Tech Policy Expertise: AI-driven growth & innovation

  • Alisha Lewis

    Alisha Lewis is a digital strategy specialist for the Liberal Democrats, leading work on best practice and modern campaigning approaches for HQ. They bring almost ten years of experience in digital politics, from local government to the European Parliament, with a focus on how technology shapes behaviour, beliefs, and democracy.

    They hold a Master’s in AI Ethics and Society (MSt) from the University of Cambridge. Their research examined Cambridge Analytica, its role in the EU referendum, and its longer-term implications for public trust and political culture. They are currently conducting independent research into how lifestyle content on platforms like TikTok influences young women’s political socialisation — exploring the subtle ways skincare routines, fashion trends, dating advice, and online aesthetics are becoming pipelines into political worldviews.

    Their wider work covers microtargeting, disinformation, social media recommender systems, and the democratic risks posed by opaque algorithmic environments. Professionally, they are focused on how politics can be done better online: cutting through political fatigue, engaging voters honestly, and helping people navigate a landscape where understanding what’s true — and who to trust — is becoming ever more difficult.

  • Deniz Atabey Alkan

    Trust & Safety leader with 10+ years driving user safety interventions across multiple global platforms, including Meta, Tiktok, Trustpilot and Bumble. I build policies, ML-powered enforcement systems, and set up global operational teams that protect billions of internet users.

    I love working on translating complex online challenges into scalable solutions spanning policy strategy, operational excellence, regulatory readiness, and cross-functional execution, while bringing together diverse, functional teams.

    My specific expertise is on setting up content moderation systems and teams from the ground up, ensuring scalable and fair moderation practices.

    Passionate about creating safer and better digital experiences, not only for users but also for the teams who make it possible.

  • Claire Spiller

    I am an advocate for creating fair access to tech careers and supporting people to reach their potential. Over the last twenty years, I have designed and managed re-skilling programmes, including those for marginalised groups of society. I support females, refugees, ex-offenders, people with disabilities and other people across our communities.

    Now I bridge the gap between education and paid employment, by providing work placements at a Tech For Good, non-profit, The Cloud Crew CIC. By populating CV’s with AI and digital transformation projects, more under-represented people stand out in recruitment processes.

    Through my work on the Digital Skills Council (DiSC) I have seen first-hand how policies could be better aligned and how initiatives could benefit from having more consistent quality-control measures across counties.

    Through my work at AWS, rolling out an EMEA-wide tech re-skilling programme, I am passionate about sharing ideas and concepts across boarders. Ideas shaped in a different country, based on the context of their economic climate, industry needs and socio-economic requirements, can often be translated into other countries and cultures, bringing a fresh perspective to shared challenges.

    I am an experienced speaker on topics such as diversity in tech, purposeful leadership and skills-based hiring and have contributed to articles, studies and interviews on the subjects.

  • Sahar Danesh

    Sahar Danesh is the Senior Government Engagement Manager at BSI, the UK’s National Standards Body. As a key member of BSI’s Standards Policy team, she leads engagement with government on digital and technology policy, identifying opportunities where standardization can deliver tangible benefits for UK businesses and society.

    Sahar plays a central role in defining the governance frameworks of the future, ensuring that technology—especially AI —is developed, implemented, and adopted in ways that is safe, transparent, and inclusive. Her work focuses on embedding transparency and public trust at the heart of technological progress, so that innovation benefits everyone and no community is left behind.

    A Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET, Sahar’s career spans private consultancy, central government policy, and leadership roles in professional institutions such as The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Her fellowship reflects her outstanding contributions to engineering, tech policy, and governance.

  • Ella Shoup

    Ella is AI Policy Strategist for the Responsible AI team in GSK’s AIML department. She focuses on policy that can preserve AI’s scientific benefit while adequately managing its risks. Her work at GSK includes managing internal AI governance and analysing external AI policy that touch on science. She has a background in digital rights, during which time she worked to make content moderation appropriate for local contexts.

  • Eliz Peck

  • Emma Dunn

    Emma Dunn is the co-founder of Friday Initiatives, a data company building practical tools and strategies that help organisations understand, govern and get value from their data. Friday works across the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia, supporting clients from government bodies to high-growth startups. Emma’s work focuses on shaping Friday’s direction, translating complex data and regulatory issues into clear narratives, and guiding how the company engages with partners and stakeholders as it scales.

  • Amy Jordan

    Amy is Director of Strategy and Delivery in the Infrastructure and Connectivity Group at Ofcom. She previously set up Ofcom’s first tech policy team and spent a number of years leading the development of Ofcom’s approach to Online Safety policy and supervision. Prior to Ofcom she spent over a decade in the UK Goverment leading a range of national security, cyber and technology issues , and two years at the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Cybersecurity.

  • Laura Contin

    Laura leads Monzo’s public policy work with a focus on the fintech’s international expansion in the EU and the US. She also leads on Monzo’s work on AI and innovation, with a focus on engagement with UK regulators. Monzo can have to Prior to joining Monzo, Laura was Director of European Affairs at Whitehouse Communications where she advised companies on how best to engage with policymakers to achieve meaningful policy change.

  • Imogen Stead

    As AI Policy Manager at the Centre for Long-term Resilience (CLTR), Imogen researches and advocates for the most effective policy levers to improve societal resilience against extreme AI risks.

    Imogen joined the CLTR from a leading tech-specialist global advisory firm, where she provided cross-jurisdictional AI policy, regulatory and geopolitical advisory expertise to a range of clients including frontier labs and a government-led AI security partnership. Before that, she co-launched and led the analysis for a new “emerging technologies” product at a European political risk advisory firm, specialising in political and regulatory analysis of UK, EU and multilateral AI policy initiatives.

    She is especially interested in the geopolitics of AI and is driven by the pressing challenge of how effective global AI governance strategies can be put in place against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented geopolitical landscape.

    Imogen holds an MA, MPhil and DPhil in Classics from the University of Oxford, and is working towards an Executive Master’s degree in EU Studies from the Centre International de Formation Européene (Cife).