Guest Speakers

Robin Ince is many things. A multi award winning comedian, author, broadcaster, bibliomaniac and a populariser of scientific ideas. He is perhaps best known as the co-host and co-creator of the Sony Gold Award winning BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox, and hosts the BBC Radio 4 series Writing the Universe. As a stand up Robin has toured the world, and as an author he has written four acclaimed books, including Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, his poetry collection Ice Cream for a Broken Tooth, and Bibliomaniac, which earned him the prestigious Booksellers Association Author of the Year award. Robin co-created the Cosmic Shambles Network and created the groundbreaking science variety night Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People which has been adapted worldwide. He has received an Honorary Fellowship of UCL, an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway College (University of London), and is a fellow of the British Science Association.

Subhadra Das is a writer, historian, broadcaster and comedian who looks at the relationship between science and society. She specialises in the history and philosophy of science, particularly the history of scientific racism and eugenics. For nine years she was Curator of the Science Collections at University College London. She has written and presented podcasts and stand-up comedy shows, curated museum exhibitions, and has appeared on radio and TV. Her first book Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made The West was published in February 2024.

Annie Kelly is a journalist and researcher specialising in digital antifeminism, conspiracy theories and the far right. She completed her PhD about digital antifeminist networks at the University of East Anglia in 2020 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the AHRC-funded ‘Everything is Connected: Conspiracy Theories in the Age of the Internet’ project at King’s College London. She is the UK correspondent for the QAA Podcast (formerly QAnon Anonymous).

Dr Suze Kundu is a nanochemist, science communicator, and all-round champion of curiosity. Over the past decade, she has blended a career in research with a passion for sharing science in ways that are engaging, inclusive, and impactful. Suze is currently the Research Community Engagement Consultant for NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) platform, and previously served as Director of Researcher and Community Engagement at Digital Science, working with global research communities to make science more open, collaborative, and accessible.

Michael Marshall is the Project Director of the Good Thinking Society, President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, and editor of The Skeptic. He is the co-host of The Know Rogan Podcast, and has been the co-host of Skeptics with a K for over 15 years. He has interviewed proponents of pseudoscience for over a decade for the Be Reasonable podcast, and is a regular contributor to God Awful Movies, The Scathing Atheist, and The Skepticrat. He has gone undercover to investigate psychics, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and alternative medicine practitioners. His investigative work has informed reporting across the UK media, and he has given lectures on journalism and PR to undergraduate students as part of degree courses at several universities.

Emma McLachlan is a bird of prey specialist with a particular interest in vultures, and a field worker with a research focus on raptor species found in Cumbria, such as barn owls. She currently works as Head of Birds at Muncaster Hawk & Owl Centre, based in the Lake District National Park. They are a small but passionate organisation committed to bird of prey conservation both locally and internationally, alongside education work delivered through inspiring flying displays.

Sian Norris is a writer and journalist, currently working as Senior Investigations Reporter at openDemocracy. Her book, Bodies Under Siege: how the far right attack on reproductive rights went global, was published by Verso in 2023. She has reported from the UK, Ukraine, Poland, Kenya, Bangladesh and Romania for the Times, Observer, i news, the Ferret, the Lead, the Guardian and many more.

Lucia Osborne-Crowley is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her second book, My Body Keeps Your Secrets, was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize for Literature in 2022. Her third book, The Lasting Harm: Witnessing The Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, was awarded the 2025 University of Sydney People’s Choice Award, was awarded the 2025 Ned Kelly Prize, was shortlisted for the 2025 Gordon Burn Prize and the NSW Literary Prize, and was longlisted for the Walkley Book Award, the Nib Literary Award, the Victorian Premier’s Award and others.

Cyriac Abby Philips is a clinician-scientist in Hepatology at Rajagiri Hospital, Kochi, Kerala, India, a medical science communicator, and public-health social-media activist. Under the viral handle ‘The Liver Doc,’ he combats health misinformation, superstition and dogma in the Indian subcontinent, informing 430,000-plus followers across X, Instagram and YouTube about dangers of pseudoscientific practices, alternative medicine and the wellness industry. His myth-busting posts are consistently profiled by national & international media, making him India’s most litigated science communicator and the target of multiple suits from Ayurveda & Homeopathy industry. Philips is a leading authority on herb- and supplement-induced liver injury. His honours include the President of India’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence in Hepatology (2016), multiple investigator awards from American and European liver societies, Indian Society of Gastroenterology’s Rising Star Award (2022) and Indian Medical Association's coveted Social Media Award (2023). HarperCollins will publish his non-fiction debut, The Liver Doctor, in 2025.

Naomi Ryan is a criminal and public law barrister. After completing the BCL at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, she taught criminal law to undergraduates at St Hilda’s College Oxford and University College London before embarking on her career as a criminal barrister. She both prosecuted and defended before moving to the Civil Service, where she has worked for an array of prestigious departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Court of Appeal. She continues to work as an advisory barrister on criminal matters. When she isn’t advising legal luminaries, she delivers spirited (!) talks on macabre events in legal history. She is a regular feature at London’s Month of the Dead festival, and can often be found addressing museums and other legal and supernatural organisations on the spooky and scintillating topic of ghost law. Her favourite subjects include ghosts as witnesses, the prosecution of fraudulent mediums and the High Court’s treatment of demon mongooses called Gef.

Matthew Sweet is co-writer, with Mark Gatiss, of the U&Alibi series, Bookish. He presents Free Thinking on BBC Radio 4 and Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3. His 25 years of programmes include The Culture Show (BBC2), Checking into History (C4), five series of The Philosophers Arms (Radio 4) and 1922: The Birth of Now, a ten-part history of modernism (Radio 4). He is the author of Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon, The West End Front and Operation Chaos. His novel, The New Forest Murders was published in June; his biography Barbara Cartland: The Great Dictator is published next year.

Paul Zenon is currently celebrating 40 years as a multi-award-winning full-time professional trickster, presenter, actor, writer, pundit and avoider of ‘work’. He's performed live in around 40 countries and appeared on hundreds of TV shows, most notably as the UK pioneer of ‘Street Magic’, debunker of peddlers of the paranormal, and as long-term guest in Dictionary Corner on C4’s Countdown. His specialist subjects also include the history of Magic, Variety, and unusual entertainments. Since the inception of QED, Paul has been involved variously as host, panellist, speaker, and gala dinner comedy performer.

David Alnwick is a writer, actor and Occult Illusionist. Alnwick's latest show, the first ever found footage horror performed live on stage was described by The Guardian as ‘Inspired’ & ‘Beautifully creepy’. David has created immersive horror performances for Escape Rooms, headlined Horror Con UK, and remains the only illusionist requested to present his work to the recreational Fear Laboratory in Denmark.

Pontus Böckman has an educational background in finance, but has always had a great interest in history, sci-fi and popular science. He became involved with the skeptical movement in 2010, organising ‘Skeptics in the Pub’ and giving lectures on skepticism in local schools. He is a member of the board of the Swedish Skeptics (VoF) in 2013, where he served as President between 2018 and 2022. In 2017 he was elected to the board of ECSO (the European Council of Skeptical Organisations) and was elected president in 2024.

Eli Bosnick is a comedian and podcaster living in New Jersey with his wife and son. As co-host of God Awful Movies, The Scathing Atheist, The Skepticrat, D&D-, and Citation Needed>, heʼs managed to turn high school class clowning into a life-long career, which is exactly the opposite of what the guidance counsellor told him. In his spare time he enjoys card tricks, licking Christian apologists, and making prank websites about the organisers of this conference.

Cecil Cicirello is a professional podcaster who started podcasting over 17 years ago. For many years Cecil has been podcasting about skepticism, atheism and politics. His shows include Cognitive Dissonance, The Know Rogan Experience, Citation Needed, and Season Liberally. His hobbies include cooking, fencing, and ARPGs.

Lizzi Collinge is the Labour Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale. Elected to Parliament in July 2024. Lizzi’s favourite part of her job is the breadth of issues she is able to learn about from football governance to postcode address files via different types of nuclear reactors. Lizzi’s national policy interests include housing, nuclear energy, health and social care, maternity and infant safety, and bringing in legislation on assisted dying. Her constituency priorities include delivering Eden Project Morecambe, improving rural bus services, strengthening football governance, delivering warm homes, supporting the agricultural economy, and developing new nuclear power at Heysham.

Andrew Copson was appointed Chief Executive of Humanists UK in 2009, having previously been its Director of Education and Public Affairs. He was President of Humanists International from 2015-2025. His books include The Little Book of Humanism (2020) and The Little Book of Humanist Weddings (2021) with Alice Roberts; Secularism: a very short introduction (Oxford University Press, 2019); The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Humanism (2015) with A C Grayling. His writing on humanist and secularist issues has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and New Statesman as well as in various journals. He has represented the humanist movement extensively on television news on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, as well as on programmes such as Newsnight, The Daily Politics, and The Big Questions. He has also appeared on radio on programmes from Today, Sunday, The World at One, The Last Word, and Beyond Belief on the BBC, to local and national commercial radio stations.

Brian Eggo has been running Glasgow Skeptics since 2015. He also writes for the Skeptic magazine, and is part of the Skeptics in the Pub Online livestream team. Outside of his Skeptical life, he works in training and development by day, and has a sizable family to occupy his evenings and weekends.

Ruth Ehrlich is the Head of Policy & Campaigns at Liberty, where she leads the organisation’s research, policy development and political lobbying functions. She leads campaigns to stop successive Government’s clampdowns on protest rights, end discriminatory policing practices and protect our human rights frameworks. Before working in human rights, Ruth led Shelter’s private renting policy work, securing commitments from the Conservative government to reform the private rented market, which has led to the Renters’ Reform Bill now making its way through Parliament. She sits on the board for a housing rights organisation campaigning for protections for those living in housing insecurity.

Heath Enwright is the co-creator of the Podcast Award winning Scathing Atheist podcast, and the co-host of God Awful Movies; a Christian movie review podcast that lambastes the very worst Christian cinema has to offer, alongside his other shows, The Skepticrat and Citation Needed. In his spare time, Heath enjoys being constitutionally protected from self-incrimination.

Professor Chris French is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London where, for more than two decades, he headed the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Patron of Humanists UK. He has published well over 200 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics. His main current area of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. He frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims, including several appearances on hit podcast, Uncanny. His most recent book is ‘The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal’.

Dr Jamie Gallagher is an engagement trainer and consultant who works with universities, charities, museums and professional bodies helping them to engage more effectively. Working full time in public engagement for over a decade he has helped improve the reach, profile and impact in almost every academic discipline. Jamie is also a science communicator and can often be found on TV, radio or stage making research accessible.

Dr Stella Marie Gaynor is Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communication at Liverpool John Moores University. She is the author of Rethinking Horror in the New Economies of Television (2022, Palgrave MacMillan), and she has published journals and chapters in edited collections exploring the global reach of The Walking Dead, political commentary in Black Summer, and religious cults in The Returned. Her current research project, Murder Media, explores murder and serial killer stories as they spread across media, and is developing a new academic framework to understand contemporary true crime via the processes of transmedia storytelling, adaptation, and intertextuality. The Murder Media project has publications exploring nostalgia in Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, examining the Bundy case from the perspective of women, and the links between true crime podcasting and social media impulses. Stella writes and hosts The Murder Media Podcast, which is available across all podcast feeds.

Mike Hall is a web developer and Doctor Who fan (not in that order). He is a founding member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, where he currently serves as secretary and treasurer. Since 2009 he has been producing and presenting the popular skeptical podcast Skeptics with a K, the longest running skeptical podcast in the UK. He is also on the organising team for QED, and is still coming to terms with a diagnosis of autism. Over recent years he has garnered a reputation as the ‘placebo effect guy’, much to his continual annoyance.

Maeve Hanan is a Registered Dietitian who specialises in disordered eating and food freedom. She advocates for a compassionate, weight-inclusive approach to nutrition, and is passionate about cutting through the online noise by sharing clear, evidence-based messages. Maeve is also the founder of DieteticallySpeaking.com, a platform offering evidence-based information, practical tools, courses, and one-to-one support to help people build a healthier relationship with food.

Rosie Holt is a comedian and satirist best known for her alter-ego MP whose popular videos on social media have achieved more than 7 million views. She is the winner of the Chortle Social Media Award and a nominee for the BPG Emerging Creators Award. For her last stage show, That’s Politainment! The Evening Standard gave 4 stars calling it a “tightly crafted and brutal political satire with Orwellian flourishes”. Her first book, Why We Were Right; A catalogue of Conservative Successes written as her MP alter-ego is available to buy in shops now, which The New World called, ‘Hilarious and alarmingly close to the bone’.

Mark Horne is a lifelong horror movie fan, going so far as to write his MA dissertation on 1970s Italian cannibal and zombie movies. He is a former board member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and a regular contributor to The Skeptic magazine, and he works as a university fundraiser.

Dr Alice Howarth is a cancer cell biologist, science communicator, podcaster and writer. She has been part of the skeptical community for more than a decade, and is co-host of Skeptics with a K, vice president of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, deputy editor of The Skeptic Magazine, co-organiser of the QED conference and co-founder of Skeptics in the Pub Online. Alice has delivered lectures on the topics of science and skepticism all over the world, written for publications such as The Guardian, and worked on numerous investigations into pseudoscientific claims. In her day job, Alice is an open research advocate for the University of Liverpool and the UK Reproducibility Network, working to make research available beyond academia. She believes that accessibility and inclusivity is crucial to how we engage with science and critical thinking.

Dr Mark Johnson is a transdisciplinary researcher whose work is grounded in the science of cybernetics (which gave rise to AI). He is Senior Lecturer in the department for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Manchester and honorary Reader in the Department for Eye and Vision Science at the University of Liverpool. His work in cybernetics has led him to become an innovator in medical AI diagnostics (where he co-founded an AI diagnostic company), and innovations in transdisciplinary education and the life sciences.

Alex Kealy is a stand-up comedian who reached the final of the prestigious So You Think You're Funny competition in his first year of performing and is now a ‘rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (The List). He has taken five hours of stand-up to the Edinburgh Fringe to critical acclaim, with The Daily Telegraph calling him ‘sharply witty, almost sexily cerebral’. His writing work includes BBC Two's Mock The Week, and Radio 4's The News Quiz and The Now Show.

Matt Kemp is Head of Strategic Visualisation at visual thinking agency Scriberia. With years of experience as an illustrator and graphic facilitator, he has worked across business, academia and government, putting pictures to work to make complex ideas clear. A lifelong enthusiast for science and engineering, he advocates drawing as a powerful tool for understanding problems and sharing solutions.

Claire Klingenberg is former President of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations - ECSO. In the Czech Republic, she leads the critical thinking project, Don't Let Yourself Be Fooled! which provides seminars on critical thinking to high schools. She has been involved in the skeptical movement since 2013 - originally as co-organizer of the Paranormal Challenge. She has been a consultant for various projects where science meets the supernatural. Claire is the protagonist of the documentary series 'Investigátori,' co-produced by Czech and Slovak state TVs, bringing a skeptic and science-popularizing perspective on the paranormal to the wider public. She contributes to the Czech religious studies journal Dingir and its news site, the Religious Infoservice.

Dr. Asher Larmie is a weight-inclusive GP, fat activist, and founder of the No Weigh Movement. With over two decades of medical experience, Asher combines clinical expertise with his own lived experience to challenge weight stigma in healthcare and promote evidence-based, compassionate care for all bodies. As the self-styled 'Fat Doctor', Asher educates healthcare professionals and the public about the flawed science underlying weight-focused medicine. Through his podcast, masterclasses, and consultancy work, he helps both patients and practitioners navigate the complex intersection of weight, health, and medical bias. Asher graduated from Barts and The London Medical School in 2003 and qualified as a GP in 2009. After experiencing chronic burnout working within a system that conflicted with his values, he transitioned to full-time education and activism, focusing on dismantling weight stigma and promoting equitable, weight-inclusive healthcare. As a Fat, Transmasculine, Autistic healthcare provider, Asher brings an intersectional feminist perspective to his work, recognizing how multiple forms of bias compound to create barriers to quality care. He is known for his direct, uncompromising approach to challenging medical orthodoxy and his commitment to centering marginalized voices in healthcare reform.

Noah Lugeons is a podcaster, author, and atheist activist. He’s the host of The Scathing Atheist, the 2014 Podcast Award winner for Best Religious Podcast, and God Awful Movies, which has been recorded live at the largest atheist conferences in the US, the UK, and Australia. He’s the author of several books on the subject of atheism. His most recent book, Outbreak: A Crisis of Faith – How Religion Ruined Our Global Pandemic examines religion’s role in America’s error riddled response to the COVID-19 crisis. He temporarily resides in rural South Georgia, but not temporarily enough.

Dr Angela Meadows is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex, UK. She is a social psychologist specializing in prejudice and discrimination relating to weight and body size. Her work focuses on how higher-weight people respond to the stigma they encounter in their daily lives, whether by internalizing their low status or by rejecting and challenging devaluation, and the implications both for individuals and for social change. She has published over 40 articles and book chapters, been interviewed by numerous media outlets internationally, and has presented expert testimony related to weight and health to several governmental enquiries. She also has a background in biomedical sciences and expertise in critical weight science, challenging the dominant belief that weight can be equated with health, why dieting makes you fatter and less healthy, and why GLP-1s are a really bad idea for weight loss. She is founder of the Annual International Weight Stigma Conference, now in its 11th year.

Emma Monk is a writer and researcher specialising in fact-checking and debunking misinformation in politics, media, and public discourse. Her work examines how data and headlines are misrepresented, and she uses evidence-based analysis to give readers the tools to spot manipulation for themselves. Emma has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s More or Less and James O’Brien’s LBC show, and her work has been discussed on podcasts including Quiet Riot and The Trawl. Her work has also been quoted in The Guardian and featured in The New World magazine. Through her Substack Monk Debunks and workshops, Emma focuses on equipping people with practical skills for evaluating sources, spotting common misinformation tactics, and pushing back against narratives designed to mislead.

Dr. Joe Ondrak is a leading expert in digital horror, both real and fictional. He has published extensively on extreme right-wing terror, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, as well as creepypasta and networked digital horror genres. He currently works as a subject matter expert in hate groups at Resolver, and consults on digital extremist behaviours and activities. His chapter for the Routledge Companion to Horror Studies - The (New) Medium is the Monster: Networked Digital Horror - is forthcoming.

Rick Owen is a founding member of the Greater Manchester Skeptics In The Pub and also serves as a founding committee member of the QED board. With an education in physics and a career in financial software, Rick's diverse areas of interest within the skeptical realm encompass the misuse of polygraphs, misconceptions surrounding rising damp, and the intricacies of hypnosis.

András Pintér has an enthusiasm for science that started in childhood, and he has identified as a skeptic all his adult life, having been active in the Hungarian skeptic movement since 1997. A biology and environmental science teacher by training, he has worked as a travelling tour director and guide for 15 years, meeting like-minded skeptics and making connections along the way wherever he could. An initiator and co-host of the European Skeptics Podcast, he’s also the current president of the Hungarian Skeptic Society and a board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations.

Icy Sedgwick is a folklore blogger and host of the Fabulous Folklore podcast. She is based in the north east of England, where she was born and raised amid the folk tales and legends of Tyneside and Northumberland. Icy is fascinated by history, cinema, art, and the occult, and griffins will always be her favourite mythical beast. She also holds a PhD in Film Studies.

Ian Smith is an Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated comedian and co-host of the Northern News podcast. As seen on Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News For You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown - and heard on The News Quiz, Unbelievable Truth, Just A Minute and his own Radio 4 series, Ian Smith is Stressed. ‘An effortlessly brilliant stand-up’ - Scotsman. ‘There are few fringe shows as purely funny as this’ - The Guardian

Lydia Smith transitioned from her California state government leadership position two years ago to join the podcasting industry and apply her research skillset to debunking right-wing ‘woke controversies’ alongside her husband, Thomas Smith, on Where There's Woke. Lydia is known for going deep on not just the claims, but the people and corporations involved in the stories they cover. Lydia also co-hosts Gavel Gavel (Opening Arguments’ sister show) and serves as producer for the entire Serious Pod Network.

Thomas Smith is a professional podcaster, hosting Opening Arguments, Gavel Gavel, Where There’s Woke, and Serious Inquiries Only. Thomas also co-hosts the parenting podcast Dear Old Dads with Tom Curry and Eli Bosnick. No matter the show, Thomas’s goal is always the same: to apply the tools of skepticism consistently and comprehensively, while keeping it entertaining along the way.

Ciaran Talbot is Director of AI and Ideas Adoption at the University of Manchester Library. Fascinated by digital technology since his first Amiga, he presently spends time working with colleagues to prepare libraries for a world increasingly woven with pervasive Generative AI. Looking particularly at the role the Library plays in supporting students, researchers and other people navigating an increasingly complex information ecosystem.

Louise Thompson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester. She is an expert in the UK Parliament, particularly in the areas of legislative scrutiny, committees and political parties. She is the author of The End of the Small Party ? (2020), Making British Law (Palgrave 2015) and co-editor of Exploring Parliament (2025), Britain Votes: The 2024 General Election (2025), Parliament and the Law (2022) and Britain Votes: The 2019 General Election (2020). In 2024-25, Louise was a POST Academic Fellow in Parliament, working with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Nicola Throp is a member of the QED organising committee as well as working for the civil service, where she holds the role of Chair of the Gender Equality Network and is a trained Menopause Champion.

Andy Wilson is a director of the QED conference and host of perennial QED-favourite InKredulous. As a former board member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society he was one of the driving forces behind the 2010 10:23 overdose campaign, and he took the role of emcee at QED 2012.

Professor Richard Wiseman has published over 100 academic papers examining skepticism, magic and illusion. He has written popular psychology books (including Paranormality) that have sold over three million copies worldwide, and has created YouTube videos that have attracted over 800 million views. A member of the Inner Magic Circle, Richard has tested a variety of paranormal claims including fire walking, hauntings and a psychic dog. Elizabeth Loftus (Past President, Association for Psychological Science) has described him as one of the world’s most creative psychologists and his On Your Mind Podcast reached number one in Apple Podcast’s Science charts. In 2004 the Royal Society presented him with the David Attenborough Award for his research into magic and critical thinking.