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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.