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.

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).

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.

Dr Anna Ploszajski is a materials scientist, storyteller, author, podcaster, speaker, presenter, trainer, trumpeter, English Channel swimmer, feminist, knitter, walker and border collie dog mum. It’s her professional mission to engage underserved communities with science and engineering through storytelling; her debut popular science book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2021. Having developed her own unique blend of autobiographical science writing, she founded Storyology Ltd. to train scientists, engineers, researchers and techy people in storytelling to help them communicate what they do better. She leads research into the intersection between story and science at University of the Arts London. She is also the founder of Absolute Zero, a collective of experimental science writers. Oh, and it’s pronounced ‘Por-shy-ski’.

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.

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.