Ruth is a creative director and producer specialising in art, technology, and sustainability. 

From 2009- 2023, she was Producer then Director of Abandon Normal Devices (AND), leading the UK’s only roaming digital biennial and collaborations with artists such as Marshmallow Laser Feast, Matthew Plummer Fernandez, Daito Manabe, Ubermorgen, Eva & Franco Mattes and Studio Roosegaarde.

Michelle is a practicing fine artist and trained coach with a technical background in post-production and SFX. With over three years at StoryFutures and StoryTrails, she brings expertise in immersive prototyping, testing, and audience-based research to support artists on the programme.

Lisa is a producer, artist, and curator whose work explores digital storytelling, immersive technologies, and community engagement. She has worked for organisations such as BBC, University of South Wales and National Trust as well as across a myriad of other artists and individuals who have shaped her work and thinking. 

Allie is co-founder of Yello Brick, creating award-winning events and digital experiences for 14 years. With expertise in theatre, digital tech, marketing, and producing, she has worked on Bordergame (National Theatre Wales), Rescape Innovation (VR for NHS), and The Culture Group, managing Google projects with physical events and digital outputs.

Chloe has produced programmes with Wellcome Collection, Create London, V&A Dundee, RIBA, and the Architecture Foundation, collaborating with artists, designers, and major partners on live events, festivals, and commissions. She specialises in interdisciplinary projects for public audiences and has experience using anti-racist and anti-ableist tools and techniques.

Kat has over 6 years’ experience in creative comms, she connects people through digital media, design, and storytelling. She came to Bristol from Bradford and stayed for the city’s strong focus on the arts. Kat is also DJ (GAROËSS) and is comms lead for Booty Bass and was selected for Saffron Music‘s Emerging Artist Development Project (2023-2024).

Bridget has coordinated a number of programmes for the PM Studio including Grounding Technologies, Immersive Arts and Undershed. Elsewhere Bridget is a writer, creative producer, and editor. They have published two collections of poetry; Better Watch Your Mouth and Chewing Gum. Bridget has produced events for festivals including Shambala, Edinburgh Fringe and Trans Pride.

Colm has 15+ years’ experience producing arts programmes in Northern Ireland. He is Creative Director and co-founder of Stendhal Festival. With a background in architecture, he blends digital design, 3D modelling, animation, and web design with storytelling and marketing. He also served on the board of ArtAbyss, supporting young people through the arts.

Amy coordinates the DCRC, and UWE research programmes including Immersive Arts and MyWorld, and is conducting research on exhibition and distribution of immersive art experiences for Immersive Arts. Amy has worked across numerous projects including Alternative Technologies: A Just Transition, Grounding Technologies, Documentary Film Council, Spoken Memories, and produced the 100th performance of I Am Echoborg.

Alex is an award-winning virtual reality creator and Head of Emerging Tech at PwC. She’s written, directed and exec produced several VR pieces including Keyed Alike, interactive thought experiment Playing God and her most recent piece Rock Paper Scissors which was the first VR project funded by the BFI Network.

Caspar Sonnen founded IDFA DocLab at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2007. He curates, commissions and researches digital and immersive art, ranging from XR and AI to sensory installations and immersive theatre. Previously, he co-founded the Amsterdam Open Air Film Festival.

Catherine is a UK expert in immersive technology, known for expanding its audience and advocating for responsible use. Her work has influenced policy, earning her an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick. She led BAFTA-winning projects, BBC’s early VR efforts, and founded Limina Immersive, reaching over 15,000 attendees globally through cultural VR events.

Farah Ahmed is the Climate Justice Lead at Julie’s Bicycle. She manages the Creative Climate Justice programme, developing resources, curating events and advocacy, connecting environmental, racial and social justice, and creative activism. Farah is also a facilitator on the Creative Climate Leadership programme.

Ingrid is Co-founder and Director of Labs and Partnerships at Electric South, a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town that develops new forms of storytelling across Africa. Electric South works with interdisciplinary artists across the continent to incubate and fund immersive work and has recently started working on research and policy initiatives.

Verity works with artists, technologists, researchers, and policymakers who are interested in immersive tech and its impact on society. As an Associate Professor at UWE Bristol, Verity founded one of Europe’s first XR master’s programmes and co-founded Bristol VR Lab. Her research focuses on inclusive design, XR ethics, and human rights in virtual environments.

Julia is a researcher and maker of interactive and immersive media. As a University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Research Fellow, she uses practice-led research to explore how immersive media can address the climate crisis. Julia directed the collaborative, generative-AI-based screen experience Collective Visions.

Liz is Curator of Venice Biennale’s International Film Festival’s Official Selection and Competition programme, Venice Immersive. She’s an Executive Producer of multiple award-winning immersive projects and Founder of trail-blazing innovation company Power to the Pixel, who have created pioneering international programmes and exhibitions for immersive and interactive works. Her background was in independent feature films.

Imwen is a play alchemist, creative technologist, facilitator, educator, and TEDx speaker, specialising in play as a powerful tool for exploration and transformation.With 20 years in immersive entertainment her expertise spans interactive design, game mechanics, workshop facilitation, and creative technology, making complex transitions accessible through playful methodologies.

As head of new media partnerships and public relations, Myriam travels the world in search of the most innovative and immersive works to present them in Montreal. Since 2006, she has worked with Phoebe Greenberg to promote PHI’s creative impulse, driven by an ambitious message: to develop and promote artistic innovation in the world.

Samantha is Head of Programme at VIVE Arts, a global arts initiative supporting artists and cultural organisations to experiment with immersive technology. Previously, she was Senior Producer of Audience Labs at the Royal Opera House, an innovation programme bringing together artists and immersive technology to create contemporary opera and ballet experiences.

Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer and a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector.

Ruthie Doyle is an artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles.  Since 2013 she has worked with the Sundance Institute’s New Frontier program team, which supports and exhibits artists working at the convergence of film, art, media and technology at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as year-round via Labs and residencies.

Sarah Wolozin is the director of the MIT Open Documentary Lab. She founded docubase and the lab’s fellows program, co-founded Immerse and the Co-Creation Studio.  She researches, writes and speaks about documentary and immersive media.

For over 20 years, Shari has curated and programmed emerging media, film, and art at Sundance and beyond, supporting thousands of artists in developing projects, securing distribution, and reaching audiences. As Chief Curator of New Frontier, she has championed AI, VR, AR, mixed reality, social media storytelling, and innovative, genre-defying video games.

Tea Uglow is a Peabody-winning creative who spent 18 years building Google’s Creative Lab. Her new start-up Play Smart Serious focuses on game developers & studios, repurposing game mechs and story-worlds for B2B. Tea is happily autistic, queer, and co-authored the proposal for the trans flag emoji on your phones.

Prof. Will Saunders has over 30 years’ experience working across the UK’s Screen and Performance sectors as a writer, producer, & executive producer. As Creative Director, Digital BBC Studios he ran Digital Development and Production for the UK’s leading media company, launching the BBC’s innovation platform Taster in partnership with BBC R&D.

Tom is the Associate Professor of Art & Design, UWE Bristol as well as Director of the Digital Cultures Research Centre. Tom steered the Ambient Literature project from 2016-2019 and collaborated with key publishing figures to challenge digital technologies’ impact on writing. He was named one of Bookseller’s 40 Most Disruptive Innovators.

Jo supports research partnerships, artist development and a wide community of residents. She is also a Visiting Professor at UWE Bristol’s Digital Cultures Research Centre. She is interested in methodologies that bring people together in collaborative rather than competitive forms of production.

Kirsten is a Professor of Human Computer Interaction at University of Bristol. Her research focuses on co-designing socio-technical solutions for enhancing people’s experiences and interactions with their environment and each other, particularly through using immersive technologies, and has secured more than £55m funding for interdisciplinary research.

Paul is Co-Director of the Centre for Creative Technologies and a researcher in the Centre for Sociodigital Futures. He established Bristol’s MA Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Realities) and collaborates with the company Uninvited Guests on events that actively involve their audiences.

Cathie Boyd is a director and curator with 30+ years of experience in opera, music, digital arts, and film. She founded Cryptic in 1994, creating innovative, mixed-media performances for international audiences. Cathie launched Glasgow’s Sonica Festival in 2012, and her work has been presented in over 30 countries worldwide

Claire studied Performing Arts, specialising in dance, at De Montfort University, Leicester in the UK, and on graduating moved into the field of arts management. She has been instrumental in the delivery of international co-productions and the production of work that tours across Europe, South America, Australia and Asia.

David has 20 years’ experience in cultural programming, project management, digital communications, and event production. He leads innovation strategy at Nerve Centre, including developing major public engagement programmes. He is Immersive Arts lead in Northern Ireland and was recently Executive Producer for the award-winning Our Place in Space project.

Niall works at Northern Ireland’s leading creative arts organisation working across creative learning, culture and film. Niall is responsible for a range of innovative engagement, digital creativity and arts projects, collaborating with cultural and heritage partners across Northern Ireland and beyond.

David, a Senior Producer with 20 years’ experience, leads the Immersive Experiences team at Wales Millennium Centre, programming Bocs and supporting XR productions. He co-creates award-winning XR projects with partners like BBC, BFI, and Welsh National Opera and helps drive the Immersive Arts programme, breaking barriers for artists to engage with immersive storytelling.

Mark is a UK pioneer in XR production and exhibition. He curates the Inter:Active exhibition at CPH:DOX and Electric Dreams, a festival for immersive storytelling. As Head of Studies at CPH:LAB, he develops new forms of factual storytelling and runs global workshops. Through Crossover Labs, he trains, funds, and produces award-winning immersive work exhibited worldwide

​​Tom is an award winning digital producer, his work has been shown at The Barbican, BBC, Ars Electronica, SXSW and MoMA. Tom has curated programmes of digital art for international festivals including CPH:DOX, Sheffield Doc/Fest, The International Film Festival of India, Silbersalz Science and Media Festival, Bergen International Film Festival and the Adelaide Fringe.

Jo believes that ‘different’ is delicious, not divergent. She works in arts & culture embedding the belief that diversity adds texture, turning policy into real action. Unlimited has a mission to commission extraordinary work from disabled artists until the whole of the cultural sector does.

Nina has a background in filmmaking, this has led her to be a journalist focusing on immersive technologies for VRFocus creating online video content. She co-founded the XR Diversity Initiative and has been running workshops since 2018, training over 255 participants with no experience in immersive technologies to create an experience in a single day.

Asha is Innovate UK KTN’s Lead for Immerse UK, she is particularly passionate about helping to promote diversity & inclusion in the industry. She is one of the original members of the London chapter of Women in Immersive Tech (WiiT), a co-founder of the XRDI, and an ED&I advisor to Europe’s first Metaverse fund, FOV Ventures.

Tosin is an immersive artist and researcher with a childlike fascination for Virtual Reality and 3D animation. Inspired by childhood tales/traditions, they use immersive tech to transform storytelling and explore its impact. Their work is deeply personal, rooted in the belief that every XR experience evokes emotion, sparks curiosity, and creates intimate experiences.

Anthony’s fiction centres on the lives of working-class families in the English Black Country. His work includes the novels Heartland, How I Killed Margaret Thatcher and Iron Towns. Necrosmologies, a collection of speculative short fiction, will be published by The Braag in the autumn of 2025.

Soph is an XR producer and curator at Crossover Labs, a team dedicated to creating the future through the intersection of art, storytelling and technology. She has curated immersive exhibitions worldwide and operated interactive theatre shows at Adelaide Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe.

Max Munday is the Production Manager on The Big Thing 2025. Based in Sheffield, he is an artist and researcher working with movement and sound. His wide-ranging experience includes work in substance misuse and homeless services, political and charity communications, radio production, and higher education.