Matt Hunt
Managing Director/Chief Performance Officer
Apadmi

SESSION OVERVIEW: Digital product experts Apadmi and the NHS Blood and Transplant team have been working together for a decade on life-changing tech. This talk focuses on TransplantPath (TxP); a newly launched application streamlining the evaluation process for organs. TxP facilitates efficient information sharing among transplant specialists, who are “utterly thrilled” with the product. We will share the journey of TxP; from user research through to design, development and deployment. With challenges faced on the way, we will share how we overcame these collaboratively to push forward with this life-saving tech. TxP will save approx. 61 days per year in manual processes, with an average time saving of 29.5 minutes for every organ offer. This means quicker decisions, better organ utilisation rates, and ultimately, more lives saved. This is an excellent example of how organisations can come together to make a real impact with tech for good.

Toby Sinclair
Founder
Toby Sinclair Coaching Ltd.

SESSION OVERVIEW: Think back to when you last joined a team, company, or community. What were the initial conversations like? Often, the emphasis is on “fitting in,” with an unstated assumption: follow our ways, and you’ll fit in fine.
But employees crave more than just fitting in. They yearn to belong.
In this talk, Toby will explore how to move beyond “fitting in”. Instead, fostering an environment where everyone feels they belong, regardless of their identity or beliefs.
Only when employees feel that they belong can they achieve peak performance.
Despite numerous initiatives, few organisations have successfully cultivated a culture where everyone can truly say, “I belong.”
This is your chance to be one of those organisations.
You’ll learn how to:
-Equip managers with the tools to foster a belonging culture within their teams.
-Implement practices that support diversity and inclusion, ensuring everyone feels valued.
-Develop methods to assess and track the sense of belonging within your organisation.

Jamie Kane
Lead User Researcher
Co-op Funeralcare

SESSION OVERVIEW: Without research, design is just guesswork. This matters even more when you are designing services that get used by people who are going through bereavement.

Learn about how the UK’s largest funeral provider has researched and designed services to help:
– people who are terminally ill and their family members plan for their death
– understand what to do when you’re arranging a funeral for a child
– buying a funeral plan in a newly regulated industry

Get inspired and learn practical tips to help make sure you aren’t missing out on learning from peoples experiences in the most sensitive of situations. I will talk you through some fascinating case studies of doing research into peoples experience around death. The planning that goes into this can be applied to any work that deals with sensitive issues. Feel more confident researching, so you can design to help people.

Claire Robinson
Director of Sustainable Business Consulting
Transform UK

SESSION OVERVIEW: It’s clear that we need to ensure our services are inclusive and reduce their carbon impact, while delivering benefit to business – but how do we approach this from a technology perspective?

We have a role as designers, technologists, product people, founders and CEOs to measure and reduce the negative impact of our products and services, while increasing the Social Value we deliver. The good news is, it’s often aligned to business goals.

In this talk, we’ll explain the fundamentals behind designing and building sustainable services, how you can start measuring whether your company or product is having a net-positive impact, and why optimising that is good for the bottom line.

We’ll share case studies showing experiments to reduce carbon intensity, how we adapted the draft Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) into practical tools digital and technology teams can use to deliver better services, and how we’re using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to guide our North Star.

Sarah Baines
Software Engineer
Northcoders

Jonny Rathbone
Head of Engineering
Northcoders

SESSION OVERVIEW: It has long been acknowledged that tech has a diversity problem. Efforts to focus on improving DE&I across the tech landscape are in place for both gender and ethnic diversity. However, with a focus on gender diversity, we are far off a 50/50 split – 29% of tech employees report identifying as either female, non-binary or another gender minority. This number falls to 21% for the same group in senior leadership positions.

We also have a digital skills gap. In 2023 the government reported that the lack of digital skills in the UK is estimated to cost £63 billion per year. Bootcamps have been identified as a great way of providing folks with these skills, quickly.
So, as a bootcamp provider, we decided to seek ways to improve the diversity statistics of students on our courses in an effort to help improve diversity across the sector. Join us to find out how we did it.

Christopher Owen
Inclusivity Development Manager
Manchester Pride

Lewis Bell
Chair and Founder of the UK chapter
BProud

Jenni Foster
Senior Software Engineer
Auto Trader

Cheryl Madden
Org. Development & Learning Consultant
The Growth Company

SESSION OVERVIEW: we will be welcoming four LGBTQIA+ leaders and allies from tech companies across Manchester who will be sharing their insights on embedding inclusivity within their organisations. Manchester Pride will discuss year-round opportunities for fostering inclusivity, including the All Equals Charter.

Kirsty Bradley Law
Industry Engagement Lead
DISC Manchester

SESSION OVERVIEW: Kirsty will discuss the creation of DISC through the partnership of Digital Advantage and SENDCode. She will articulate the values and mission statement of the college, and also describe ways in which the college provides nurture and challenge for the aspiring digital creatives who may have been let down by mainstream institutions. Kirsty will discuss some data and include the words of interns in the college – this talk is an opportunity to amplify their voice. Alongside this Kirsty will discuss reasonable adjustments and just how
reasonable they are. It will be an opportunity for employers to consider ways in which they can pragmatically create a more inclusive culture, or diversify their recruitment, creating new space for young talent emerging in the SEND and ND communities.

Vikki Bradney-Spencer
CSR Manager – Social Impact Programmes

SESSION OVERVIEW: The talent gap is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today. According to the World Economic Forum, companies estimate that 50% of all employees will need reskilling – and AI is an increasingly important part of the required skill set. To help close the global AI skills gap, IBM announced in September 2023 a new commitment to train two million learners in AI in three years, with a focus on underrepresented communities.  As part of this commitment IBM are collaborating with Manchester Tech Week to bring “AI to All” into the region – not just educating but enabling participants and their communities to all benefit from AI. Join Vikki to find out more.

Rouya Mardani
Product & Propositions Manager
Barclays UK

SESSION OVERVIEW: This talk explores the critical role of diversity in entrepreneurship, demonstrating how it fuels innovation and economic resilience. It introduces the Invest in Women Taskforce and its mission to address challenges faced by female founders, including funding gaps and limited representation in investment roles. Key diversity initiatives from Barclays Eagle Labs, such as the Black Founders Accelerator and Female Founder Accelerator, will also be highlighted as impactful programmes empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs.