Keynote Speaker

Lord Clement-Jones of Clapham (1968)

Lord Clement-Jones was made CBE for political services in 1988 and life peer in 1998.  He is the Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology.  He initiated and was a member of the AI in Weapons Systems Select Committee which sat in 2023 and is a current member of the Industry and Regulators Committee.  He is former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI (2017-18) and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI.  He is a founding member of the OECD Parliamentary Group on AI and former consultant of the Council of Europe’s Ad-hoc Committee on AI.  He is a former member of the House of Lords Select Committees on Communications (2011-15); the Built Environment (2015-16); Risk Assessment and Planning (2020-21); and the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill (2021-22).  He is a Consultant on AI Policy and Regulation to global law firm DLA Piper where previous positions held includes London Managing Partner.  He is the Chair of Trust Alliance Group (formerly Ombudsman Services), an independent Group working across a range of stakeholders from consumers, business and suppliers to regulators and Government, providing balance and independence to understand when and why trust breaks down whilst identifying ways to rebuild and restore confidence.  He is Chair of Council of Queen Mary University London.  He is President of Ambitious about Autism. 

Panel Chair

Dr Amanda Talhat (2006)

Amanda is the co-Chair of the TEA. She currently leads Physics and Technology at Nestle Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. There team consists of 50 brilliant scientists who are experts in food physics, process engineering, data science & machine learning, and advanced imaging. Together, the team is working on to revolutionize food R&D through digitalization and driving cutting-edge scientific discovery in food sciences. For example bring great taste & texture while improving cost, nutrition, and sustainability. Prior to joining Nestle, Amanda worked at the Snacks division of PepsiCo R&D, and also spent sometime working on technology consulting at Cambridge Consultants. Amanda read Natural Sciences for her undergraduate at Trinity, followed by PhD in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology where she studied the crystallisation behaviour of cocoa butter. Amanda is keen to connect with professionals both young and experienced to inspire them to work in the food industry.

Panellists

Natalia Koupanou (2012)

Natalia is an accomplished data science leader with a strong track record of driving revenue growth through strategic AI solutions. With a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Trinity College, her expertise spans industries such as e-commerce (Zoro, part of F500 W. W. Grainger), property tech (Zoopla), and fintech (Tide), where she applied AI and Machine Learning to optimize operations and uncover business opportunities.
Currently, as an Associate Director of Data Science at Huge, a tech-focused consulting and growth company of IPG, Natalia combines technical expertise with strategic insights to drive growth and innovation for clients across various sectors.
Outside of her corporate role, she is passionate about mentoring young professionals in data science and shares her insights on technical and personal development through her Medium blog and podcasts. 

Robert Shearme (2014)

Robert is a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir, where he works with UK Government and commercial clients to develop AI-enhanced mission-critical systems, underpinned by robust ethical principles. His role involves navigating the intersection of cutting-edge technology and ethical considerations to build innovative solutions which he very much enjoys having studied Philosophy of Science as an undergraduate.
Before joining Palantir, Robert worked as a software and machine learning engineer at a challenger bank and The Hut Group. Robert is excited to be a part of this panel and discuss both the risks and challenges as well as opportunities that AI presents with the widespread adoption of recent generative AI systems.

Ashok Thillaisundaram (2010)

Ashok’s academic journey began at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he earned a BA and Masters in Mathematics in 2010. He then moved to Trinity College for a PhD in Applied Mathematics, sparking his passion for artificial intelligence. Ashok leverages his expertise in AI to tackle challenges in biology, particularly protein folding, protein design, and drug discovery. His career has seen him contribute to research at BenevolentAI and Microsoft Research Cambridge, leading him to his current role as a Research Engineer at Google DeepMind, where he focuses on protein design. Ashok’s research interests primarily lie at the intersection of AI and biology. (This bio was written by an AI chatbot.)