SEMTS 2024 SPEAKERS
Tom Arthur
Minister For Employment & Investment, Scottish Government
Dr. Richmond Davies
Head of Analytics & Intelligence
Dr. Richmond Davies
Head of Analytics & Intelligence
Doctor Richmond Davies has been working in NHS Scotland for 28 years after he decided to relocate from England for further studies. He has worked in various NHS roles from hospital clinical to statistical analysis and finally to senior public health leadership. He heads up analytics for public mental health, child health, cancer, and harmful health behaviours as well as being a data protection officer. Richmond is passionate about preventing disease and minimising its consequences, reducing inequities in health, prolonging valued life, and improving the health and wellbeing of the population, underpinned by robust data, statistics, and intelligence. Richmond has had other roles in his career. He was an NHS statistical advisor to the Scottish Government, a professional civil engineer involved in the consultation and design phases of junction 11a of the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire, an instructor of mathematics in a high school in Essex, and an associate senior lecturer at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen. Richmond looks forward to the future for opportunities, with safeguards, that Artificial Intelligence which includes machine learning, deep learning, and large language models will bring to transform healthcare and contribute to addressing the wider determinants of health.
Vida Rudkin
Managing Director
Vida Rudkin
Managing Director
Vida is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, based in their Glasgow Office. Vida is the Head of the Glasgow office, Global Operations Chief Operating Officer and the UK Senior Manager for Client Assets. Vida holds positions on the boards of Morgan Stanley UK Ltd and Morgan Stanley Pension Trustee Ltd. She also holds external positions on the boards of Scottish Financial Enterprise and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board. Prior to her move to Scotland in 2010 Vida spent 10 years working in London in various roles across UBS, Barclays Capital and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. She also spent 6 years as a consultant with Andersen Consulting and Deloitte Consulting.
Julie Hotchkiss
Executive Director, ACCA
Julie Hotchkiss
Executive Director, ACCA
Julie Hotchkiss was appointed to the ACCA executive team in November 2018 and now holds the role of executive director - people and transformation. In this role, Julie is responsible for ensuring the people agenda and major change activities are fully aligned to enable the organisation’s strategy. Prior to this, Julie was the director – Europe and Americas, where she had a key role in growing and maintaining ACCA’s international footprint and reputation. In this strategic leadership role, Julie played her part in developing the accountancy profession, working with members, students, employers and organisations in a wide range of countries. Julie leads ACCA’s work on developing the culture in line with the long-standing values of innovation, integrity and inclusion. As a global organisation with members and student in more than 170 countries and employees in over 50 countries, ACCA’s value of inclusion is based on creating opportunity for all, removing artificial barriers and embracing diversity.
Katy Morrison
Heald of Culture & Performance
Katy Morrison
Heald of Culture & Performance
Katy is Head of Culture & Performance at Connect Three, B-Corp business consultancy based in Glasgow. Connect Three exist to make the planet a better place to work and live, and with their reach both globally and across the UK, they work with businesses to develop & create sustainable and impactful solutions based on priority areas. Be this, supporting Purpose & Values, or Strategy & Vision to Coaching Training, they help to develop inspirational leaders & people who build healthy businesses that are great places to work. Katy has over 16 years’ experience leading within L&D roles both internally and as a consultant, partnering with clients within Government, public and private and 3rd sector. She brings high energy and impactful design to her sessions and has great experience developing people at all stages from Emerging Talent to Top Directors. Having attained her Level 7 qualification in Strategic Approaches to EDI, she works with clients like Calnex, Zero Waste Scotland and Antibody Analytics to develop their Diversity & Inclusion strategies and creates actions to achieve their goals. Passionate within the area of Workplace Culture and Inclusion & Belonging, Katy has delivered specialist talks at conferences & events to drive her messages of allyship and impact.
Dr. Nima Ali
Assistant Professor, HWU
Dr. Nima Ali
Assistant Professor, HWU
Dr Nima Ali is an Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University. Her research focuses on enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within organisations. She is a Co-Investigator in the EDI Caucus, a £4.2 million project funded by UKRI and the British Academy, aimed at accelerating equity across the research and innovation ecosystem. Additionally, she serves as Deputy Leader for Workstream 1 within the Caucus, which explores the interconnections between key career and life events, with the goal of creating inclusive and accessible career pathways for individuals who menstruate and/or experience (peri)menopause. Dr Ali is also leading a project that addresses career inclusivity for marginalised engineers in the UK, with a particular focus on the intersectionality of their social identities. Her previous research includes studies on workplace commitment, belonging, organisational socialisation, and virtual socialisation, with a keen interest in contemporary work contexts such as cross-boundary, temporary, and hybrid work settings. Dr Ali is dedicated to improving individuals' work experiences and career development by fostering inclusive, accessible, and supportive workplace environments.
Dr ‘Labake Fakunle
Senior Lecturer University of Edinburgh
Dr ‘Labake Fakunle
Senior Lecturer University of Edinburgh
Omolabake Fakunle is Senior Lecturer / Chancellor’s Fellow, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, and EDI (Decolonisation) Lead with the Curriculum Transformation Project at the University of Edinburgh. She is Affiliate Faculty, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, member of the inaugural Scottish Funding Council’s Tertiary Quality Framework Expert Advisory Group, the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Governance and Appointments Committee, and Co-opted member of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Executive. Omolabake's award-winning research, teaching, publications, and consultancy focus on inclusivity in internationalisation, employability, and decoloniality.
Chris Martin
CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland
Chris Martin
CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland
Chris Martin is Chief Executive Officer at Social Enterprise Scotland. Chris is an experienced social entrepreneur who launched a number of social enterprises including Engage Youth Project and, more recently, the Callander Hostel. Chris has a background in both formal and informal education and as convener of the Callander Social Enterprise Network was responsible for Callander becoming Scotland's first Social Enterprise Town. Chris has an interest in impact investment and is Chair of Impact Investment Partnership Scotland who launched a £15M Catalyst Fund in 2021 to support early-stage social enterprises.
Rupa Mooker
IDB Manager, Ashurst
Rupa Mooker
IDB Manager, Ashurst
Rupa is an employment lawyer with over 20 years’ experience and a strong advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion within the legal profession. Her role as Director of People & Development at a Scottish law firm ignited a particular interest in mental health and wellbeing, increasing representation of individuals from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and improving socio-economic diversity within workplaces. She has recently joined global law firm, Ashurst as their Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging Manager, driving policy in these areas both locally and globally. She also sits on the Law Society of Scotland’s Equality and Diversity Committee, the Scottish Ethnic Minorities Lawyer’s Association (SEMLA) Committee and the Scotland National Advisory committee for Action for Children. Rupa is also a BBC Scotland contributor, an award winning radio presenter on Awaz FM, an events host and volunteers at her local Gurdwara, advising young people on employability and career matters.
Cara Dzivane
Managing Consultant Taylor Hopkinson
Cara Dzivane
Managing Consultant Taylor Hopkinson
Cara leads the commercial search team at Taylor Hopkinson, focusing on offshore and onshore wind, and works across the full project life cycle. She has developed a strong track record concentrating on early stage project skillsets from finance, mergers and acquisitions and procurement to legal and power purchase agreements. Cara predominantly focuses on senior legal and HR C-suite mandates, delivering these searches within the UK and European markets. She also heads Taylor Hopkinson’s ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging’ committee in the UK and Europe and has been an advocate for diversity in the corporate world for over a decade. Cara has spoken at many events, including the University of St Andrews’ ‘Panel of Power’, alongside leading global experts. She is passionate about all areas of diversity and, as a Black Professionals United Kingdom ambassador, continues to pave the way for others from marginalised communities. Cara was also nominated for Diversity Champion of the Year at the inaugural Black Scottish Awards 2023.
Dr. Tom Calvard
Senior Lecturer University of Edinburgh
Dr. Tom Calvard
Senior Lecturer University of Edinburgh
Tom Calvard is a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies and HR, and the current Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the University of Edinburgh Business School. He was awarded a PhD in Organisational Psychology from the University of Sheffield. His research and teaching are focused on diversity, technology, ethics and change in relation to employees, line managers and HR professionals. In 2017, with Tinu Cornish, he co-edited The Psychology of Ethnicity in Organisations (Bloomsbury), and in 2020, he published Critical Perspectives on Diversity in Organizations (Routledge). His research has also been published in various international peer-reviewed journals. He enjoys literature and the arts, spending time in nature, and walking his dog, a one-eyed rescue pug named Odin.
Sadia Hussain-Savuk
EDI Consultant
Sadia Hussain-Savuk
EDI Consultant
Sadia began her career in education 16 years ago, initially as a biology teacher then as a pastoral head. During this time she came to recognise the inequalities that some children regularly face in accessing opportunities in education, and the need for more inclusive practices in school. This work lead her to her current role as an independent EDI consultant, working predominantly in the independent sector, advising schools on their EDI strategies and policies, leading teacher training workshops, and presenting to pupils. She also recognises the glass ceilings faced by female BAME educators when seeking promotional opportunities and actively advocates for opportunities to create a more diverse teaching workforce and provisions to improve BAME staff retention. She also sits on a number of steering committees in EDI focused areas of Scottish education.
Zara Hedges
CEO, Winning Scotland
Zara Hedges
CEO, Winning Scotland
Zahra is CEO of Winning Scotland, a charity which works with partners to build confidence and resilience in children and young people. She has experience working across the public, private and third sectors and successfully built and sold her own business before moving to work in social enterprise. During covid she worked for the Scottish Government in mental health and wellbeing. A single parent and foster carer, Zahra volunteers in her local community.
Dr. Yekemi Otaru
Chancellor, University of West of Scotland
Dr. Yekemi Otaru
Chancellor, University of West of Scotland
Yekemi is an award-winning entrepreneur, business leader and the Chancellor at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). She is a GlobalScot, a strong advocate for women in business, and a mentor for businesswomen in the world’s poorest countries. Yekemi is a published B2B social media author who inspires her audience through her significant online presence to achieve great things. She is best known for her authentic personal stories and uplifting content. In June 2022, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by UWS for her contributions and commitment to higher education and learning. Yekeni has received several awards, including Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the 4th Scottish Women Awards and Services Industry Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2023.
Dr. Athina Frantzana
EDI Consultant - Researcher, Spread the Word & University of Edinburgh
Dr. Athina Frantzana
EDI Consultant - Researcher, Spread the Word & University of Edinburgh
Dr Athina Frantzana is an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Consultant working with Universities, Charities, Public and Private Sector in order to achieve inclusive workplaces, using evidence-based practices and solutions tailored to the workplace needs and objectives through education and evaluation. Athina is also a researcher in Widening Participation and Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Edinburgh, and has been recently appointed as Chair of the New Voices in Space, Space Scotland's working group that promotes EDI in the Space sector.
Dr. Arun Verma
Head of Equality & Inclusion @ University of London
Dr. Arun Verma
Head of Equality & Inclusion @ University of London
Dr Arun Verma is a leading figure in implementing and integrating intersectionality in systems, policy and programmes both nationally and internationally. He is a Head of Inclusion at the University of London and Fellow of the RSA. He completed his doctorate exploring intersectionality in healthcare students’ learning, retention and success. He has led the integration and embedding of intersectionality and anti-racist practice in local government commissioning, national and global programmes, policy development, practice and implementation. He has been granted a number of awards facilitating his impact including being recently awarded Doctor of Laws honoris causa from the University of Dundee for his impact and leadership in the field of inclusion, intersectionality and antiracism, and was nominated as Diversity and Inclusion Leader 2022 by d&i leaders. He holds a number of advisory and board roles facilitating constructively disruptive conversations about inclusion across the sector and his edited collection ‘Anti-racism in higher education: An action guide for change’ is accelerating action for inclusion in higher education
Lucy Butters
Founder, Cultural Intelligence Master Facilitator @ Elembee ltd
Lucy Butters
Founder, Cultural Intelligence Master Facilitator @ Elembee ltd
Lucy founded Elembee in 2010 to provide training and coaching which supports and enhances the capability of people and teams to be inclusive and work well with cultural diversity. Lucy is a Master Facilitator in Cultural Intelligence (CQ), with the Cultural Intelligence Centre, (Michigan, USA). She started her career in research and teaching roles in academia before working in various management roles for the British Council supporting international ambitions of UK universities and leading a transformational leadership programme across nine Arab countries and the UK.. On a personal level Lucy is a mother of triplet boys who have taught her the true meaning of hard work; and are a constant reminder of the need to adjust thinking, actions and expectations.
Chris Foley
Managing Director & Chief Scientist @ Optima Partners
Chris Foley
Managing Director & Chief Scientist @ Optima Partners
Dr. Chris Foley is Chief Scientist and Managing Director at Optima Partners. With a proven track record in building world-class teams and driving successful commercial outcomes, Chris brings a unique combination of scientific expertise and leadership to the table. He received a First in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews, an MSc with Distinction and the annual Prize in Statistics from the University of Manchester, and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh (2013). Chris Foley, awarded a National Institute of Health Research Fellowship in 2014, served as a research fellow at the University of Cambridge from 2015 to 2021, specialising in developing customised machine learning tools to study the genetic basis of diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease, and identifying genetic drug targets. With internationally recognised expertise in causal inference, human genetic studies, gene identification, and disease clustering, he has developed popular open-source ML software and published research in leading journals such as Nature and NeurIPS. Throughout his career, Chris has worked closely with diverse teams of biological and computational scientists, consistently delivering on complex scientific goals. His leadership continues to drive success both in research and in commercial settings.
Andrew McDonald
Technical Platform Lead, Enterprise Data Provisioning Platform @ Lloyds Banking Group
Andrew McDonald
Technical Platform Lead, Enterprise Data Provisioning Platform @ Lloyds Banking Group
Megan Crawford
Deputy Research Lead, Edinburgh Napier University
Megan Crawford
Deputy Research Lead, Edinburgh Napier University
Dr. Megan Crawford is a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier Business School. Originally from Texas, Megan relocated to Scotland to support her research in the fields of data science and scenario planning. Her research looks into how individuals and organisations frame and make decisions about the future (biases), structured group techniques (optimisation), and strategy development (impact), with a specialisation in AI integration. Megan is also the Principal Investigator of the Futures and Analytics Research (FAR) Hub, which supports advancements for those from historically underrepresented groups through teaching, skill building, and knowledge exchange, with a primary focus on advancing digital literacy.
Ainsley Carnarvon
Head of Hearts Innovation Centre @ Heart of Midlothian Football Club
Ainsley Carnarvon
Head of Hearts Innovation Centre @ Heart of Midlothian Football Club
With over a decade of experience, Ainsley is recognised for his expertise in developing programmes and initiatives that leverage STEM and informal learning as a catalyst for social mobility. He brings a wealth of international experience, having collaborated with esteemed organizations like the United Nations and the European Union on STEM education and innovation initiatives within the Caribbean region.
Additionally, as a dedicated academic researcher, his research interest in STEM Education, curriculum development, pedagogy, and post-colonial education in the Caribbean supplements his professional experience.
Currently serving as the Digital Education Strategic Programme Manager at the Heart of Midlothian Innovation Centre, Ainsley oversees the development of new initiatives and programs. These initiatives see the offering of free STEM and digital education opportunities for young people within the Edinburgh community, while simultaneously paving pathways to employment within the tech industry.
He is committed to ensuring that these opportunities are accessible to underrepresented groups in STEM, including people of colour, girls, non-binary individuals, and those with additional support needs.
Fiona Hogg
Chief People Officer, Health Workforce @ Scottish Government
Fiona Hogg
Chief People Officer, Health Workforce @ Scottish Government
Fiona is Chief People Officer within the Health Workforce Directorate of Scottish Government, a unique post with an external focus, working to build strong links between Government, NHS Boards and the wider Health and Social Care system to ensure our people priorities are aligned and our resources used to best effect. Prior to taking up this role in May 2023, Fiona was Director of People & Culture at NHS Highland, driving the leadership, governance and culture transformation following the Sturrock report. She joined the NHS after 20 years working in a range of people, change and leadership roles in the Financial Services and Pharmaceutical R&D sectors, and is passionate about compassionate leadership, encouraging challenge, valuing difference, promoting kindness and respect and putting people not processes first. Fiona is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has a degree in HR from the University of Stirling.
Dr. Pallvi Arora
Human Resource Management @ The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
Dr. Pallvi Arora
Human Resource Management @ The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
Dr. Pallvi Arora is Lecturer in Human Resource Management at The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. She is a PhD in management with focus on Cultural Intelligence (CQ). Her research
interests revolve around cross cultural management, diversity issues, OB, HRD, entrepreneurship and innovation. She has publications with journals of national and international repute. She is an awardee for the AIMS International Outstanding Young Management Teacher Award at IIM Kozikode, India. She has presented her research works at global institutions including Universityof Oxford, UK, AHRD in the Americas, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK, various IIMs and other important institutions in India. She has been a Regional Mentor of Change for the Atal Tinkering Labs, under the Atal Innovation Mission by NITI Ayog, a Govt. of India initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. She has also been an Innovation Ambassador for the Institution Innovation Councils under a Ministry of Education initiative for creating innovation pathways across HEIs.
Uuganaa Ramsay
Director at Wise Moon International | Career and Intercultural
Max Chipulu
Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Edinburgh Napier University
Max Chipulu
Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Edinburgh Napier University
Max Chipulu is a research professor of operations and analytics at Edinburgh Napier University. His research focuses on data analytics adoption (including AI) in complex operations management environments, particularly projects, and its intersections with organisational culture, ethics, and sustainability. He is also interested in pedagogy for quantitative business courses, emphasising learning analytics and AI. His current research includes developing an AI readiness framework for project management and digital extension tools to help smallholder farmers in Zambia and India transition to big-data-enabled agriculture. Max serves as Associate Dean of Research and Innovation for The Business School, lead of the Napier Applied Business Research for Society (NABRS) research group and thematic lead for enterprise data and analytics at the Centre for Business Innovations and Sustainable Solutions (CBISS). Max had worked in industry before academia: First as a mechanical engineer in the mining industry and then, briefly, as an account manager in corporate banking.
Pauline Murphy
Head of People Analytics and Governance @ Scottish Enterprise
Tahira Nasim
International trade support specialist: Trade Services Team @ Scottish Enterprise
Gail Adams
Project Manager, International Visits & Events Team @ Scottish Enterprise
Thiago Carmo
Managing Director at Passion4Socia
Thiago Carmo
Managing Director at Passion4Socia
Thiago is a Brazilian entrepreneur, has a masters in Economic Development from the University of Glasgow, and is Managing Director at Passion4Social. 25 years of experience in Marketing and Design, worked for 100s of organisations from the public, private and third sectors, including several multinationals (Motorola, Ford, GM, HP, PepsiCo, Omega, Roche, etc.) in Brazil, Belgium, Canada, and now in the UK.
He is a social entrepreneur since 2016. In 2018, he cofounded Passion4Social, a social enterprise with an innovative business model that creates sustainable employment opportunities for disabled people and those with disadvantaged backgrounds.
He is passionate about diversity, social impact, and mainly helping people.
Dr Tom Kane
Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics @ University of Stirling
Dr Tom Kane
Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics @ University of Stirling
My background is both academic and business-focused. My teaching and research activities engage with the fourth industrial revolution as it blurs the distinction between human and machine interactions. I have good working relations with Government NHS, Councils, and SMEs. I have an ongoing interest in Organisational adoption of AI, Governance and Regulation of AI, and Free/Libre and Open-Source Software in Medical Informatics.
I am an award-winning Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics. I developed the University of Stirling “MSc in Business Analytics”, which is an AI-facing programme that has become popular with students. For this work I have received an Educational Leadership Award from Education 2.0, and won best Lecturer in Stirling Management School in 2022. I also presented the philosophy of MSc Business Analytics at Operational Research 63, describing its work with the four themes of sustainability, disruption, ethics and risk management; and its use of real-world problems supplied by local organisations.
I am research-active in Organisational use of Cyberphysical systems, Artificial Intelligence, Data-Science and Business Information Systems. My PhD work in AI addressed probabilistic logic, and maximum entropy. It has been cited as important in the development of the use of maximum entropy in data science. My main areas of interest are organizational uses of artificial intelligence and large-scale cognitive systems: businesses must make the best decisions, taking onboard diverse datasets, responding to emergency situations in real-time. I have been applying my early research work to Business Information Systems, and have now published on ethical explorations of intelligent artificial personhood.
In 2019 I co-edited a special issue of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine on the topic of “Technology for Governance, Politics and Democracy”, published work for Glasgow City Council in linking schools with the real-world, written about Tagore’s educational methodology (classroom without walls), and
My current work is in developing a management vocabulary of communication and control for cyberphysical systems. All this research is being brought together in a book I am writing, named, “Business Analytics for Artificial Persons and Cyberphysical Systems”, to be published in 2025.
Fash Fasoro
CEO DataKirk
Fash Fasoro
CEO DataKirk
Fash is the founder of The DataKirk SCIO which started in 2019, with the aim of closing both the attainment gap and data divide in Scotland. With the full support of its partners and sponsors, DataKirk has successfully grown and scaled from a small Edinburgh based social enterprise to a regionally impactful charity, improving healthy working lives and increasing upskill and employment opportunities for socially and economically deprived and disadvantaged groups. His purpose and passion lies in promoting diversity and inclusion within the digital and data economy and supporting DataKirk’s data enthusiasts to accessing and sustaining employment.
Prior to DataKirk, Fash worked in both the private sector in Data Management as well as third-sector organisation in Housing and Homeless management.