Keynote & Panel

Keynote and Panellist

“FORGING FUTURES: USING FICTIONAL WORLD-BUILDING TO ALIGN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION WITH SOCIETAL ASPIRATION.”

Stephen Oram writes near-future science fiction. He is published in several anthologies, including the Best of British Science Fiction 2020 and 2022, and has two published novels and three collections of sci-fi shorts. He also works with artists, scientists and technologists on projects that explore possible future outcomes of their research through short stories. He has close links to King’s College London and the digital think-tank, Cybersalon and is a founding curator for near-future fiction at Virtual Futures, a writer for prototypers SciFutures and a member of the Clockhouse London Writers. Find out more at: Stephen Oram – author of near-future science fiction

Panel

“THE ROBOLUTION: WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR ROBOTICS?”

Sabine Hauert is Reader (Associate Professor) of Swarm Engineering at the University of Bristol in the UK. Her research focusses on making swarms for people, and across scales, from nanorobots for cancer treatment, to larger robots for environmental monitoring, or logistics. Profoundly cross-disciplinary, Sabine works between Engineering Mathematics, the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and Life Sciences. Before joining the University of Bristol, Sabine engineered swarms of nanoparticles for cancer treatment at MIT, and deployed swarms of flying robots at EPFL. Sabine is also President and Co-founder of Robohub.org, and executive trustee of AIhub.org, two non-profits dedicated to connecting the robotics and AI communities to the public. As an expert in science communication with 10 years of experience, Sabine is often invited to discuss the future of robotics and AI, including in the journals Science and Nature, at the European Parliament, and at the Royal Society. Her work has been featured in mainstream media including BBC, CNN, The Guardian, The Economist, TEDx, WIRED, and New Scientist.

Eirini Kokkali is a Research Portfolio Manager in the Engineering Theme at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), where she looks after the portfolios of Robotics and Control Engineering. In this role, she works with the research community and colleagues to manage EPSRC’s funding of high quality research in Robotics and Control Engineering across EPSRC’s strategic priorities. She is also leading on EDI initiatives within the Engineering Theme and has contributed to strategic activities, such as Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges. Eirini has a background in vision sciences, with a PhD from Cardiff University. She is passionate about research that can provide innovative solutions to global challenges and improve lives, and about fostering more diverse and inclusive research environments.

Jelizaveta Konstantinova is a senior research team leader in the External Collaborations group at Ocado Technology. She holds a PhD in Robotics from King’s College London, her research focused on medical robotics, tactile perception, intelligent grasping and soft robotics. Jelizaveta is leading external research projects and collaborations focusing on long term innovation. She is a PI on Horizon Europe projects Softenable, IntelliMan and SestoSenso.

Anahita Laverack is the co-founder of Oshen: we make fully autonomous, wind-powered micro-vessels for remote ocean sensing. Just 4ft in length, our design resembles a miniature sailboat. The small size and simple design allows the micro-vessels to be deployed en-masse, providing a sensor network for continuous monitoring of waves and weather across our oceans.