Future Focus; UK at Expo 2020

Thompson Aero Seating is one of the leading suppliers of Business and First Class aircraft seating, with a worldwide customer base featuring many of the world’s top airlines including Delta and Singapore Airlines. With increasing market share and an evolving and expanding product portfolio Thompson’s seats are installed upon all major aircraft types from Airbus and Boeing including the A380 and Boeing B787 Dreamliner.

In this podcast episode, Neil Taggart, Andy Morris and Jonny McGreevy join host Rachael Everard to discuss why Thompson Aero Seating is one of Northern Ireland’s most successful and fastest growing businesses. Currently, 1/3 of the world’s airplane seats are manufactured in Northern Ireland, and guest speakers share how Northern Irish manufacturers have developed their innovative and agile approach to design. They also discuss how the company works with airlines to produce interior products that customers won’t forget – from the look, feel, touch, functionality and ergonomics, as well as high-end experiences while considering sustainability – from weight reduction and recycling at end of product life – in the process.

Kirsty Murphy joined The Blades Aerobatic Team in 2016 following a 17-year career in the Royal Air Force (RAF). She was selected to be the first female pilot to fly with the world-famous Red Arrows – RAF’s Aerobatic Team— and had participated in more than 100 public displays and flypasts in about a dozen countries. She also served as a flying instructor after completing her flying training on the Tucano and the Hawk T1, and flew operational sorties in Iraq. She follows in the footsteps of many great female aviators amidst a still largely male-dominated career.

In this podcast, host Rachael Everard explores Kirsty’s reasons for joining the military and the value of teamwork, diversity, and collaboration. Kirsty opens up on challenges she faced to reach the skies in her career, and how reliance and persistence to achieve goals helped her succeed. She also discusses her experiences as an ambassador, encouraging young women to take up flying, and as an engineer who promotes Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in schools. She shares her interests in innovations in aviation to help deliver a more sustainable mode of transport in the future.

David Oxley is Director of Strategic Projects with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Scotland’s regional economic and community development agency covering the North and West of Scotland. David and his team are behind the Space Hub Sutherland – a facility that would enable vertical rockets to launch small satellites into low Earth polar and sun-synchronous orbits. 

In this podcast episode, host Rachael Everard chats with David as he shares his vision to develop the ‘world’s greenest spaceport’, the importance of such facilities being developed in the UK, and how the UK is well placed to accomplish this. He also expounds on sustainability – how the spaceport is taking the environment into consideration in its construction, and how HIE works with the local community to ensure that they part of the space port’s development as they should be.

In this podcast episode, host Rachael Everard meets Libby Jackson, currently the Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programme Manager for the UK Space Agency, responsible for the UK's Human Spaceflight and Microgravity programmes at the International Space Station (ISS). 

Libby reflects on her time as a flight director and explains how she coped with the mental stress this role involved.​ Previously a flight director on space missions, she ensured that everyone worked together, and everything went according to plan.

Flight directors talk to everyone involved – from the astronauts to the scientists on Earth, to the people who are responsible for making the rockets work.

A flight director's most important tasks are to keep the astronauts safe, to check that all the planned experiments take place in space, and to sort out any problems that crop up. Though these things can happen, the flight director will always find the answer.

In this podcast episode, host Rachael Everard delves into Professor Lord Martin Rees’ esteemed career and asks the question: ‘Should we regulate space before humans ruin it?’ This timely subject stems from many scientists’ concern that developments in human technology may soon pose new, extinction-level risks to our species as a whole. Such dangers have been suggested from progress in artificial intelligence, developments in biotechnology and artificial life, nanotechnology, and the possible extreme effects of anthropogenic climate change.

​The wide research interests of Professor Lord Martin Rees OM, FRS, FREng, FMedSci – Astronomer Royal, former Trinity College Master and University of Cambridge Emeritus Professor – spans space exploration, to black holes, galaxy formation, the multiverse, and prospects for extra-terrestrial life. Against the backdrop of recent commercial space enterprises, he shares his insights on what regulation should focus on, and governments’ shared responsibilities and areas of collaboration.

After completing an MBA at the University of Ulster Graeme pursued a highly successful career in the arts in Belfast and Londonderry.

In 2006 Graeme became director of the Belfast Festival at Queen's University, establishing the festival's reputation as a must-see arts festival and later became Head of Culture and Arts at Queens's, responsible for the Queen's Film Theatre and the Naughton Gallery.

Since joining the Wales Millennium Centre as Artistic Director in 2016, Graeme has brought the critically-acclaimed City of the Unexpected to Cardiff, as well as Tiger Bay the Musical and the international arts festival,Festival of Voice, which continues to grow.

In this episode, host Hannah Austin talks with Graeme about the state of the art sector in the UK as we emerge from the pandemic, while exploring why culture can only truly be great if it’s accessible to all.

Find out more about Graeme and the Wales Millennium Centre here: https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/what-we-do/meet-the-team/senior-management

Martin Green CBE is the Chief Creative Officer of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, the latter being a groundbreaking celebration of creativity taking place across the UK in 2022.

Previously, Martin has masterminded some of Britain’s most significant major events including the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies; the opening of The O2 in London; and the opening ceremony of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ in Leeds. He also served as CEO and Director of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, where he delivered 365 days of transformative culture for the city to huge acclaim.

In this episode, host Hannah Austin discusses with Martin what it means to create a major creative programme designed to reach millions and bring people together. Martin talks about the UNBOXED programme, which features 10 projects by hundreds of creatives from across science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, and explores the power of creativity and collaboration to shape the way we live, work and play.

Tracy Harwood is Professor of Digital Culture at the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University. She serves as director of the University’s Usability Lab and the award-winning Art AI Festival.   

Her work is transdisciplinary, crossing computer science, arts, design, health and marketing disciplines, and focuses on the application of emerging technologies to creative and applied business and consumer contexts. This includes Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR), and game engines technologies used in machinima and virtual production.

In this episode, host Hannah Austin discusses with Professor Harwood how art and data are logical and creative partners. They also explore the process that goes behind the visual representation of data and the Art-AI Festival, taking place in Leicester between May 2021-2022, which celebrates creative applications of artificial intelligence. 

For more information about the Art-AI Festival and DMU’s Institute of Creative Technologies, visit https://www.art-ai.io/ and https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/ioct/index.aspx

To listen to more of Professor Harwood’s podcast on her channel, ‘And Now For Something Completely Machinima', visit https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/and-now-for-something-completely-machinima/id1551547214

Lise Arlot is an art entrepreneur and art business guest lecturer. She is passionate about increasing access to and engagement with art. She co-founded Feral Horses, a global crowdfunding platform which sold shares of about 20 artworks to happy co-owners who are now experiencing the joy of being art collectors. 

Lise is now the Head of Operations & Strategy at MTArt Agency, an award-winning talent agency that represents the top visual artists around the world. 

In this episode, host Hannah Austin talks to Lise about art’s role in public places, how it ‘turns spaces into places’, and why local communities should be involved in the selection process for the majority of public art pieces. Lise also expounds on the role that the art market plays in supporting and protecting public art pieces.

For more information about MTArt Agency and the Inside out Festival, visit https://mtart.agency/ and https://www.westminster.gov.uk/insideout

Helen Brunsdon has worked extensively across the animation industry as a consultant, producer and executive, working with some of the most creative names in animation.

In addition to her production work, Helen also works as animation adviser, programmer, events producer and jury member. Helen served as the Director of Animation UK in December 2016 before becoming the Director of the British Animation Awards (BAA).

The power of animation in telling a story is well known and appreciated by many audiences. In this episode, host Hannah Austin talks to Helen about what it means to have a holistic view of the animation industry and how it fits into many aspects of the Arts, including music, film and children’s TV. Their conversation explores both the artistic and commercial side of animation, audiences’ changing appetites, what challenges the UK animation industry is facing and what must be done to ensure that the industry goes from strength to strength.​

For more information about the British Animation Awards, visit: https://www.britishanimationawards.com