Workplaces around the world are changing, bringing the future of work as we know it into question. With developments such as artificial intelligence, remote working, millennials and the changing nature of the way we view work-life balance, the workplace is undoubtedly going to continue to evolve subject to technological and social advances.

Therefore, the future of work is a critical topic for organisations both small and large. As futurists, commentators, experts in artificial intelligence and happiness at work, the following keynote speakers each have insight into the future of work and what we can expect.

Stephen Heppell

In 2003, Stephen Heppell left UltraLab and is now CEO of the education consultancy firm, Heppell.net, a global and flourishing policy and learning consultancy which now has an enviable portfolio of international projects all round the world.

Heppell is an English educator who specialises in the use of ICT in education. A school teacher for more than a decade, and a professor since 1989, Heppell has worked, and is working, with learner led projects, with governments around the world, international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, schools and communities, his PhD students and many influential trusts and organisations.

Christopher Kutarna

Christopher Kutarna is a Fellow of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford and demystifies the new Age of Discovery which is upon us. All the signs – social media, populism, globalisation, the rise of China, AI, genetic modification and more – herald its arrival.

Along with Ian Goldin, Kutarna is the co-author of Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of Our New Renaissance. In it, Kutarna and Goldin explain that this is not the first time globalisation has divided societies, nor is it the first time technological change has unleashed income inequality, social tension, xenophobia and ideological extremism.

Ian Goldin and Christopher Kutarna argue that in order to “win” in the new renaissance people need to take risks, stay open to fresh ideas, embrace the arts and immigration and cluster into dynamic cities.

Graham Brown-Martin

Graham Brown-Martin is a leader in the field of foresight and anticipatory research, bringing together social, political and technological trends to consider how we might prepare ourselves for the future.

As a serial disruptor, Graham draws on his experiences of creating startups and organisations that challenged the status quo across the digital, creative and education sectors. He designed mobile computers in the 1980s, interactive digital music systems in the 1990s and cloud-based storage systems in the early 2000s.

He has enjoyed a 30 year career spanning the education, technology and entertainment sectors. He was the founder of Learning Without Frontiers (LWF), a global think tank that brought together renowned educators, technologists and creatives to share provocative and challenging ideas about the future of learning.

Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott is Professor of Economics and former Deputy Dean at London Business School. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and All Souls, Oxford.

His research focuses on business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy and longevity. His book, with Lynda Gratton, The Hundred Year Life is an Amazon bestseller and was shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2016 and led to him being listed by HR Magazine as one of their Most Influential Thinker 2016.

Drawing on the unique pairing of their experience in psychology and economics, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott offer a broad-ranging analysis as well as a raft of solutions, showing how to rethink your finances, your education, your career and your relationships and create a fulfilling 100-year life.

Malene Rydahl

Malene Rydahl is the author of the best-selling book Happy as a Dane published in more than 12 languages all over the world. The book was awarded the prize of the most optimistic book in 2014.

Studies have observed that a vast majority of employees around the world are not engaged in their work. This results in high staff turn-over, increased sick leave and above all lack of creativity, innovation and productivity for companies.

Based on her research and extensive corporate experience, Rydahl wishes to extend to the corporate world her knowledge of well-being and engagement. She explores why Danish employees are some of the happiest in the world and how that leadership style directly impacts results financially in a positive way.

Claudia Olsson

Claudia Olsson, newly appointed Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, is an innovation leader and speaker in the field of digital transformation.

Specialising in exponential technologies, future trends, leadership and governance, her work focuses on the impact of new technologies on citizens, society and global markets. She is the founder and CEO of Exponential AB, a global consultancy specialised in providing strategic advice, analysis and professional development related to the digital transformation.

Shivvy Jervis

Voted a thought leader ‘making digital Britain tick’, Shivvy Jervis is a multi-award winning futurist, advisor and presenter on the digital economy. She makes it her mission to uncover the most groundbreaking innovation that will transform our realities.

Shivvy Jervis serves as an Advisor on two national councils themed around the future of work, and diversity and digital skills respectively. She has a first-hand understanding of the industry, with a background as Head of Digital Media for the world’s third largest telco.

Sophie Hackford

Sophie Hackford is a futurist, researcher, and future trends speaker.

From satellite swarms to AI demonstrating intuition, we are becoming entangled with machines and will be surprised by the consequences. Hackford aims to enthuse people by creating a dialogue around emerging technologies, which are often viewed with fear and inertia by the business community.

She wants to help audiences ask big questions about the future and tries to provoke positive debate amongst decision makers.

Peter Goodman

Peter Goodman is the European economic correspondent for the New York Times. Goodman is the author of PAST DUE: The End of Easy Money and the Renewal of the American Economy (Times Books, 2009), which was selected as an Editor’s Choice title by the New York Times Book Review and named one of Bloomberg’s Top Fifty Business Books.

Goodman has commentated on a wide range of subjects including the future of work, discussing economic trends and theories such as the universal basic income.

Peter Goodman has reported from more than three dozen countries in the course of his career, contributing an assortment of investigative projects, reported features and analytical columns on a broad array of subjects from the meltdown of the American economy during the Great Recession to the war in Iraq.

Ben Hammersley

Ben Hammersley is a British internet technologist, journalist, author, broadcaster and futurist.
Hammersley argues that we habitually underestimate the technological changes that happen over a 20 year timeframe, and we overestimate the universality of social changes over that same period.

Hammersley believes that the structures within work – who is the boss, who makes the decisions, on whose behalf, and so on – will continue to evolve. The technology layered on top of those fundamentals is trivial as the future isn’t set…

Ben Hammersley therefore encourages us to prepare for the future simply by maintaining a mental, physical, and legal nimbleness that allows – or even forces – you to be reassessing and course correcting, on a day to day basis.

Top 10 Future of work Keynote speakers