikTok account with 79k likes. With a background as a Speech and Language Therapist, Alice specialises in researching and supporting vulnerable populations.
Ethics of AI Workshop| 10:50 – 12:30 (GMT/BTC)
As almost every aspect of our professional, social, and private lives is transformed by Artificial Intelligence, this session enables us to take a step back and consider how AI is built and where ethics enters the system and explore some real-life examples and their consequences. It will also enable us to think about what we can actually do in practice, from technology choices to policy, advocacy and oversight.
Sal Mohammed
Founder of LangSync and CEO of QTA. Ex-Google expert heading Xoogler EMEA network.
Sal is the founder of LangSync, one of the world’s first Large Language Model Optimisation (LLMO) agencies. Built by a team of ex-Google product and AI experts, LangSync helps companies win visibility across AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews – transforming how brands appear in the age of answer engines. He is also the CEO of QTA, a global partnerships company that has helped startups drive over $200m in commercial revenue. Beyond his companies, Sal heads up Xoogler EMEA, the Ex-Google network, where he hosts Demo Days, Growth Summits, and networking events for more than 15,000 former Google and DeepMind employees. Sal also founded the health tech charity DOGO, which turns donations into free healthcare for urgent cases across Africa via a digital transparency layer. DOGO has delivered over 2,000 treatments and recently won the London Business School Launchpad Accelerator prize. He speaks regularly on AI visibility, growth through partnerships, and the counterintuitive nature of startup life.
Stacie Chan
SVP OF GTM, NETMIND.AI
Stacie Chan is a global media leader with a technical background in AI and a track record of growing businesses. She was the VP of Business at Haiper.ai, a leading video-generative AI platform, which was acquired by Netmind.ai. Now at Netmind.ai, an AI Enterprise Agent development platform, Stacie is currently the SVP of GTM, leading commercial strategy and business development. Previously, Stacie co-founded 1Bstories (acquired), an AI video generation startup, and held multiple roles at Google, including Google AI Assistant Partnerships Manager and Global Search Partnerships. Her experience spans journalism, technology, and AI, making her a versatile leader in the AI space.
Lightning Talk: Power Asymmetries in Tech | 13:25 – 13:40 (GMT/BTC)
As power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few big players, this lightening session will explore power concentration as a rights issue. The session will examine how cloud giants subsume AI start-ups into their networks of control beyond ownership and how building public-led stacks that replace those giants with infrastructure and platforms as a commons could expand democracy.
Dr Cecilia Rikap
Associate Professor, Economics & Head of Research at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
Dr. Cecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor in Economics and the Head of Research at the University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. She is a tenured researcher of the CONICET, Argentina’s national research council, and associate researcher at COSTECH lab, Université de Technologie de Compiègne. She has authored the award-winning book Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered and co-author of the book The Digital Innovation Race. Her forthcoming book, “The Rulers: Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud” will come out with Verso in 2026.
The WSIS+20 Review: A Multistakeholder Conversation | 13:45 – 14:25 (GMT/BTC)
The UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process is focused on the digital development agenda, with the goal of building a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society”. A 20-year review of WSIS is currently underway, with a vote on the resolution expected in New York in mid-December. This session offers a timely update on where we are in the process and the evolving outcome document, as well as reflections from the UK Government and civil society.
David Souter
Independent Expert on Digital Society (Introductory remarks)
David Souter has been an independent researcher, writer and analyst on the digital society and its impacts on the economy, governance, rights and the environment since 2003. For the past ten years he has worked primarily as an independent expert for United Nations agencies, including UNCTAD, UNESCO, the ITU, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). He was lead author of CSTD’s twenty-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society and is currently consultant to DESA and the Co-Facilitators who are leading the General Assembly review process of the Summit’s outcomes.
Ellie McDonald
Policy and Advocacy Lead at Global Partners Digital
Ellie is a Policy and Advocacy Lead at Global Partners Digital where she leads policy and advocacy activities that seek to ensure a more rights-respecting digital policy landscape. She has a particular focus on Internet governance, trust and security and emerging technologies. She leads coordination of the organisation’s strategy on the WSIS+20 review process, including the Global Digital Rights Coalition for WSIS (GDRC-WSIS). Previously, she has worked at the Equal Rights Trust and ARTICLE 19.
Paul Blaker
Head of ITU and Internet Governance, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Paul Blaker is Head of ITU and Internet Governance at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He is leading for the UK Government on negotiations in the WSIS+20 review and his team is responsible for engagement in organisations such as the UN Internet Governance Forum, the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation and the International Telecommunication Union. He is a career civil servant with previous roles in the Cabinet Office, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England.
Nick Wenban-Smith
General Counsel and Head of Stakeholder Relations, Nominet (Facilitator)
Nick Wenban-Smith is Nominet’s General Counsel and Head of Stakeholder Relations. Nick has been involved in the UK Internet Governance Forum for many years now in the organising committee Secretariat role, and is the veteran of many global IGF meetings. Nick has also represented Nominet at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), sitting as an elected Councillor for the EU region for six years and currently chairs the ccNSO DNS Abuse Standing Committee. Before qualifying as a solicitor Nick studied Chemistry at Cambridge University.
Panel Session: A UK Digital ID - how can we ensure a balance of power between the citizen and the state? | 14:30 – 15:30 (GMT/BTC)
Wendy Grossman
Journalist (Panel Chair)
Wendy M. Grossman is a freelance writer who has covered computers, freedom, and privacy for more than 30 years. She is the recipient of the 2013 Enigma Award for information security reporting.
Professor Mirca Madianou
Author and Professor, Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmith, University of London
Mirca Madianou is Professor in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies and co-Director of the Migrant Futures Institute at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research focuses on the social consequences of communication technologies, infrastructures and artificial intelligence (AI) in Global South contexts especially in relation to migration and humanitarian emergencies. She is currently Principal Investigator on a British Academy grant on digital identity systems in refugee camps in Thailand. Her latest book is Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful.
Karla Prudencio
Programme Director and Advocacy Officer, Privacy International
Karla currently leads Privacy International’s Protecting People’s Dignity strategic area, which is dedicated to strengthening frameworks and mechanisms that ensure individuals affected by exclusion, discrimination, and unlawful surveillance can safely and equitably access and enjoy their fundamental rights.
Karla has extensive experience in the regulatory sector, having served as a Senior Legal Advisor at the Federal Telecommunications Institute of Mexico and as Head of the Office of Transparency and Data Protection at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE). Her work includes substantial engagement with rural and Indigenous communities on connectivity issues and digital rights. Before joining Privacy International, Karla was Head of Political Advocacy at REDES and a Research Associate at the Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D).
She holds a Law Degree from CIDE and a Master’s in Law, Science, and Technology from Stanford University.
Karla has extensive experience in the regulatory sector, having served as a Senior Legal Advisor at the Federal Telecommunications Institute of Mexico and as Head of the Office of Transparency and Data Protection at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE). Her work includes substantial engagement with rural and Indigenous communities on connectivity issues and digital rights. Before joining Privacy International, Karla was Head of Political Advocacy at REDES and a Research Associate at the Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D).
She holds a Law Degree from CIDE and a Master’s in Law, Science, and Technology from Stanford University.
David Birch
Author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services
David G. W. Birch is an author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services. He is an international keynote speaker and recognised thought leader whose books on digital identity and digital money have been widely praised.
David is Principal at his advisory practice 15Mb Ltd. and Global Ambassador for Consult Hyperion, the consulting arm of Fime. His most recent journal papers cover agentic finance, payment system resilience and non-human customers.
Once named one of the global top 15 favourite sources of business information (Wired magazine) and one of the top ten most influential voices in banking (Financial Brand), he created one of the top 25 “must read’ financial IT blogs and was found to be one of the top ten Twitter accounts followed by innovators, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson (PR Daily). Ranked one of 2022’s global top 30 fintech influencers, he is one of the top three most influential people in London’s FinTech community (City A.M.) and rated Europe’s most influential commentator on emerging payments (Total Payments).
David is Principal at his advisory practice 15Mb Ltd. and Global Ambassador for Consult Hyperion, the consulting arm of Fime. His most recent journal papers cover agentic finance, payment system resilience and non-human customers.
Once named one of the global top 15 favourite sources of business information (Wired magazine) and one of the top ten most influential voices in banking (Financial Brand), he created one of the top 25 “must read’ financial IT blogs and was found to be one of the top ten Twitter accounts followed by innovators, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson (PR Daily). Ranked one of 2022’s global top 30 fintech influencers, he is one of the top three most influential people in London’s FinTech community (City A.M.) and rated Europe’s most influential commentator on emerging payments (Total Payments).
Session: How do we protect children’s rights online in 2025? | 15:50 – 16:45 (GMT/BTC)
Mark Russell
CEO, The Children’s Society (Panel Chair)
Mark was appointed as Chief Executive of The Children’s Society in 2019 and leads a team of 750 staff and 6,000 volunteers. He is passionately committed to social justice and fighting for children and young people to feel hopeful and happy. Mark grew up in Northern Ireland and read Law at Queen’s University Belfast. He has 10 years’ experience as a youth worker, supporting young people in England and Northern Ireland. In 1999, Mark was awarded the ‘British Gas Tomorrow’s People Award’ for his cross-community work, bringing Catholic and Protestant young people together across Northern Ireland in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement. Before joining The Children’s Society Mark served as Chief Executive of Church Army for almost 13 years. Mark has been a Trustee of The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England and has served as Chair of The Marylebone Project, the largest women only homeless project in the UK. He is Vice Chair of Governors of a large high school in Hampshire, an Honorary Canon of Southwark Cathedral and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. He tweets @markrusselluk.
Jen Persson
Director, Defend Digital Me (Panellist)
Jen Persson is a passionate advocate for human rights in the digital environment, with over 20 years’ experience in the intersection of data, policy, and children’s rights. She has supported various international organisations in roles including:
– leading the drafting of the Council of Europe Committee of Convention 108 Guidelines for Children’s Data Protection in Education Settings, adopted by all Member States in 2020 for which she was awarded the Polish Data Protection Authority’s 2021 Michal Serzycki Prize;
– the Council of Europe Expert Group on AI and Education contributing to legal and policy instruments since 2021;
– the Special Group on the EU Code of Conduct on Age-appropriate Design, from 2023.
As founder of the NGO Defend Digital Me, Jen has been involved in campaigning on data policy and children’s digital rights in England since 2016. Their reports include research co-authored with CRIN, Privacy and Protection: a Children’s rights Approach to Encryption; and mapping the growing use of biometrics, facial recognition and surveillance in schools, as well as the broader public/private data landscape about children in state education in England.
– leading the drafting of the Council of Europe Committee of Convention 108 Guidelines for Children’s Data Protection in Education Settings, adopted by all Member States in 2020 for which she was awarded the Polish Data Protection Authority’s 2021 Michal Serzycki Prize;
– the Council of Europe Expert Group on AI and Education contributing to legal and policy instruments since 2021;
– the Special Group on the EU Code of Conduct on Age-appropriate Design, from 2023.
As founder of the NGO Defend Digital Me, Jen has been involved in campaigning on data policy and children’s digital rights in England since 2016. Their reports include research co-authored with CRIN, Privacy and Protection: a Children’s rights Approach to Encryption; and mapping the growing use of biometrics, facial recognition and surveillance in schools, as well as the broader public/private data landscape about children in state education in England.
Dr Kim Ringmar-Sylwander
Researcher, Digital Futures for Children Centre, LSE (Panellist)
Dr Kim Sylwander is a researcher at the Digital Futures for Children centre at the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Kim’s research has focused on children, youth and media, specifically online hate, racism, sexuality, and technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. She has worked for the UN, in civil society and academia. She has served as a government-appointed expert in inquiries on sexual exploitation and the effects of digital media on children in Sweden and has led a government inquiry on the effects of pornography on children.
Sonia Livingstone OBE FBA
Professor, Department of Media and Communications, LSE (Panellist)
Sonia Livingstone OBE FBA is a professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She has published 21 books on media audiences, children and young people’s risks and opportunities, media literacy and rights in the digital environment, including “Parenting for a Digital Future: How hopes and fears about technology shape children’s lives”and Digital Media Use in Early Childhood: Birth to Six. Since founding the EC-funded “EU Kids Online” research network, and Global Kids Online (with UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti), she has advised the Council of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, OECD, ITU and UNICEF. She works on the MRC-funded DIORA project (Dynamic Interplay of Online Risk and Resilience in Adolescence) and ESRC-funded PlatFAMs (Platforming Families) project, and is currently leading the Digital Futures for Children centre at LSE with the 5Rights Foundation. See www.sonialivingstone.net