Ade Shannon is CEO and founder of DiO, a creative-technology platform driving innovation across culture and the creative industries. He has extensive production and development experience having co-founded Mad As Birds Films where his credits included The Vanishing (Gerard Butler), Poms (Diane Keaton), and Six Minutes to Midnight (Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent).‍

DiO captures real-time emotional, physiological, and cognitive responses at scale, revealing the unfiltered truth of audience engagement. We combine skin response (emotional intensity), facial emotion analysis, voice sentiment, and AI synthesis to predict audience behaviour with 93% accuracy. This results in confident, data-driven decisions across the production lifecycle, from concept validation through to post-broadcast analysis. 

DiO supports the full broadcast lifecycle, from concept testing and script validation through to pilot screening, marketing execution, sponsor identification, and franchise development. At every stage, real-time audience intelligence replaces guesswork with evidence, helping broadcasters back winning formats, optimise creative decisions and build deep audience understanding that drives long-term commercial success.

Alex Morris has spent the last 15 years building and running digital first content businesses at the heart of social media and the creator economy. In his current role as Managing Director of Channel 4 ‘s social-first division, 4Studio he plays a central role in developing and steering Channel 4’s over-arching social strategy in close collaboration with peers across the organisation. Prior to this role Morris was Chief Creative Officer at SB Media Group where he helped to grow the business from a Dubai-based Content Creator operation into a global media company.

In addition, Morris has held positions at LADbible Group and Barcroft Studios, where he helped lead the business for over a decade before selling to Future PLC.

‍Alison leads North East Screen, the region’s screen industries development agency, driving economic growth and supporting the sustainable expansion of film and television production across the North East.

Alison has over 25 years’ experience in the cultural and creative industries, from providing marketing leadership at the Centre for Life to being instrumental in the planning and development of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. Her passion is to support the sustainable growth of the creative industry in North East England.

Recent achievements include securing investment of £58 million through a BBC partnership and establishing the North East Screen Industry Partnership (NESIP), involving 3 Combined and 12 Local Authorities. NESIP aims to double the region’s share of UK film and TV production, generating an economic impact of £88m annually. Alison received a Royal Television Society award for Outstanding Contribution to the Screen industry in 2022. 

Andrea Arnold began her career with notable short films like Milk, Dog, and Wasp, the latter earning her an Academy Award in 2005. Her debut feature film Red Road won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut in 2006 as well as five BAFTAs at the BAFTA Scotland Awards ceremony, including Best Director and Best Screenplay. In 2010, her critically acclaimed film Fish Tank won a BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey all competed at Cannes Film Festival and subsequently won the Jury Prize in 2006, 2009 and 2016. In 2022, her documentary Cow was nominated for a BAFTA and received several awards, including the Green Warsaw Award for Best Ecology Themed Documentary. She has also directed episodes for television series Transparent, I Love Dick, and the second season of Big Little Lies. In 2024 Bird was nominated for a Palme d'Or and a BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. The same year Andrea was awarded the Carrosse d’Or award at Cannes.

Angelo Abela is Joint Head of Scripted, Kids & Family at Lime Pictures. He executive produced last year's award-winning Netflix animation Wolf King and directed CBBC’s Girl Troop vs Aliens, which dropped in Spring.

In 2026, he has expanded into vertical drama, executive producing and directing two upcoming micro-dramas, as Lime enters the genre.

He joined Lime in 2011 as Lead Director and showrunner on BAFTA-nominated House of Anubis for Nickelodeon later developing and produced Free Rein, winning an Emmy, and was Emmy-nominated for directing both Free Rein and Zero Chill. He has also co-executive produced Hollyoaks.

Angelo began as an actor and comedy performer before building a writing and directing career across comedy, drama, entertainment, and children’s television.

Asif Kapadia, director of KENNY DALGLISH, is an Academy Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer, also recognised with four BAFTA Awards, a Grammy Award, and a European Film Award. He is considered one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation, best known for his acclaimed trilogy AMY, SENNA, and DIEGO MARADONA. Kapadia’s most recent film, 2073, had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, starring Samantha Morton. 2073 is a hard hitting, epic, science-true-fiction thriller which pushed the documentary boundaries by mixing archive, nonfiction and drama, set in a dystopian near-future. The film uses fragments of the past to tell a story of what may be to come in the future, or what may already be our present. 2073 had been the No 1 feature film on HBO MAX in the US.

Ben Zand is a British-Iranian filmmaker, and founder & CEO of Zandland, a documentary studio built for the new era of content. Ben works across premium global documentaries and digital-first original IP, focusing on ambitious, access-driven storytelling that helps audiences understand the forces shaping the modern world, from online movements and belief systems to power, culture, identity, and how people make meaning today.

Zandland sits at the intersection of journalism, entertainment, and internet-native storytelling, combining cinematic production values with the pace, openness and audience expectations of the digital era. The studio develops character-led narratives and globally scalable formats designed to travel across platforms, cultures and communities.Today, Zandland operates in a hybrid model: producing premium commissioned series for the biggest streamers while also building its own original IP and direct audience relationships. Ben sees the next generation of studios not just as content producers, but as cultural sense-makers and story brands, helping audiences navigate a complex world through narrative, access, and trust.

As Chief Executive of Screen Yorkshire, Caroline champions the film, TV and wider screen industries in Yorkshire and the Humber and provides leadership to a talented team of industry experts who deliver skills and talent development, production support and content investment.

Caroline’s 25-year career within the screen industries has evolved from running her first production company with acclaimed music video director Dawn Shadforth to her previous role as Head of Creative at Screen Yorkshire. Along this journey she has spent time as Talent Development Executive for Scottish Film Talent Network, Head of Film at Creative England, Head of Creative Development at Warp X, managed the UK Film Council’s nationwide short film programme through her company Lifesize Pictures and spent a year as Director of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

Winner of the Pixielogic Media Director Award for her work on G’WED, Chloe English made her directorial debut on Season 2 of the BAFTA nominated show, which she also co-wrote and starred in. Her work on the show has also earned her a BAFTA nomination in this year’s emerging talent category.

Chloe’s ability to bring out a wide range of outstanding performances from a young and largely inexperienced cast, as well as the more experienced and seasoned actors, is testament to her strength and skill as a director. Through her clear vision and direction, the young cast were able to navigate the sometimes complex issues with trust and confidence while exploring the power of humour and self-awareness in dealing with these issues.

Chloe has recently finished directing Block 2 of Season 3 and has several projects in development.

Claire McColgan CBE is a highly respected cultural leader with over 30 years’ experience delivering transformational culture-led regeneration across local and national government. As Director of Culture, Visitor Economy and Major Events for Liverpool and the wider region, she has produced world-class, award-winning events including Liverpool 2008, Eurovision 2023, and the UK COVID-19 reopening programme, while also leading the bids for and delivering, amongst others  UNESCO City of Music and the UN Accelerator City Programme.

She is an expert in community engagement and invented the groundbreaking creative communities programme, cited as the reason for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture win. This approach has been emulated internationally.

A sought-after international advisor and speaker, Claire currently serves as Deputy Chair of the UK City of Culture programme, a Non-Executive Director at Carnegie UK and Visit Isle of Man, and has been recognised with an MBE, CBE, and honorary awards from LJMU and Edge Hill University for her outstanding service to culture and the City of Liverpool.

Originally from East Lancashire, David has worked as a TV Freelancer for 20 years based in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff and Leeds. He started as a runner, eventually becoming a shooting PD and then made the leap into development.

His production CV is packed with famous formats including Embarrassing Bodies, Panorama, Snog Marry Avoid, Countryfile, Geordie Shore, and Back in Time for Tea.

In his development career, David has been on the creative teams at some of the UK's leading production companies including True North, Multistory, Boom Productions, BBC Bristol, Plimsoll and Lime Pictures. David is Head of Unscripted at Climate Spring a narrative change organization and development fund with a focus on climate

Award winning actor, Dylan Thomas Smith is best known for his portrayal of Reece Duffy in ITV’s G’WED. The role has earned him outstanding reviews, with Russell T Davies calling him, ‘An absolute star...,” a BAFTA nomination and the award for ‘Best Breakthrough Performance in a Comedy’ at The Edinburgh TV Awards. The show was also nominated for a BAFTA. Dylan recently finished filming season 3 which will be out in June and can also be seen in Keyside’s upcoming music video Lemon and Lime. Dylan currently has two projects in development.

Emma Loach is the BBC's Interim Head of Documentary Commissioning, responsible for all  documentary output across the BBC's channels. 

Recent credits include The Mother of All Cons; Atomic People; Backlash: The Murder of  George Floyd; Forensics; Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice; The Search for Nicola Bulley;  Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands, New Tricks; The Real Mo Farah; Parole; The Met; Christine  McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism; Louis Theroux's Forbidden America; Gods of Snooker; and Black Power. 

Before joining the BBC, Emma worked as an executive producer across a diverse range of  series and singles. She was instrumental in originating and delivering the Ambulance brand  for BBC One and The Trial for Channel 4.

Gemma stars as Mia Louise in ITV comedy G’WED, for which she was nominated for Best Performance in a Comedy at the Northwest RTS Awards in 2025. Gemma recently reprised her role for the second series of BBC drama This City Is Ours and completed filming The Cage for BBC1.