Theme: All the World's a Stage

An evening of un-missable talks, music and performances from the people who are setting the stage for a brighter future.

Cambridge Theatre
Earlham St
London, Westminster, WC2H 9HU
United Kingdom

Adah Parris

Adah Parris is a keynote speaker, futurist, visionary artist, and activist who inspires transformative change. What happens when technology takes over our lives and as we rely on it more heavily than ever? What kind of ancient human technology are we relinquishing that maybe we should be rescuing? How can we reconnect with our ancestral knowledge and work side by side with nature as a teacher? Adah empowers leaders to connect with themselves, others, and the planet to create a positive impact and leave a lasting legacy. Adah's approach challenges conventional thinking, encourages deeper questioning of purpose, values, sustainability, diversity, and technology.

Anjuli Bedi

Anjuli Bedi is an award-winning innovator in leveraging the intersection of behavioural science and AI-approaches to drive a positive impact on society. She is the CEO and co-founder of Boon Global, which has pioneered the concept of “Beneficial Intelligence.” Her career has ranged from building behavioural science and counter-disinformation propositions for the world’s largest private PR firm, to tackling human trafficking through AI, to predicting how to make female-led superhero movies successful for the Hollywood studios. She is the host and founder of the podcast “Make Data Human” and is a contributing author to the World Economic Forum on disinformation and human trafficking. She considers climbing Kilimanjaro in support of cancer research to be the most worthwhile thing she’s done to date.

David Holmes

David Holmes is a broadcaster, writer and stunt enthusiast. First, a gymnast, David worked in stunts, starting at the age of 14 on Lost In Space. From there, David very quickly became an in-demand member of the stunt team for huge Hollywood productions, including Prince Of Persia, The Golden Compass and all eight Harry Potter films, where he had the essential role as Daniel Radcliffe's double. David qualified for the Stunt Register when he was 22 years old, and having just been a key part of one of the biggest franchises ever, the world was at his feet; then on January 28th 2009, at the age of 25, a stunt rehearsal went wrong and David was left paralysed. David created the HBO documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived in 2023, where he revealed to millions of viewers the nature of his accident and his disability. Touching, insightful and inspiring, the documentary reflected David himself, showing people that his legacy is not just his contributions to some of cinema's finest stunt sequences but also his courage, resilience, and unwavering determination.

Fehinti Balogun

FEHINTI BALOGUN is an actor, writer and activist. As an actor he has worked across theatre, film and television. Next up we'll see Fehinti star in a major role opposite Ewan McGregor in A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW for Showtime and Paramount+ Alongside his acting career, he delivers hugely popular and informative talks on climate change aimed at a more rounded inclusion in the conversation. He starred in the groundbreaking and self-penned filmed performance, CAN I LIVE?, which combined visuals, hip-hop and spoken word to chart his journey as a Black British man into environmental activism produced by renowned theatre company Complicité.

Isy Suttie

Isy has been performing stand up for twenty years, with three sell out Edinburgh Fringe runs under her belt, and two BBC Radio 4 series of her show Isy Suttie’s Love Letters, which won a Gold Sony Award. TV appearances include QI, Would I Lie To You and 8 Out of 10 Cats. She has been nominated for three British Comedy Awards, and her TV acting credits include Dobby in Peep Show, Nat in Damned and Ali in Man Down. She has published two books, a memoir called The Actual One and a novel, Jane Is Trying. She recently completed her latest stand-up tour, Jackpot.

Liz Thomas

Liz is a palaeoclimatologist, who travels to the coldest and most remote parts of our planet to understand how our climate is changing. She is head of the ice core research group at the British Antarctica Survey, and has led several expeditions to Antarctica, the Arctic, and even to the most remote island in the world (Bouvet Island, South Atlantic). Liz’s research has captured the unmistakable imprint of human activity on the pristine Antarctic wilderness, including evidence of fly-ash particles (from distant power stations) and nuclear fallout (from 1960s bomb-testing). She recently returned from drilling ice cores through the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, to better understand the processes driving ice shelf collapse and the potential impact on sea level rise. Her next venture is leading a drilling expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula to study the role of the Southern Ocean in controlling the uptake and release of past atmospheric CO2.

Lord Victor Adebowale CBE

Victor is a non-executive Director of the Co-Operative Group, Collaborate CIC, Chair and Co-Founder of Visionable and Founder of Leadership in Mind. He is Chair of Social Enterprise UK and the NHS Confederation. Victor has recently stepped down as the CEO of Turning Point, a social enterprise providing health and social care interventions to approximately 100,000 people per year. Victor also served as a Non-Executive Director on the board of NHS England. He has chaired a number of commission reports into policing, employment, mental health, housing, and fairness for The London Fairness Commission, the Metropolitan Police, and central and local government. He was awarded a CBE for services to the unemployed and homeless people and became a crossbench peer in 2001. Victor is a visiting Professor and Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, an honorary member of the Institute of Psychiatry, President of The International Association of Philosophy and Psychiatry, and a Governor at The London School of Economics. Victor has an MA in Advanced Organisational Consulting from Tavistock Institute and City University.

Rajini Vaidyanathan

BBC broadcaster, journalist, foreign correspondent and news reader with 20 years of experience across TV, Radio and Online. As a foreign correspondent, Rajini has reported from across the world - most recently across the South Asia region - which includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan. Stories include extensive reporting of the Sri Lanka economic protests, and the floods in Pakistan. Rajini covered the Covid crisis in South Asia, not just from India but Nepal and reported on the Indian elections, Sri Lanka terror attacks, the Rohingya refugee crisis, Trump’s visit to India, the Delhi riots, and interviewed the Dalai Lama. Named Indian TV journalist of the year for an exclusive investigation into sexual harassment in Bollywood, she also presented two investigative documentaries in 2020 - a “Panorama” on call centre scams and a BBC “Our World” on India’s missing children. Prior to that she spent six years as a BBC Washington anchor and correspondent, a regular anchor of “BBC World News America” and covered the 2016 US presidential race, from the first debates to the first years of the Trump presidency.

Samuel Kasumu

Samuel Kasumu is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and political strategist. He served as a Special Advisor to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson where he held the Civil Society and Communities Brief. He has extensive senior leadership and board experience and is the founder of Inclusive Boards, an executive headhunting firm specialising in non-executive board appointments across sectors. Under former Prime Minister Theresa May he was a member of the Race Disparity Audit Advisory. He recently authored ‘The Power of the Outsider: A Journey of Discovery’ where he explores themes of outsiderness throughout his career and how that can amount to high achievement and success.

Tiff Stevenson

Tiff is an internationally acclaimed actor, comedian and writer. As an actor, she is best known for her roles as a series regular on five seasons of the BAFTA-winning PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING (BBC/NETFLIX). This year, Tiff also made her US film debut in the comedy horror SLOTHERHOUSE, which was released in cinemas in 2023. You may also have seen her on shows like 8 OUT OF 10 CATS, DRUNK HISTORY & NEVER MIND THE BUZZCOCKS. She is also known to podcast listeners in her capacity as a regular guest on Andy Zaltzman & John Oliver's satirical podcast THE BUGLE. Her writing credits include 2 series as a staff writer on the Armando Iannucci-helmed HBO comedy series AVENUE 5. As a stand-up Tiff has performed multiple times at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 4 of her solo shows have landed in the ‘Top 20 Best Reviewed’ . She has toured in the US and has appeared at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and the Melbourne International Festival.