Meet your facilitators
Dr. Abhay Adhikari is the founder of Digital Identities, a global programme to create new models of engagement and social impact. This programme has been commissioned by organizations such as Google, the Guardian and NESTA. Abhay also leads the Urban Sustainable Development Lab, which has been named one of UK’s 50 New Radical projects by the Observer newspaper. He currently leads the Careview project to help cities tackle social isolation. This programme has been co-funded by the European Space Agency. Abhay has spoken on digital culture and social impact at events such as Deutsche Welle Global Media Form (Bonn), International Journalism Festival (Perugia) and Battle of Ideas (London).
Dr. Dorothée King is an organization and personal development specialist in the cultural sector. She is currently head of the Arts and Design Education Institute at the University for Arts and Design in Basel, Switzerland. Since 2000 she has been working globally as a coach, educator and communicator. Among other places she worked with RISD and the RISD museum / Rhode Island USA, UdK Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt / Berlin, Ars Electronica / Austria, Kunstuniversität Linz, Banff Centre for the Arts / Canada, and the Transart Institute /New York. Working as a coach and mentor, she has helped build joyful teams in museums and academia. Her focus is well-being and fulfillment at the workplace, strengthening individual skills and talents, and making space for out-of-the-box constellations. She is a certified life coach, playing big facilitator, and meditation teacher.
Meet your speakers
Alastair Somerville is a sensory design consultant. He provides expert advice on cognition and person-centered design to companies and public organizations who provide both physical and digital products or services. He facilitates workshops on sensory and emotional design for major conferences and corporations (including SouthBy Southwest (SxSW), Google, Fjord Design, O’Reilly Design, UX London, English Heritage, Smithsonian Institute, UX Week, Scottish Government and MoneySupermarket). He is currently involved in wayfinding projects in historic buildings and virtual reality.
Faiza Khan is a former Consulting Editor at Bloomsbury UK where she held various duties among which were commissioning authors, editing manuscripts and managing international book tours. She has worked with authors including Booker-winning icon Margaret Atwood, bestselling Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling YA writer Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket, Women’s Prize winner Kamila Shamsie, Hannah Rothschild and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. She is additionally a creative consultant and a literary mentor, running editing and redrafting workshops and writers’ rooms for emerging and published authors.
Padma Priya is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Suno India, a multi-award winning podcast platform bringing quality audio journalism with over 200,000 monthly listeners. She has hosted multiple podcasts on under-reported stories such as "Dear Pari" on adoption, "The Suno India Show" on current affairs and award winning show "Pinjra Tod Kar" on women empowerment to name a few. As an independent journalist she has written for many leading media houses in India. She has also worked as an advocacy and communication specialist for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Doctors Without Borders.
Sarah Gillett is a digital producer, artist and writer (MA Printmaking, Royal College of Art), developing programmes for museums, galleries and commercial brands that connect online audiences with arts and culture. She is Director of Innovation and Strategy at Cultureshock in London. In 2004 she was responsible for digitizing the British Council Collection and was one of the first Google Art Project partners in 2007. Between 2002 - 2012 she managed the marketing, communications and press strategy for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennales of Art and Architecture. In the last five years has created digital strategies for Tate, Guggenheim, UBS, Royal Opera House, V&A, MoMA New York, Art Basel, International Olympics Committee, Sotheby’s, YouGov, and White Cube.