Engaging Minds Lectures
2016/17
Engaging Minds Lectures
2016/17 Verulam School and the BSV consortium welcome you to a series of lectures by renowned experts in their fields to help students look further and journey outside the curriculum.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants Isaac Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke
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Design: October Design
[email protected] 07768 664826 www.october-design.co.uk Content: Kelly Bonas, Verulam School
Schedule
All lectures held at Verulam School. Lectures start at 13.45 in the main hall. Please note all lectures are on a Friday. Speaker
Area of Expertise Date
Louise Restell
Women’s Quality
09/09/2016
Kathryn Collar
Human Trafficking
16/09/2016
Kevin Hard
Entrepreneur
23/09/2016
Sara Heath
Athletics
07/10/2016
Dr Susan Cheyne
Conservation
14/10/2016
Stephanie Lamberts
Marketing
04/11/2016
Stephen Dunham
Sports Management
11/11/2016
Eddie Mills
Entrepeneur
18/11/2016
Georgie Blyth
Law
02/12/2016
Neil Fisher
Counter Terrorism
09/12/2016
University Challenge
16/12/2016
Ellen Ferris
Teenage Cancer Trust
13/01/2017
Ben O’Boyle
Refugee Aid
20/01/2017
Micheal O’Donnell
International Development
27/01/2017
Sue Nelson
Space Journalism
03/02/2017
Jane Slatter
Philanthropy
10/02/2017
Barbara Gainsley
TV Director
24/02/2017
Andrew Harris
Social Media
03/03/2017
Sarah Bligh
Royal Navy
10/03/2017
Claire Goldwater
Life Coach
17/03/2017
Matt Adams
Journalism
24/03/2017
Morwen Williams
BBC News
31/03/2017
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Louise Restell Women’s Quality
09/09/2016 Louise Restell is the chair of the St Albans branch of the Women’s Equality Party. She set the branch up with another local activist only a few months after the party was formed in March 2015.
After graduating in History from Cambridge in 1994, Louise embarked on a 20 year career working in politics, campaigning, corporate social responsibility, consumer issues and PR. She has worked for the Labour Party, the FDA trade union, the Big Lottery Fund, Investors in People UK, consumer organisation Which? and The Law Society.
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In 2011 she set up Louise Restell Communications Ltd to work freelance. She is recognised as a leading consumer voice within the legal services market and regularly blogs on legal websites.
Her campaigning for legal reform was recognised by the Lawyer magazine, which named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the sector in 2008. As well as her involvement in The Women’s Equality Party she is a school governor at Batchwood School, an active member of the PTA at Alban City School, a trustee of The Public Law Project, runs a Brownie pack and campaigns on a range of local issues. Any free time she has is spent doing yoga, running, writing blogs and baking (and eating) cakes.
STOP THE TRAFFIK Kathryn Collar Human Trafficking
16/09/2016
Kathryn has been STOP THE TRAFFIK’s (STT) global operations manager since March 2015. She works alongside the global staff to manage and deliver the STT global strategy, working with affiliates, activists and the diverse partners and stakeholders who all form a pivotal part of STT.
Kathryn’s current focus is engaging with communities across the world in gathering their community information through STOP THE TRAFFIK’s intelligence tool called the STOP APP. The STOP APP is one of the vehicles by which the STT’s Centre for Intelligence Led Prevention (CfILP) is using modern technologies to disrupt traffickers and create targeted action so that communities can be smart in their use of available resources and be led by what they know. Prior to working at STT, Kathryn built up an extensive repertoire as a frontline professional supporting clients vulnerable to significant harm. This includes time spent in Cyprus and Tenerife, advocating for those trafficked into the sex industry, and working to develop a multi-agency service with Essex police to safeguard people at high risk of homicide through domestic violence.
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Kevin Hard
Sara Heath
23/09/2016
07/10/2016
Entrepreneur
Athletics
After working for a large St.Albans based engineering consultancy Kevin founded, built and ran a number of large Solar and Energy related businesses.
Kevin is a Chartered Engineer, sits on the Board of the Solar Trade Association and is a winner of multiple National Entrepreneur and Business Awards. He built EvoEnergy into a market leading rooftop Solar Photovoltaic business which has installed Solar on over 8,000 homes and hundreds of commercial rooftops, including high profile clients such as BMW, BUPA and on the top of the Walkie Talkie building in central London. In his spare time, he sits on the board of a Community Energy Company that invests surplus profits into charitable causes and he also lectures at Nottingham University Business School. He is keen to use his knowledge of business, finance and energy to help encourage others along the entrepreneurial and business path.
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Sara has worked in Communications and PR in the sports industry for over 10 years, both in Public and Private Sectors. Originally starting in Formula One before moving to work for the Government over the London 2012 Games. In 2014 Sara moved to work for the British Athletes Communications as a Director of Communications and Athlete Services. This role involves overseeing the everyday management of the Olympic and Paralympic Athletes. Sara also sits as a Senior Independent Director for British Shooting and advises on Olympic Performance and Governance. Sara is a former 7 6 student of Verulam School and attended from 2003-2005.
Dr Susan Cheyne
Stephanie Lamberts
14/10/2016
04/11/2016
Conservation
Marketing
In addition she is responsible for coordinating the volunteer programme developing longterm, wildlife monitoring projects to be carried out by students and volunteers which will contribute to the scientific knowledge of the study area. She is a founding director of the Barito River Initiative for Nature Conservation and Communities (BRINCC) and has led expeditions into the remote highlands of Borneo. Her work is focussed on conservation biology, using good science to help protect some of the world’s most endangered species and habitats. She also works with local people to help develop sustainable livelihoods and alleviate poverty. www.brinccborneo.org www.outrop.com
18.09.2015
Susan has worked in Indonesia since 2002. She is co-director of the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop) where she initiated both the Gibbon Behaviour, Feeding Ecology and Socio-ecology Project and the Sabangau Field Project.
Stephanie has worked at Facebook for the last 3 years where she helps brands connect with consumers and grow their business through marketing on both Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has changed significantly in the last 3-4 years with the explosive growth of smartphones, so she spends a lot of time with marketing directors and brand managers helping them to understand marketing in a mobile world.
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Prior to Facebook, Stephanie worked in market research for 10 years and in consulting for a couple years before that. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Stephanie went to University in Atlanta, Georgia, and for various career opportunities, she’s lived in Boston, New York City, Denver, and Chicago, before moving to London in 2006.
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Stephen Dunham Sports Management
11/11/2016
Stephen was a student at Verulam from 1978 to 1985. After graduating from the then Polytechnic of Wales with a Honours degree in Quantity Surveying, he initially embarked on a surveying career qualifying as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. A move to KMPG saw him move into property tax and it was here when he first started working in the sports business field. This was continued with his move to Deloitte where he was part of the their Sports Business Group working on the new Wembley Stadium project and the continual redevelopment of the All England Club at Wimbledon, as well as being one of the authors of the Annual Review of Football Finance. In 2009, Stephen left to set up his own tax and consulting practice, Dunham Consulting, which he has continued to grow to the present day.
Eddie Mills Entrepeneur
18/11/2016 Former Verulam student, Eddie Mills, has worked in the marketing industry since graduating from Nottingham Trent Business School in 2001. His career has seen him work with some varied brands across different industries - Sainsbury’s, Adidas, Budweiser and Danone to name but a few.
In 2015, Eddie launched the Oli Mills Foundation - a charitable group set up to raise awareness of and funds for Teenage Cancer Trust, in memory of Oliver Mills, who died of a brain tumour when he was a Verulam student in 2005, aged 18. With the involvement of local businesses and some fantastic support from Verulam, the OMF is on track to raise £37,000 this year alone to add to the total of over £100,000 raised to date. A keen cricketer and sportsman, Eddie spends his weekends either with bat in hand or watching his beloved Spurs at White Hart Lane.
In 2013, in addition to this, Stephen also embarked on a career in football agency and became a FA Licensed Agent (now renamed Registered Intermediaries) after passing the agent’s entrance exam. Stephen is now focussed on growing this business and is currently representing a number of young footballers both in the men’s and women’s games.
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Georgie Blyth Law
02/12/2016
Neil Fisher Counter Terrorism
09/12/2016
Georgie Blyth is an ex-Verulam School pupil (class of 1998) and is now a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal LLP’s corporate practice in London. After attending the College of Law, Georgie joined PwC Legal in 2004 as a trainee and qualified as a solicitor in 2006, specialising in corporate law. Georgie has vast experience of advising large corporates (listed and multi-national companies) and multi-territory organisations on complex cross-border restructuring and transformational projects, frequently working in a multi-disciplinary team alongside PwC Tax, Accounting and Consulting specialists. In 2012 Georgie undertook an international secondment to the UAE to help set up the PwC Legal Dubai office. Georgie is PwC Legal’s ‘People Director’ and assists with the recruitment of graduates into the firm.
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Neil is currently CEO for a software Ventures company concerned with cyber security and the spotting of people with cyber security talent and skills using online games and challenges. Neil went to Sandhurst and a career as a Royal Signals officer in the middle of the Cold War and the terrorist troubles of Northern Ireland and elsewhere. He served with the Gurkhas as well as service in the Falklands and around the world. He left the Army as the first national focus for cyber conflict in the middle of the dot.com boom. Neil is a qualified and chartered Telecommunications Systems Engineer, a recognised specialist on Real World Security, Information Assurance and Cyber Security. He is a founder director of the Cyber Security Challenge as well as a lecturer to Masters courses in Warwick University and King’s College, London.
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Benedict primarily designs and creates bespoke furniture and innovative wooden crafts. He set up his own business, Benedict’s Fine Furniture in 2005, after graduating Buckinghamshire Chilterns University, with a BA Hons in Furniture Design and Craftsmanship.
Ellen Ferris
Teenage Cancer Trust
13/01/2017
Benedict, is also the author of travel book, “Little Steps around the World” following his budget, family backpacking adventure in 2009 through Africa, Asia and beyond.
Ellen is an Education and Awareness Executive working for the Teenage Cancer Trust. This means she travels around Hertfordshire, Essex and London, educating and empowering young adults in knowing their body and dealing with cancer. Having had cancer at the age of 14 herself, she received a lot of help and support from the Teenage Cancer Trust, which is what drew her to this role after graduating from university with a degree in sociology. The Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity focusing on teenagers and young adults aged between 13 and 25 who have cancer, to help them live as much of a normal life as possible. This is done through creating fun wards with specialised nurses and organising events which raise funds to help us do this. For more information on what we do as a charity, please visit www.teenagecancertrust.org.
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More recently published (with all profits going towards the current refugee crisis) were his journals, “Mud, sweat and teargas: Volunteering the Calais Jungle”. A look at his experiences, and the people Benedict met in the Calais refugee camp, whilst volunteering his skills to build shelters with them.
Ben O’Boyle Refugee Aid
Benedict’s experiences have only inflamed his passion for equality, freedom and a change to the way we all treat each other. Believing a move away from fear and greed, and an individual re-examining of our core values are the key to a change toward true civilisation.
20/01/2017
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Michael O’Donnell International Development
27/01/2017
Sue Nelson Space Journalism
03/02/2017
Michael has worked in international development for almost 20 years. In that time he has worked for charities like Save the Children and Plan, including spending time living in Liberia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, and helping elsewhere with emergency responses to tsunamis, 16 earthquakes and wars.
Focusing on understanding communities’ abilities, needs and priorities, Michael helped design and manage programmes to improve livelihoods and – later – on supporting adolescent girls’ rights and wellbeing. Michael now works for Bond, a network of 480 organisations in the UK working on international development, where his focus is on helping charities increase the difference they make through better learning and increased transparency. He is also an adviser to Comic Relief, helping assess funding applications relating to children and young people at risk, and education. 15
Sue Nelson is an award winning science journalist and runs the independent production company, Boffin Media. Among other things, she makes short films for the European Space Agency, produces science radio programmes for the BBC, and trains scientists how to work with journalists. Sue is also a former BBC television news science correspondent, co-presents the Space Boffins podcast and has walked on the surface of Mars (in the Stevenage Mars Yard…)
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Barbara Gainsley TV Director
Jane Slatter Philanthropy
10/02/2017
24/02/2017 Barbara started her career at the BBC, and worked her way from radio to television, from production manager to vision mixer and director.
Jane Slatter MBA,Director of Communications, Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) www.sigbi.org The rights of women and girls have been a passion and motivator for Jane from an early age. Jane enjoyed a successful career in IT from computer programming, through Project Management to Senior Management, but found something was missing from her professional life until she joined the St Albans Soroptimist Club in 1997. www.sigbi.org/st-albans Soroptimists are “a global voice for women” enabling Jane to make a difference as an active citizen through this “extra-curricular activity” where she constantly lobbies and campaigns for change, particularly to improve the lives of women and girls. Soroptimist International has Members and Clubs all over the world. Jane developed her career in Soroptimist International in parallel to her day-job and her current role includes internal and external communications using a variety of media channels to support Clubs in 28 Countries. She has served in this elected post, on a voluntary unpaid basis, since October 2010. “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights”: Hillary Clinton in a speech to the United Nations 1995.
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She has since worked on many programmes, from live outside broadcasts such as sport to dramas, current affairs and light entertainment shows. Highlights include Dr. Who, Blue Peter, two Royal weddings and many live current affairs discussions such as Question Time. Freelancing now for many corporate companies, and also training presenters and directors she has had a wide variety of jobs and been involved in recruitment and training of staff.
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Sarah Bligh joined the Royal Navy as a Warfare Officer in May 2000. After completing initial officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth she trained at sea in HMS CHATHAM, HMS CORNWALL and HMS ARGYLL.
Sarah Bligh Royal Navy
“Web design, social media Andy Harris management, and real time digital Social Media info…!” There are three words 03/03/2017 that we have as a mantra at EasyJet, and to be honest, they set a good principle for living your life: “Simple. Friendly. Real.” Andy studied at Verulam School from September 1988 to June 1995. After attending the University of Hertfordshire he graduated with a major in Systems Physiology and Pharmacology, and spent a year working in the Netherlands as a medical researcher. He then went on to further studies in Biomechanical Engineering in London, but gave laboratory science up to work as an Editor for a scientific marketing publication. Andy worked at conferences in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. After a few intermittent jobs he ended up in the public sector helping to rebuild websites, intranet sites, social platforms, and identifying gaps in digital landscapes, all with the main goal to be ease of use web technology, and 24hr real-time information. This has led to a career in Social Media Management systems (social media community and case management), responsive web design, customer services digital innovation and extensive travel with EasyJet. Although it sounds like he lives his life in html and source code he played rugby, football, and cricket for Verulam School. He played American Football at UH and won a national championship (the University equivalent of the Super Bowl) and represented the university at England level and 20 was invited to trial for GB students. He still actively plays rugby after 31 seasons in the front row.
10/03/2017
During her career she has served in the ships HMS NORFOLK, as an Officer of the Watch, HMS GLOUCESTER, as a Fighter Controller and HMS LIVERPOOL as the Navigating Officer. Deploying to the Baltic, the Falklands, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Northern Arabian Gulf on several occasions. Whilst serving alongside she has worked in a variety of roles which has included
teaching Navigation, being the Officer in Charge of Initial Warfare Officer Training, working as staff officer to Chief of Staff Capability Rear Admiral Ships and Submarines in Navy Command Headquarters. More recently she has worked in marketing organising the filming of several ‘Made in the Navy’ adverts. Her current role is within 21 human resources crisis management.
YOU ARE Claire Goldwater ONLY CONFINED BY THE WALLS YOU BUILD YOURSELF Life Coach
17/03/2017
Claire was inspired to train to become a Life Coach after attending a seminar in 2007. She qualified in 2011 and also gained a diploma in psychology. Being passionate about helping young people to thrive and succeed, she then studied for a specialist Youth Impact Coaching diploma. Claire set up her own coaching business, BIG, in January 2012, specialising in working with young people. BIG provides 1:1 coaching services, workshops, motivational talks and mentoring.
Matt Adams Journalism
24/03/2017 Matt Adams has been a journalist for 22 years He has been Editor of the Herts Advertiser since 2009, the 13th to hold the post. During his career he has interviewed Prime Ministers and Hollywood stars, reported from war-torn Kosovo and jumped out of a plane.
Life Coaching is an exciting, expanding area of the personal development industry. Major corporations, small businesses, large organisations and individuals seek Coaches to work with on a multitude of goals. There is no ‘type’ of person who comes for coaching, and there is no ‘standard’ topic. Coaching focusses on setting goals and developing the strategies, motivation and confidence to achieve them, and also to challenge any fears or self-limiting beliefs that might hold people back. Claire has three children and two step-children of her own. She passionately believes in
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Morwen Williams is Head of Newsgathering Operations for BBC News, responsible for a team of more than 200 camera crews, engineers, radio operators and for developing and providing the mobile journalism kit in the field. Previously she was Deputy UK Editor and UK Special Events Assignments Editor for BBC News – overseeing news coverage and planning major special events such as the Royal Wedding, Queen’s Jubilees, funeral of the Queen Mother, several general elections and G8 and NATO summits. She has also worked on BBC regional programmes in London and Manchester, having started as a print journalist in Croydon. Morwen 24 is married with two sons, and is a keen cyclist.
Morwen Williams BBC News
31/03/2017
