Denise Fahmy is co-founder of Freedom in the Arts, a new organisation promoting freedom of speech and expression in the UK cultural sector. Together with choreographer Rosie Kay, she started the organisation having seen the growth of censorship and the impact on artists of being ‘cancelled’. Denise has worked in the cultural sector for 30 years and specialises in visual arts. She worked for Arts […]
Speakers and Panellists
previous speakers
Timandra Harkness
Timandra Harkness is a writer and broadcaster, being a regular on BBC Radio 4, writing and presenting FutureProofing, How To Disagree, Steelmanning and Political School, and documentaries including Data, Data Everywhere, Divided Nation, and What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains. She was also resident reporter on the social psychology series The Human Zoo. Timandra is s fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and the founder […]
Peter Bull
Professor Peter Bull is an Honorary Professor in Psychology at the University of York. His principal interest is the detailed microanalysis of interpersonal communication, in particular nonverbal communication and political discourse; he also has interests in the social psychology of health. Peter read modern history at the University of Oxford, and psychology at the University of Exeter, where he wrote a PhD thesis on the […]
Maurice Waddle
Dr Maurice Waddle is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of York. His interests are in the interpersonal communication behaviour of politicians: including investigations into how politicians deal with challenging questions and the consequences of evasive responses, how political speakers and audiences interact, and the form and function of adversarial opposition at Prime Minister’s Questions. Maurice is co-author with Peter Bull of The Psychology […]
Nat Edwards
Nat Edwards is Director General of Royal Armouries Museum. As a museum curator and community activist, he has worked in museums, galleries and archives for almost 35 years – developing exhibitions, education and community-based projects as well as major capital projects. Nat is the author of Caledonia’s Last Stand: In Search of the Lost Scots of Darien (Luath Press Ltd, 2007). […]
Mark Westgarth
Mark Westgarth is Professor of the History of the Art Market at the University of Leeds. He is founder and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Art & Antiques Market in the School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies. Mark is also Chair of the Museums & Galleries History Group. He was guest curator for the exhibition, ‘SOLD! The […]
Remi Adekoya
Dr Remi Adekoya is a politics lecturer at the University of York. Before academia, Remi was a journalist writing for the Guardian, Sunday Times, New Statesman, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Politico, Spectator, Evening Standard and UnHerd. He’s provided commentary for CNN, BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, South African Broadcasting Corporation, African International Television, Radio France International, Talk Radio and Times […]
Robert Edgar
Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular Culture in the York Centre for Writing based in the School of Humanities at York St John University. He has published on a range of topics, including The Language of Film (2016), Music, Memory and Memoir (2019), Adaptation for Screenwriters (2019), Thomas Hardy and the Folk Horror Tradition (2023) and The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror (2023). He is […]
Philip Cunliffe
Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor in International Relations at University College London. He’s written widely on a variety of political issues ranging from Balkan politics to Brexit, with particular focus on questions of sovereignty and international politics in the twenty-first century. Philip is co-author of Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit (Polity 2023) and The End of the End of History (Zero Books, 2021), and author […]
Jon Bryan
Jon Bryan lives with his family in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a recreational poker player who began writing about gambling to challenge the one-sided narrative in the debate. Jon has written for online publications and websites including spiked, Gambling Insider, The Great Debate, Future Cities Project and Slots Hawk. He has been involved in discussions on TV and podcasts and spoke about gambling at the online Babbleon in […]