2021 Speakers

Professor Andy Miah

Professor Andy Miah is Chair of Science Communication & Future Media in the School of Science, Engineering, and Environment at the University of Salford, Manchester, where he is also Co-Chair of the E-sports Industry Collaboration. Author of 10 books about emerging technologies, Professor Miah researches such topics as artificial intelligence, human enhancement, and digital health. He is an Advisory Board member of the British E-sports Association, Commission Member of the Global E-sports Federation, and author of Sport 2.0: Transforming Sports for a Digital World (MIT Press, 2017). In 2019, he established the E-sports Science Insights platform, designed to bring critical insights from scientific research into e-sports, made available for the e-sports sector. Previous roles include providing digital media training for IAAF athletes, social media guidance for Olympic athletes, and mentoring on the International Olympic Committee Young Reporters Programme.

Dr Dave Cooke (h.c)

Dave Cooke is the founder of two charities: Operation Christmas Child and Teams4U. He developed, then worked for, the biggest shoebox programme in the world. In 2006, Dave founded Teams4U, an international humanitarian aid charity based in Wrexham who take volunteers overseas to facilitate health, education, training and empowerment programs in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. In 2013, Teams4U launched its own national shoebox program bringing Christmas gifts to deprived children in Eastern Europe. He was nominated for the St David’s Award 2016 for Charitable Work and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Salford.

Professor Kaveh Khoshnood

Kaveh Khoshnood, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Yale School of Public Health and executive committee member at Yale Council on Middle East Studies. He is co-founder of Yale Violence and Health Study Group and a faculty member of the Program on Conflict, Resiliency and Health at the Yale McMillan Center. Dr. Khoshnood is trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist and has more than two decades of domestic and international experience in HIV prevention research among people who use drugs and other at-risk populations. He teaches courses on public health ethics and global health and is developing a new course on humanitarian health.

Gary Ross

Mr Ross is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon in Manchester and has dedicated his career to achieving the optimal outcomes for patients. His personal experience as a patient has driven him to focus on how happiness in life can be influenced by body image and how its perception can be altered. Mr Ross will take you through his journey of hope, happiness and plastic surgery.

Timipre Wolo

Timipre Wolo is the CEO of TFN Energy Limited and the Founder of the Centre for Gender Equality, Education and Empowerment (CGEEE), an NGO which she set up in response to the high level of illiteracy and poverty amongst women and girls in rural areas across Africa. After obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and graduating from the Nigerian Law School in 2007, she proceeded to the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where she obtained a Masters’ Degree (LL.M.) in Oil & Gas Law in 2009. In September 2011, Timipre was assigned pioneer Head of the Fund’s Industry Collaboration Unit, tasked with the responsibility of fostering closer collaborations between the e Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and relevant stakeholders in the industry, such as the IOCs, the academia and oil producing communities. Thus, becoming the youngest person to ever serve in the PTDF Management.

Ximena Vengoechea LLB (Hons) (First), MA (Dist), LLB (Scots Law)

Ximena Vengoechea is a dual-qualified human rights lawyer from Colombia, currently practicing as an Advocate (Barrister) in Scotland. A court lawyer by trade, she specialises in criminal law, asylum and discrimination cases. Apart from her two law degrees (Universidad Nacional de Colombia & Edinburgh University), Ximena holds several further qualifications including a PG Specialisation in Constitutional law and two postgraduate Diplomas in human rights & humanitarian law. She attended the “René Cassin International Institute of Human Rights” in Strasbourg and the “Raoul Wallenberg Institute” at Lund University in Sweden, amongst others.