SIG Champions
Academic & Industry SIG Champions
Dr Antonio Di Buono
Antonio is a Research Technologist in the Instrumentation and In-situ Analysis team. He is working on several aspects of instrumentation development, focusing on wireless communications for nuclear decommissioning environments and the use of digital technologies. During his PhD project on Wireless Communications in Nuclear Decommissioning Environments he gained essential digital skills for the deployment of wireless technologies in nuclear environments. He focused on the radio frequency propagation and data transmission through reinforced concrete wall structures and the radiation tolerance of electronic components. Antonio joined NNL after completing his PhD project at the Centre for Innovative Nuclear Decommissioning (CINDe) in 2020. His research involved the design, prototyping and experimental evaluation of wireless sensing systems to support decommissioning activities and to provide remote sensing capability in nuclear material storage facilities. Antonio is an active member of the Nuclear Institute and European Nuclear Society Young Generation Network (ENS-YGN). He is a member of the European Nuclear Society - High Scientific Council and University Liaison for the North West Branch - Nuclear Institute.
John Haine
John Haine has spent his career in the electronics and communications industry, working for large corporations and with four Cambridge start-ups. His technical background includes R&D in radio circuitry and microwave circuit theory; and the design of novel radio systems for cordless telephony, mobile data, fixed wireless access and IoT communications. He has led standardisation activities in mobile data and FWA in ETSI, and contributed to WiMax in IEEE. At various times he has been involved in and led fund-raising and M&A activities. In 1999 he joined TTP Communications working on research, technology strategy and M&A; and after the company’s acquisition by Motorola became Director of Technology Strategy in Motorola Mobile Devices. After leaving Motorola he was CTO Enterprise Systems with ip.access, a manufacturer of GSM picocells and 3G femtocells. In early 2010 he joined Cognovo, which was acquired by u-blox AG in 2012. He led u-blox' involvement in 3GPP NB-IoT standardisation and the company's initial development of the first modules for trials and demonstrations. Now retired from u-blox he is an Honorary Professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Bristol University, where he chairs the SWAN Prosperity Partnership Project external advisory board . He was founder chair and is Board Member Emeritus of the IoT Security Foundation. He served on the CW Board chaired the Editorial Board of the CW Journal. John has a first degree from Birmingham (1971) and a PhD from Leeds (1977) universities, and is a Life Member of the IEEE.
Professor Kevin Morris
Kevin Morris received the B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics and communications engineering from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., in 1995 and 2000, respectively. He is currently a Professor of Radio Frequency engineering and Head of the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He has authored or co-authored over 130 academic papers, and he holds five patents. His research principally concerns looking at methods of reducing power consumption in communications systems with specific interest in the design of efficient frequency flexible transceivers. He is currently involved with several industrial and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) research projects. He was the Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol from 2014 to 2018.
Dr Ian Wassell
Dr Ian Wassell joined the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory as a Senior Lecturer in January 2006. Prior to this, he was with the Department of Engineering for six years. He received the PhD degree from the University of Southampton in 1990 and the BSc., BEng. (Honours) Degrees (First Class) from the University of Loughborough in 1983. He has in excess of 25 years experience in radio communication systems gained via positions in industry and academia and has published more than 200 papers. His research interests include broadband wireless networks, wireless sensor networks, radio propagation, coding, communication signal processing, compressive sampling, and image processing and classification.
Artificial Intelligence SIG Champions
Darendra Appanah
Darendra is part of the Systems Engineering & Test department, where he applies his expertise in Digital Security Testing to various technologies, including Machine Learning and AI. He has a background in Software Test Automation of wireless communications protocols, such as satellite communications and LTE. He enjoys defining and developing testing strategies for cybersecurity challenges and ensuring the quality and reliability of innovative solutions.
Maria Axente
Maria is a globally recognised, award-winning AI ethics public policy expert, a member of various Advisory Boards - UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI (APPG AI), NATO EDT & SKEMA AI Institute, and Chair of techUK Data and AI leadership committee. In her current role as Head of AI Public Policy and Ethics, she aligns PwC's AI strategies with ethical considerations and regulatory trends, fostering collaboration with external stakeholders and leading PwC's responses to public policy consultations and initiatives. Maria's commitment to responsible AI has made her a recognised thought leader and influencer in the field. Maria is a passionate advocate for children's rights in the age of AI, serving as a member of the Advisory Board for UNICEF #AI4Children and World Economic Forum Generation AI programmes. She also serves as an Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge researching human-centric AI and the intersection between tech policy and ethics.
- Twitter:
- @maria_axente
Phil Claridge
Phil Claridge is a ‘virtual CTO’ for hire within Mandrel Systems covering end-to-end systems. Currently having fun and helping others with large-scale AI systems integration, country-wide large scale big-data processing, hands-on IoT technology (from sensor hardware design, through LoRa integration to back end systems), and advanced city information modelling. Supporting companies with M&A ‘exit readiness’, due-diligence and on advisory boards. Past roles include: CTO, Chief Architect, Labs Director, and Technical Evangelist for Geneva/Convergys (telco), Arieso/Viavi (geolocation), and Madge (networking). Phil’s early career was in electronics, and still finds it irresistible to swap from Powerpoint to a soldering iron and a compiler to produce proof-of-concepts when required.
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/claridge/
Dr Parminder Lally
Parminder is a patent attorney based in Appleyard Lees’ Cambridge office, and helps companies to protect their technological innovations. She has built a substantial reputation working with high-growth start-ups, spin-outs and SMEs in Cambridge, and has in-house experience. She specialises in writing and prosecuting patent applications for computer-implemented inventions. Her work includes patenting AI-based technologies, including new machine learning frameworks and applications of machine learning in image classification, human-computer interactions and text-to-speech. Parminder also writes her own AI blog on LinkedIn, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys’ Computer Technology Committee.
Simon Thompson
Simon leads a team that develops AI and ML solutions for large financial institutions. Before joining GFT he was the Principal Investigator for BT’s AI program. Before that he was the Head of Practice for Big Data and Customer Experience at BT and BT’s lead for collaborations with MIT, and the first industry fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Simon is interested in practical application of AI technology and the practice and process of AI and ML projects. His book “Managing Machine Learning Projects” was published by Manning Books in 2023.
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.twitter.com/AISimonThompson
Dr Vidhya Sridhar
Vidhya leads the Autonomous Technologies team at TTP. Her team works with ambitious clients in markets ranging from aviation to farming to bring novel technologies that expand human capabilities, empower human efficiency and enhance human safety. Vidhya has a background in digital signal processing and physical layer design and development. In her PhD at Imperial College London, she carried out research on array signal processing techniques with applications in 5G and defence.
- Website:
- www.ttp.com
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/www.linkedin.com/in/vidhyasridhar
Peter Whale
Peter is Founder & CEO of Vision Formers, the specialist consultancy that supports and mentors leaders of visionary technology businesses get product to market and turn ideas into reality. Vision Formers works with start-ups and scale-ups, providing significant expertise in accelerating business growth through a focus on developing a robust product strategy, growing and coaching product and development teams, and providing operational excellence. Peter has a long track record of conceiving, developing and marketing successful technology-based solutions, deployed at scale, globally. Innovative products Peter has brought to market in digital, cloud, AI, consumer electronics and telecommunications have been used by countless millions of people on a daily basis globally, badged by the world’s leading digital and technology brands. Peter also works with Digital Catapult as Programme Manager for UKTIN, working with partners and stakeholders to deliver UKTIN’s mission to transform the UK telecoms innovation ecosystem, capitalising on the country’s strengths in technology, academia, and entrepreneurialism, while positioning it for growth as new opportunities emerge in the industry. Peter is a board member of CW (Cambridge Wireless), a Fellow of the IET, a Chartered Engineer, and a member of the Association of Business Mentors.
Automotive & Transport SIG Champions
Andre Burgess
NPL’s nominated SIG Champion, Andre Burgess runs Strategic partnerships for the Digital Sector at NPL where he is also leading on its activities in CAV R&D as well as the development of new testing infrastructure for future integrated communications networks. Andre has a long experience in product and service innovation in the TMT sector, including NTL (now Virgin Media) and Three. He subsequently established a successful business designing and deploying disruptive digital end user products and services. More recently he turned his focus on the energy and environment sector, working with distributed generators, housing providers and local authorities, to develop innovative data centric services to optimise localised energy generation and affordable smart home services. With a mission to ensure data can be trusted and shared openly in the future, he joined NPL in 2017.
- Twitter:
- @AndreBurgess
John Okas
John has worked in wireless and telecommunications throughout his career. Initially with Motorola and Racal in engineering and product marketing roles. He was a founding director of NTL (now Arqiva), initially as Business Development Director building and managing the complete commercial organisation. He also managed the R&D Group which developed one of the first commercially available MPEG video compression systems. Then as Managing Director - Telecommunications he was responsible for growing NTL's wireless business using NTL’s extensive tower portfolio and nationwide field operations capability and entering the fixed telecommunications and satellite services markets. Moving to Pell Frischmann, the consulting engineers, he started a telecommunications business and was involved in several large transportation projects including the Highways Agency's NRTS Project which updated the communication systems on the strategic Road Network and he first got involved in smart metering. Currently as CCO for Real Wireless he undertakes business strategy and development activities, as well as delivering various projects. Recent projects include assessing the implications of the sunset of 2G and 3G networks in the UK and analysing various aspects of smart metering in the UK. He takes a strong interest in the evolving NTN and M2M markets and the evolution of energy communication networks.
Tom Robinson
Tom has worked in the software and advanced technology industry for over 35 years with 25+ years in automotive. During this time Tom has provided leadership in several world class automotive consultancies including Pi Technology, Ricardo, Applus IDIADA and Conigital. For 6 years Tom supported InnovITS (UK Centre of Excellence for Tranport Telematics and Sustainable Mobility) as a non-executive director, helping promote the establishment of UK ITS capability. He has championed and directed several world class innovation programmes in the ITS field including TfNSW’s Ute, EU’s SARTRE, InnovITS FaCITS, TSB’s ERTOC and Innovate UK’s MuCCA, CONNECTOR and MACAM projects. Tom is currently working at EVIE Autonomous, a technology company developing and offering level four off-highway self-driving technology systems that can be installed into any vehicle. In 2022 EVIE acquired the assets and IP of Westfield Autonomous Vehicles, adding the world’s most successful autonomous PRT platform (as run at Heathrow airport) to EVIES matchless CAVONIX autonomous vehicle stack. As CPO at EVIE, Tom is helping drive the future towards CAV.
Nigel Wall
Nigel has been involved with connected vehicle research since 1992 when he led BT’s mobile data research team – initially using modems on first generation analogue TACS mobile phones! Since 2001 he has provided consultancy complex-systems, with a primary specialism in connected vehicles. He acted as the Monitoring Officer for twelve of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle research projects supported by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Climate Associates provides consultancy on delivering pragmatic sustainable systems and services, based on life cycle assessments where wholesale replacement of current systems with lower footprint solutions may not be the most sustainable option.
Connected Devices SIG Champions
Paul Green
Paul is a creative innovator who Co-Founded Iotics and previously Arkessa. He delights in exploring ideas, thinking different things and enjoys the interplay between academic and technology silos. The principles underpinning Iotics derive from overlaying Kingdom Theology and the Ancient Near East with the Internet to create ground-breaking secure interoperability critical to enable multi-party AI applications. Now semi-retired, Paul is a Christian Lay Minister and a tour guide at Ironbridge Gorge Museums. He continues to be excited by technology and continues to make patent applications but most of all loves hill walking with his dog.
Nick Hunn
For the past thirty years Nick has been closely involved with short range wireless and communications, designing technology that helps to bring mobility to products, particularly in the areas of telematics, M2M, IoT, wearables, smart energy and mobile health. He is closely involved with the Bluetooth SIG, the Continua Alliance and other medical and wireless standards bodies. He is the author of 'The Essentials of Short Range Wireless' - a book attempting to explain the application of wireless technology to product developers.
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickhunn/
Tim Whittaker
Cambridge Consultants was started in 1960 to pioneer the delivery of independent design and development services in electronic, mechanical and product engineering: we are one of the founder companies of the high-technology Cambridge Phenomenon. Our history of world-class services is augmented by our development of intellectual property in areas including telecommunications, software, silicon, medical devices, machine learning, and by more than 20 successful spin-out ventures. Today Cambridge Consultants employs over 900 world-class engineers, scientists, project managers and technicians with offices in Cambridge UK, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Singapore and Tokyo; we provide the full range of services for excellent product design to a worldwide client base in the wireless, consumer, industrial, energy and medical markets. Tim Whittaker is a System Architect in the Wireless business unit, where he has taken the technical lead in projects using radio standards like Bluetooth, ZigBee, DECT, and in the creation of specialist communications schemes for new applications, or to use new spectrum allocations.
Content Production & Delivery SIG Champions
Nadia Aziz
Nadia is an Evangelist of emerging technologies with an expertise in AR & VR and IoT technologies. She has advised C-level executives in Telecom and Media organisations for digital transformation and M&A projects over more than a decade. While being a SIG Champion of Future Devices and Technologies at Cambridge Wireless, she has recently co-founded Unbounded Future, a Deeptech consulting firm based in London. Previously Nadia led Emerging Technologies at NTT Data UK where she supervised R&D and innovation in Augmented (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR), AI, and IoT. Nadia is a supporter of Women in STEM initiatives and is a mentor at the University College London (UCL) IXN programme. She is an industry advisor to IoTerra, a USA-based B2B marketplace for IoT products and was a co-producer for the GIANT Health Event.
- Twitter:
- @NadiaAziztweet
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/aziznadia/
Professor David Crawford
David Crawford is Visiting Professor at University of Essex Colchester, and Emeritus Professor at Ravensbourne University London. David has worked for over 50 years across the telecoms/broadcast industries and UK academic institutions. His research interests are in new imaging techniques, applications for mixed reality technologies, and networks for multidimensional media. David facilitates and lectures in the UK on Degree Apprenticeship courses, promoting work-based learning curricula and collaborative industry-academia training. David has worked in senior positions at BT, RE, Crown Castle and Harris Broadcast, and as a Director of a start-up company, TeamCast, in France. He has run his own technical consultancy company, and chairs and presents regularly at international events. David is a Member of the Royal Television Society, Fellow of SMPTE, Special-Interest-Group Champion for Cambridge Wireless on Content Production & Delivery, and Honorary Chairman of the Creative Science Foundation. He has previously served as a Council/Board Member of the Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET), the Conference Chair at IBC, and Executive Chair at the ‘mixed reality’ Community Interest Company, PlayLa.bZ.
Susan Hewitt
Susan Hewitt brings over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, spanning roles in both large and small companies. Most recently, she served as the Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director of the European subsidiary of Ryff Inc., a Hollywood-based ad-tech company. Susan's expertise encompasses AI and computer vision development, software design, and semiconductor technologies, with a particular focus on GPUs and multimedia designs. Her career has afforded her extensive international experience, having worked in the Americas, Europe, India, and Asia. Susan has contributed to well-known tech giants such as Arm, AMD, ATI, and Texas Instruments.
Tony Lavender
Tony Lavender is a managing partner at Plum Consulting. He has more than 35 years experience in technology, communications regulation, policy and spectrum management. His clients include governments, equipment vendors, network operators and regulators. Tony was a specialist adviser to the UK Parliament 2016 Culture, Media and Sport Committee Inquiry into “Establishing world class connectivity throughout the UK”, he chairs the Steering Board of the UK Spectrum Policy Forum and he was a member of the UK Government’s Expert Panel, established as part of the UK Spectrum Strategy, on “Incorporating Social Value into Spectrum Allocation Decisions”. He has worked on a wide range of studies including on the 5G mmWave ecosystem, spectrum sharing, spectrum valuation and more broadly on electronic communications infrastructure strategy. Tony is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Chris Nokes
Chris is a Senior Technical Advisor with Ofcom, investigating broadcasting and media technologies. He was previously the Head of Distribution Core Technologies Section at BBC Research & Development. With over thirty years' experience in Broadcasting R&D, Chris has been involved in the development of digital television since 1994, including as a key contributor to the DVB-T2 technical study group, and editor of the DVB-T2 specification and Chair of the RF Group of the UK Digital Television Group (DTG).
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-nokes
Enhanced Mobile Broadband SIG Champions
Iris Barcia
Iris Barcia is a multidisciplinary professional with entrepreneurial experience in the telecommunication industry. She is an innovator and forward-looking technologist that has worked directly with international executive teams and engineers at Tier 1 network operators, network infrastructure vendors, neutral-host vendors, government organizations, and services companies. She has been involved in the proposal and assessment of novel HetNet strategies for nation-wide 4G, 5G, IoT and public-safety networks, with a focus on future capacity provision and multi-technology evolution. More recently she’s focusing on Open RAN and MPNs. Prior to Vodafone, Iris has been the co-owner and COO of Keima, and has worked on RAN design, optimization and deployment projects at Telefonica and European rural broadband wireless initiatives. She has a BSc and MSc in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Vigo (Spain) and an MBA from Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK).
- Twitter:
- @IBTwi
Roberto Kompany
Roberto is a member of Analysys Mason’s Telecoms Software and Networks research team and is the lead analyst for the Next-Generation Wireless Networks programme focusing on strategy and market research. He is also a Cambridge Wireless Special Interest Group (SIG) mobile broadband champion. Prior to joining Analysys Mason, Roberto worked for Dixons Carphone, where he analysed the effect on the business of shifts in the telecoms market – for example, in terms of mergers, operator KPIs and technology – in Europe and the UK. Previous positions included consultancy, where he helped a variety of clients worldwide with mobile-related projects, such as a capex reduction and developing a 5-year strategy for an incumbent’s wireless infrastructure. He started his career at a leading network equipment vendor, where he served in several different capacities, such as R&D, and deployment and optimisation of mobile infrastructures across multiple continents. Roberto holds an MSc in Mobile & Satellite Communications from University of Surrey and an MBA from IE Business School.
- Twitter:
- @RobertoKompany
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertokompany/
Peter Love
I am an experienced leader of diverse sales teams and a trusted advisor for Cx0/CxO-1 leaders. Educated with Six Sigma Yellow Belt, ITIL v3, and with a PMP certification, my skillset lies in my ability to excel in global project delivery, demystify complexities, and handle challenges with tenacity and good humour. I am committed to fostering industry dialogue and have chaired telecoms forums and acted as Special Interest Group champion to drive collaboration and impact. My career has spanned global strategy, operational development, geographic management, and consumer electronics, maintaining an 80:20 balance between sales and operations.
Professor Andy Sutton
Andy Sutton is a BT Fellow and Principal Network Architect for Wireless Access. The wireless access domain includes 4G/5G RAN architecture and mobile backhaul/xhaul, along with microwave and millimetre wave radio systems, and satellite communications. Andy holds an MSc in Mobile Communications from the University of Salford and has over 35 years of experience within the telecommunications industry. Andy’s current research interests include advanced RAN coordination techniques, including C-RAN and OpenRAN, optical fibre and radio based backhaul/xhaul, along with LEO satellite communications and High-altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), all in the context of building resilient heterogeneous networks. Andy holds the post of Visiting Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Liverpool and the University of Salford, he is a Chartered Engineer and holds Fellowships from the IET, ITP and BCS. Andy sits on the editorial board of the ITP Journal and is a CW SIG Champion for eMBB and Wireless Heritage.
- Twitter:
- @sutton960
Future Devices & Technologies SIG Champions
Nadia Aziz
Nadia is an Evangelist of emerging technologies with an expertise in AR & VR and IoT technologies. She has advised C-level executives in Telecom and Media organisations for digital transformation and M&A projects over more than a decade. While being a SIG Champion of Future Devices and Technologies at Cambridge Wireless, she has recently co-founded Unbounded Future, a Deeptech consulting firm based in London. Previously Nadia led Emerging Technologies at NTT Data UK where she supervised R&D and innovation in Augmented (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR), AI, and IoT. Nadia is a supporter of Women in STEM initiatives and is a mentor at the University College London (UCL) IXN programme. She is an industry advisor to IoTerra, a USA-based B2B marketplace for IoT products and was a co-producer for the GIANT Health Event.
- Twitter:
- @NadiaAziztweet
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/aziznadia/
Dr Muhammad Chughtai
I am a seasoned senior technology and engineering consultant with over a decade of multinational experience in AI & Robotics, MedTech, and thermodynamics. My career seamlessly blends corporate discipline with start-up agility, informed by a deep understanding of system dynamics and a holistic perspective. My expertise centres on empowering companies to gain a competitive edge through innovation, successful solution commercialization & partnerships, and strategic business development, all while upholding industry standards. In addition to my engineering expertise, I hold a PhD in the field, complemented by an MBAE. This dual qualification positions me uniquely at the intersection of advanced engineering and educational dynamics.
Zahid Ghadialy
Zahid is a technologist with a deep understanding of architecting world-class mobile products and solutions. With over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry in various roles, he has been an evangelist for mobile and wireless technologies. Over the years he has accumulated a vast following on his blogs and social networks with simple explainer posts and videos. His 3G4G blogs are widely read where he looks at different aspects of mobile technology and especially 5G and 6G nowadays, including the architecture, deployments, use cases, applications, etc. His YouTube channel is also very popular where he explains many new features expected as part of 5G in the future. While his style and content is unique, he also references many industry publications and provides slides that are very useful to view online. He is also very active on Twitter under his @3G4GUK brand helping disseminate the benefits of 5G and why 5G will be needed in the long run. He covers a very wide portfolio of 5G related information that is hard to find otherwise. Until recently, Zahid was a Senior Director looking at Technology & Innovation Strategy in Parallel Wireless. As a brand ambassador, he represented the company in various Open RAN discussions and also created tutorials on Open RAN and O-RAN which are being used as reference for new starters on the topic.
- Twitter:
- @zahidtg
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahidtg/
David Roberts
David is a technology leader with over 25 years experience working in the hi-tech arena. He has recently completed a successful project for ghd in conjunction with CW where he carried out the role of System Architect and facilitator. Prior to this he worked in in the C-IoT space where he ran a multi-national R&D department that developed silicon and software designed for the burgeoning IoT market. He was also responsible for driving an agile transformation programme and assisting the organisation with their integration into a large Chinese multi-national telecoms company. Having started his career as a software developer working for BT and Acorn Computers, he went on to hold senior roles in a number of world-class organisations such as Symbian, Cambridge University and Citrix in the areas of Software Development, Project Management, Product Management, Research, Consultancy and Architecture. His background includes leading and developing teams involved in the creation of large-scale integrated hardware and software products, web-based services and CE devices. He is also highly experienced in large-scale agile development practices, agile coaching/transformation and creating and executing strategies for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of organisations.
Charles Sturman
As CEO at TechWorks, Charles is driving collaboration between Deep Tech and Semiconductor companies, Academia and Government in order to promote the sector and grow business opportunities for UK companies. Previously, Charles was responsible for International Business & Marketing at HiSilicon (Huawei’s chipset business) based in Cambridge UK, with responsibility for product strategy, go-to-market and business development in IoT, edge and smart devices fields. Prior to this he led u-blox’ activities in the fast moving consumer IoT segment (wearables, smart-home and entertainment) following the acquisition of the ARM Software Radio spin-out Cognovo, where we was founder and executive VP Sales & Marketing. Charles has held various positions in system design, business development and product marketing within Acorn Computers, TTPCom, Motorola and ARM.
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/cfsturman
Healthcare SIG Champions
Michael Morgan-Curran
Michael has a successful track-record in ethical pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and digital therapeutics. Working with some of the world’s best-known pharmaceutical, life science, medical device, telecoms and research organisations across EMEA, US and Latam, he has built and led teams accountable for market intelligence, strategy, marketing and commercialisation, product design, regulation and market authorisation, pharmacovigilance, clinical trial development, clinical effectiveness and health economics. As CEO of start-up Asclepius MedTech Ltd; he and his team are building a platform for use in pre- and post-operative surgical assessment to support clinicians and surgical teams ameliorate shared decision-making and stratify patient care.
Daniel Nickalls
Daniel is a TTP project leader focussed on decentralized healthcare solutions including the detection and treatment of chronic conditions at home. These projects cover the entire development lifecycle, from early-stage ideation and opportunity validation, through proof-of-concept development, to regulated device development for large-scale manufacture. Daniel particularly enjoys combining engineering insights, rigorous human-centred design and thorough business case validation to realise effective solutions.
Laurence Weir
Since graduating in Engineering from Cambridge University in 2006, Laurence has worked for Broadcom, Cambridge Mechatronics, Illumina and PA Consulting, Plextek Services Ltd and now Iprova. Due to the range of sectors Laurence has worked in, from smartphone technology to DNA sequencing, he has an appreciation for the different skills and expertise required to deliver multi-disciplinary engineering projects, and the associated regulatory systems. His experience in business development is coupled with technology leadership on projects and practical engineering delivery. His current work is focussing on delivering novel inventions to clients looking to leverage patentable projects.
Mick Withers
Involved in Technology consulting around Cambridge for the last 34 years, Previous roles include Managing Director at Sagentia, as well as a couple of stints at TTP, and 5 years helping TeraView transition from a startup to a product company. Now I am charged with helping Plextek diversify its service offering into the Commercial (i.e. non-defence) space.
Industrial IoT SIG Champions
Dr. Sally Atkinson
Sally’s career started in academic science, however she rapidly found herself working in Tech with a passion for partnerships and building ecosystems. Initially managing UK and then EMEA partnerships for ISVs from start-ups to listed companies, she moved into the world of IoT in 2018, joining Arm to develop the Mbed ecosystem and subsequently leading the global Partner Program at Arm Pelion. An interest in innovative edge technologies led Sally to Edge Impulse, the leading development platform for machine learning on edge devices, where she works with enterprise customers and partners bringing machine learning intelligence to their devices.
Paul Bearpark
Paul is an experienced engineer, engineering manager and product manager. He has spent over 30 years working in the field of electronics in both product development companies and technology consultancies. During his career he has led the development of products through their entire life-cycle from concept to volume manufacture and on-going support and upgrade. He specialises in radio communications, sensor systems and systems engineering. He has worked in the defence and security, telecommunications, and test and measurement industries. Paul studied Physics with Electronics at the University of Manchester and has an MBA from Warwick Business School.
Sylvia Lu, FRSA
Sylvia Lu is an award-winning Chartered Engineer and Non-Executive Director. Sylvia has over 15 years of experience in the Telecom industry for four mobile generations with chipset vendors, currently with u-blox at the Corporate Strategy group – a Swiss vendor of positioning and wireless communication chipset, modules, and services.
Sylvia serves on several national and global industry Boards: she is an elected board director of CW (Cambridge Wireless), and serves on the Advisory Board of UKTIN, which provides independent advice on the telecoms sector, champions the opportunities in telecoms research, development, and innovation for the UK, and helps UKTIN provide impartial input to government. She also serves on the Board of 5G-ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation), and joins forces with global industry stakeholders to influence 5G development and deployment in line with industrial imperatives to accelerate Industry 4.0.
She holds a first-class Electronic Engineering degree from Birmingham University and a Master of Science degree in Communications and Signal Processing from the University of Bristol. She graduated with a Distinction from the University of Oxford in PGDip Strategy & Innovation, and an Executive MBA degree from the University of Cambridge. Sylvia is also an artist.
- Twitter:
- SylviaLuUk
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvialu
Shahzad Nadeem
Shahzad is the Director Business Growth at Itron Metering Solutions. Previously he worked at Plextek as the Head of Smart Cities Business and later as Head of Industrial Sensing Business. . His focus is delivering business value utilising technology innovations. Development of a major IoT connectivity platform is one of Shahzad’s recent works. He specialises in EVs, DEMs (Distributed Energy Management Systems), Smart Cities, mobile networks, MNOs, MVNOS, MVNEs, Wholesale, m2m and IoT and has keen interest in both technical and commercial aspects. Working cross functionally with businesses, customers, technology, marketing and suppliers – he has delivered complex solutions in the mobile networks and IoT industry. Shahzad has spent 15 years in different technology roles and a decade in business development roles.
Location SIG Champions
David Bartlett
David Bartlett works in the positioning technology (R&D) group at u-blox with a focus on hybrid positioning: bringing together GNSS with terrestrial systems such as UWB and V2X, primarily in support of future autonomous vehicle, driverless car and robotics applications but also for IoT and indoor positioning. Prior to this he was CTO and co-founder of Omnisense delivering high precision indoor IoT tracking solutions. He also worked at Cambridge Positioning systems with a focus on cellular positioning and network aided GNSS techniques.
Bob Cockshott
After 25 years in the space industry working mainly on electro-optical payloads, Bob has spent the last 13 years in the government-funded Knowledge Transfer Network, supporting business in position, navigation and timing, and more recently also quantum technology. Bob has taken a special interest in GNSS vulnerability, and has organised international conferences on vulnerability and its mitigation. Bob is a member of the Cabinet Office PNT Technical Group and chairs the Royal Institute of Navigation’s Technical Committee. Bob is a member of the International Time and Sync Forum Steering Group and is also a Cambridge Wireless Location Based Services SIG Champion.
Dr Ramsey Faragher
Dr Ramsey Faragher is the Founder, and former President and CTO of Focal Point Positioning, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, and a Fellow of Queens' College, at the University of Cambridge. He is the inventor of the Supercorrelation digital signal processing technique, which has redefined the state of the art in GPS positioning. He is the author of dozens of patents, and has been the recipient of numerous awards within the positioning and navigation ecosystem. His company is pioneering improvements to smartphone and automotive navigation systems, and in the past during his time in the Defence sector he has developed technologies that have been to the bottom of the ocean and all the way to Mars. He also helped to improve the bluetooth tracking capabilities of various globally-deployed contact tracing technologies during the Covid pandemic. He regularly contributes to technology podcasts, writes for Forbes, and has provided science advice for two television production companies. Ramsey lives with his family in Cambridge and is currently navigating the challenging landscape of having three small and adventurous children.
Ben Tarlow
Ben has worked in positioning for 15 years, developing algorithms for satellite, cellular and other terrestrial RF technologies. At Qualcomm, Ben works in the Advanced Algorithms group, where current research areas in location are data fusion, use of sensor data for positioning and fitness applications; one day, he hopes to be given the remit to explore the area of olfactory positioning. Ben has a background in Pure Mathematics and a PhD in Combinatorics. He has over 20 different patents filed or granted, mostly on subjects relating to positioning.
Non-Terrestrial Networks SIG Champions
Kieran Arnold
Kieran has held various senior technical and executive roles over the past 30 years which included R&D Chief Technical Officer for Orange / France Telecom R&D and Head of Payload Systems Engineering, Airbus Space & Defence. He is currently Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity in the Satellite Applications Catapult and General Manager of the Westcott Site where they host their 5G testbed. Kieran leads on two major 5G projects, firstly a project funded by SEMLEP for Milton Keynes Smart City 5G deployment and a DCMS funded project for Dorset Council providing rural connectivity using satellite and terrestrial connectivity.
Steve Clarke
Previously a senior BBC engineer and lecturer at Salford University, Steve has many years of experience in software and electronics, from RF telemetry and low-power radio bridges to the multi award-winning Tag McLaren AV processors, EPOS & smart energy meters. Steve founded two IoT companies and led the development team of ACIS (now Vix Technology), growing them to become the UK’s largest bus telematics company.
- Twitter:
- @WyldNetworks
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyld-networks/
Stewart Marsh
As head of aerospace at Cambridge Consultants, Stewart leads the company's collaboration within the sector. Central to Stewart's role is helping companies achieve complex technology breakthroughs that unlock transformative business value. This has included a world-first Push-to-Talk satellite service and an innovative beyond visual line-of-sight UAV solution using low power satellite technology. With over 20 years' technology experience, Stewart has held a range of senior technology roles and has a wealth of expertise across aerospace, mobile communications and GNSS.
- Twitter:
- @CambConsultant
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewart-marsh-7412a1/
Paul Morris
Paul has 30 years’ experience working on various wireless and semi-conductor systems most recently promoting semiconductors for Ka-band beamformers for satellite connectivity and growing EnSilica’s business. He gained his semiconductor experience from CSR’s early days through to its trade sale to Qualcomm where he was Senior Director, Technology covering a range of mobile, security, wireless audio and automotive products. He enjoys growing international technology businesses and has lived and worked in France and China. Paul is active in various Cambridge local networks including CW and Cambridge Network and has acted in advisory roles for start-ups.
Dr Jaime Reed
Jaime loves working with clients to invent the Space services of the future. He leads Space Data Platforms and Applications team in the UK for CGI, the largest IT and business consulting company in the space sector. Using SatCom and Remote Sensing technologies his team work on topics like smart cities, connected transport, AI, 5G, geospatial applications and HAPS. Jaime has spent 20 years in the space industry as a systems engineer and project manager working on some of the most complex ground, satellite and software systems for clients like the European Space Agency and NASA. Jaime has a Doctorate in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics and is a Chartered Engineer.
- Twitter:
- JaimeReedSpace
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-reed/
Dr Cyril Valadon
Cyril is Technical Director with MediaTek in Cambourne where he is leading the Core Technology Division in the wireless business unit. He completed his PhD at the University of Surrey where he was looking at the use of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) techniques for multimedia satellite communication systems (in the heady days of Globalstar, Iridium, ICO, …). He has since spent 20 years in the semiconductor industry standardizing, architecting and developing wireless chipsets for numerous cellular communication standards. His team is currently working on a variety of development projects for 5G/NR solutions and he is personally very keen in exploring opportunities to apply these solutions for different applications.
Radio Technology SIG Champions
Professor Mark Beach
Mark Beach received his PhD for research addressing the application of Smart Antenna techniques to GPS from the University of Bristol in 1989, where he subsequently joined as a member of academic staff. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1996, Reader in 1998 and Professor in 2003. He was Head of the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from 2006 to 2010, then spearheaded Bristol’s hosting of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Communications. He is the Co-Director of this centre. He leads research in the field of enabling technologies for the delivery of 5G and beyond wireless connectivity; which includes the recent award of an EPSRC Prosperity Partnership in the field of Secure Wireless Agile Networks (SWAN). Mark’s current research activities are delivered through the Communication Systems and Networks Group, forming a key component within Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab. He has over 30 years of physical layer wireless research embracing the application of Spread Spectrum technology for cellular systems, adaptive or smart antenna for capacity and range extension in wireless networks, MIMO aided connectivity for through-put enhancement, experimental evaluation and optimization of Massive MIMO, Millimetre Wave technologies as well as flexible RF technologies for SDR modems. With a strong industrially focused research portfolio, he is also the School Research Impact Director.
Brian Collins
Brian has designed antennas for applications including radio and TV broadcasting, base stations, handsets and consumer products, and has operated his own consultancy firm for the last 12 years. He has published more than 70 papers on antenna topics and contributed chapters to several recent textbooks. He operates a small consultancy company, chairs the Antenna Interface Standards Group and is an Honorary Visiting Professor in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London.
Dr Paul Harris
Paul is a wireless technology expert with experience across a range of areas including research, design, implementation and standardisation. He received his PhD from the University of Bristol for evaluating the performance of massive MIMO technology in the lead-up to 5G and is currently a Principal Wireless Architect within the CTO Office at VIAVI Solutions providing thought leadership on new and emerging technologies for 5G, 6G and beyond. In line with this he represents VIAVI within a range of bodies and fora including 3GPP, the O-RAN Alliance, ETSI, the Next G Alliance, the 6G-IA and the UKTIN. His experience prior to joining VIAVI includes representing Vodafone within 3GPP for radio performance aspects, contributing to the development of massive MIMO channel estimation solutions at Cohere Technologies, and working with customers as a domain expert at National Instruments to establish effective research solutions using software-defined radio. He is also a Chartered Engineer, Senior Member of the IEEE, Fellow of the ITP, and an Honorary Industrial Fellow at the University of Bristol.
- Twitter:
- pharris8711
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pharris8711/
Peter Kibutu
Peter has been working in the cellular industry for over 15 years, specialising in modem system architecture and physical layer development. Before joining TTP, Peter worked in the development of 2G/3G/4G wireless modem products and small-cell base station projects for a number of leading cellular equipment vendors. At TTP Peter has worked with a wide range of clients in the satellite and cellular communication domains, specialising in end-to-end system engineering, modem system development and advising on commercial aspects. Currently Peter is the TTP technical lead for 5G/6G activities and represents the company in range of industry bodies including 3GPP and UKTIN.
Peter Topham
Peter has more than 30 years experience of RF and high-speed circuit design, taking chips into production ranging from FM Band II through cellular, Bluetooth and on to UWB at 10GHz. He has been with Qualcomm for 7 years, specialising in low-power RF design for portable and wearable products.
Security, Privacy, Identity & Trust (SPIT) SIG Champions
Zahid Ghadialy
Zahid is a technologist with a deep understanding of architecting world-class mobile products and solutions. With over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry in various roles, he has been an evangelist for mobile and wireless technologies. Over the years he has accumulated a vast following on his blogs and social networks with simple explainer posts and videos. His 3G4G blogs are widely read where he looks at different aspects of mobile technology and especially 5G and 6G nowadays, including the architecture, deployments, use cases, applications, etc. His YouTube channel is also very popular where he explains many new features expected as part of 5G in the future. While his style and content is unique, he also references many industry publications and provides slides that are very useful to view online. He is also very active on Twitter under his @3G4GUK brand helping disseminate the benefits of 5G and why 5G will be needed in the long run. He covers a very wide portfolio of 5G related information that is hard to find otherwise. Until recently, Zahid was a Senior Director looking at Technology & Innovation Strategy in Parallel Wireless. As a brand ambassador, he represented the company in various Open RAN discussions and also created tutorials on Open RAN and O-RAN which are being used as reference for new starters on the topic.
- Twitter:
- @zahidtg
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahidtg/
Dr Bob Oates
Bob Oates is a specialist in the interaction between safety and security for operational technology, critical infrastructure, and IoT devices. He works within the Engineering Assurance Team at Cambridge Consultants, ensuring that intelligent, AI-enabled systems are safe and secure. In addition to his academic background, Bob has over a decade of industrial experience working in the critical national infrastructure, defence, aerospace, nuclear, and maritime domains, including acting as the head of security for the development of the world’s first commercial remotely operated ship. He holds an Honorary Professorship in Safety and Security at De Montfort University.
Small Cell SIG Champions
Simon Fletcher
Simon joined Real Wireless in January 2016 as Chief Technology Officer, taking overall technical and innovation strategy responsibility across the company. He is a member of the UK5G AB, co-chair of the International WG, and member of the Climate WG. His long-standing association with the UK innovation eco-system through roles such as Director of mVCE and the Innovate-UK ICT-KTN brings a wealth of practical knowledge on open innovation to accelerate product and services delivery. Simon spent his formative years in telecoms infrastructure systems and product development. In NEC Corporation he played a key role in the formation of Joint Ventures for development of 3G and 4G products and established a core team that developed the first-generation of technology for 4G systems culminating in a Steering Board position in the LTE SAE Trials Initiative (LSTI). In recent times he has directed projects on future cities, the application 5G and IoT in industry verticals with an event horizon towards 2030. His long participation in Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) and then directing Real Wireless engagement in H2020 and the 2016 NIC study on Future Comms infrastructure brings great foresight on a range of architectural evolutions underway in 5G architectures, in particular for Open RAN and Diversification. He is a CW Small Cell SIG Champion, and in February 2022 the Small Cell Forum (SCF) appointed Simon as their Chief Strategy Officer, drawing on 25 years direct industry experience and work as an advisor to governments, regulators and big business.
- Twitter:
- @fletch_sc
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/simoncfletcher
Caroline Gabriel
Caroline has been engaged in technology analysis, research and consulting for 30 years and since 2002, has been focused entirely on mobile and wireless. As co-founder and research director of Rethink Technology Research, Caroline has developed a significant research base and forecast methodology, based around deep contacts with mobile and converged operators round the world. This addresses critical issues and trends in mobile and wireless infrastructure, and particularly operator deployment intentions for 4G, 5G, small cells, Cloud-RAN and other technologies. She is also a senior contributor to Analysys Mason’s Next Generation Wireless research programme. She has led research and consulting projects with a wide range of clients, including mobile infrastructure vendors, large and start-up operators, regulators, trade bodies, government agencies and financial institutions. Her advice and forecasts have helped inform strategic decisions at a wide range of vendors, operators, start-ups and finance houses. Prior to setting up Rethink, Caroline held various executive positions at VNU Business Publishing BV, then Europe’s largest producer of technology related B2B reports and publications. She was the European content and research director, and was a member of the leadership team for VNU’s online business. She holds an MA from the University of Oxford.
Vicky Messer
Vicky Messer is VP of Product Management at Picocom with over 25 years of experience in the wireless industry. Vicky joined Picocom over 4 years ago and leads Product Management, Technical Marketing and partnership activities. Vicky also leads the Picocom Small Cell Forum (SCF) activities and joined the board member at Small Cell Forum (SCF). In recognition leading in multiple work items and a published papers, Vicky was awarded the SCF ‘Outstanding Individual Contribution to SCF award’ in 2020. Vicky is a certified IET registration mentor, and currently mentors a local young female engineer. In May 2023 Vicky joined Industrial Advisory Board Bath University Electronics and Electrical Engineering and also won a SCF Industry Award 2023 for Women in Wireless.
- Twitter:
- @VickyMesser1
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickymesser/
Dr Neil Piercy
Neil has been developing base stations for various communications systems for over 30 years, during which time he has performed roles throughout the whole development lifecycle, as well as management roles. Neil joined the small cell specialist company, ip.access, when it was formed as a spin-off from TTP Com back in 2000, and stayed with the company for 23 years, during which time his roles varied from System Architect through to Head of Engineering. As a Systems Engineer covering software, hardware, and RF, he includes specialist areas such as security and networking, as well as a focus on all aspects of protocol design and implementation. He has analysed system performance and performed simulations across GSM, UMTS, LTE and NR small cell RAN equipment and systems. He is now a freelance telecoms Systems Engineering consultant.
Prof Simon Saunders
Prof. Simon Saunders is an independent advisor and researcher with deep industry and academic background in communication systems technology and a burgeoning interest in the intersection between real and artificial neural systems, communication systems and music. He is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, telecoms advisor to DCMS and Trustee of the charity Music for All. Simon is a specialist in the technology of wireless communications, with a technical and commercial background derived from senior appointments in both industry (including Google, Motorola and Philips), academia (University of Surrey, Trinity College Dublin) and regulation (Ofcom). He founded the Small Cell Forum and chaired this industry association from 2007-12, growing membership to 150 companies and working with 3GPP to create the first standards for small cells. He acted as Director of Emerging & Online Technology for Ofcom, leading Ofcom’s Emerging Technology programme and creating their Online Tech team. At Google (2015-20), he worked with operators globally to enhance wireless connectivity via a range of advanced technology initiatives, combining wireless networks, artificial intelligence and network virtualisation. As co-founder and Director of Technology for independent wireless strategy advisory firm Real Wireless (2006-15), he was responsible for overall technical capability and direction, providing independent wireless expertise and advice to operators, regulators, technology and law firms and wireless users. In 2019 Simon organised the world’s first 5G music lesson on behalf of charity Music for All, led by famous musician Jamie Cullum. He is an author of over 150 articles, books and book chapters, including a popular textbook on antennas and propagation. He has invented over 15 patented wireless technologies and served on technical advisory boards of several companies and universities.
- Twitter:
- @simon_saunders
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonsaunders/
Smart and Intelligent Cities SIG Champions
Dejan Bojic
Dejan is a senior consultant who has advised a range of clients across both public and private sectors. His particular focus is development of open and shared connectivity and data infrastructure to support product development and service transformation within complex innovation ecosystems. Dejan’s currently employed by the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) where he leads the technology advisory team within Future Networks Programme. Prior to this role he has successfully delivered Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) programme for DSIT/DCMS. A firm believer in creating value through collaboration between public and private sectors and across technology layers, Dejan’s aspiration as a SIG Champion is to shine a spotlight on market innovation opportunities through CW’s uniquely rich network of experts and influencers.
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/deyanb/
David Brown
David has spent the past 15 years helping start-up/scale-up companies in the UK build successful Customer Service, Customer Success, and Professional Services teams. He has done this mainly as a player/coach; initially working with customers himself and only building teams once he’s gained a clear understanding of what's needed to support the company's unique customer base. In 2015, he used the knowledge gained from years of working in web analytics to found Adavow, an ad suppression platform that enables advertisers and ad networks to stop serving digital ads to consumers who have recently purchased a similar item, which increases digital budget efficiency by 10% or more. David is a keen believer that the best way to become successful is to help others become successful and "What comes around, goes around."
- Twitter:
- @4dmbrown
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/4dbrown/
Mary-Ann Claridge
Mary-Ann is the Lead data scientist at Mandrel Systems. She started her career with research into sonar (think Hunt for Red October without Sean Connery). She is now embracing application and technical domains including education (all the analysis, modelling and visualisation for BestCourse4Me), smart city, retail, voice and speech recognition, and financial and logistical optimisation.
Dan Clarke
Dan is Head of Innovation and Technology for the Greater Cambridge Partnership and works with new and emerging tech to help address the challenges facing Cambridge such as traffic flow, the public transport system, and air quality. Dan’s work has included the deployment of sensor networks, data platforms and travel planning apps and trialling the UK’s first purpose-built automated bus as part of the public transport system. He has also worked with the University of Cambridge on a digital twin of the city.
Dan has supported Cambridge being used as testbed for new technologies. He works across local and central government, business and academia to ensure that the city is using new technologies to support its ambitions. Dan is currently on the UKTIN Transport working group, on the advisory board for DaRe (a university led project to support net zero transport) and he is a SIG champion for the Smart and Intelligent cities SIG.
Previously Dan worked for Connecting Cambridgeshire on the deployment of connectivity across the county. He led projects including the adoption of a LoRa network, assisted MNO’s in establishing mobile connectivity (including deploying 5G small cells) and explored the use of neutral host and private networks across the county.
John Davies
John has carried out a unique mix of strategic and operational roles with placements in the USA and Europe and partnerships in Asia. Over recent years much of his private sector and Government activities has been in the area of mobile and wireless communications, digital media, Smart Cities, Cloud and Big Data and M2M/IoT as well as emerging and disruptive technologies. Helping technology start ups in the UK and internationally sourcing technology and partners as well as provide due diligence in areas of M&A and stock listings. Operating as a UK Government Advisor John has briefed both UK and International Government Ministers and Departments on Smart Cities and respective technologies and applications. This has included providing international workshops, mentoring and consulting at senior levels. John has designed and ran awareness and implementation workshops for international companies and led international delegations to overseas markets, the most recent to Singapore and Malaysia in partnership with InnovateUK. John is an active member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Smart Cities. John will be engaging with potential new international companies and organisations, and supporting CW member companies.
Sustainability SIG Champions
Graham Anderson
Graham Anderson is Team Leader – UK R & D at Beko R&D, with research interests focused around novel sensors, improving energy efficiency, and sustainable materials. Previously he worked as a Senior Scientist at Cambridge Display Technology working on the development of ink jet printed OLED displays and organic thermoelectric generators. Graham has a PhD from Leeds University in spintronics.
Dr Esther Ford
Esther is dedicated to accelerating technology, and is expert in the global IP system. Her career has encompassed energy sourcing and conversion, consumer products, semiconductors devices and telecommunications. She is committed to bringing such diverse sectors together, to build a sustainable future for all.
Her career began early with an engineering apprenticeship, before university studies and advanced research within a global technology company. Leveraging her lab-based R&D background, she has since gained 20 years experience of protecting cutting edge inventions internationally through the patent system. Esther was awarded a PhD in Microelectronics from the University of Cambridge, following her engineering studies at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (Germany) and the University of Kent. She has been awarded an Engineering Prize from the Royal Academy of Engineering, and was invited to present the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Faraday Lecture "The Digital World".
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherford/
Xavier Hubert
Xavier Hubert is Head of Circular Economy for Flex, a global company that delivers technology innovation, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions to diverse industries. Xavier has 25 years’ experience in the electronics industry’s supply chain, from logistics and distribution to aftermarket services. For the past 9 years, Xavier has driven several Circular Economy initiatives supporting large tech companies’ efforts to become more sustainable. Xavier holds an MBA from Trinity College Dublin, and has held various senior roles spanning business development, product and services development, clients’ solutions, sales operations, Marketing and ESG leadership, as well as Supply Chain and Sustainability consulting.
- Twitter:
- @Flexintl
Dr Tim Moore
Dr Tim Moore is CTO & EVP Engineering of SharkNinja, one of the largest and fastest growing small domestic appliance companies in the world. SharkNinja also happens to have one of the largest populations of domestic robots in daily use around the globe. He is responsible for product development across all categories from innovation and early stage development through to production and life cycle management with a particular focus on bringing smart technology and connectivity into products. Prior to Shark, Tim was VP Innovation and CTO of ghd. During his time at ghd, he lead and built ghd’s world-class laboratory facilities in Cambridge where innovative high performance products are developed based upon a fundamental understanding of the physics of hair. Before joining ghd, Dr Moore was CEO of Sagentia SGAI Ltd, a technology consultancy based in Hong Kong and Cambridge focusing on the development of breakthrough consumer products. Dr Moore obtained his PhD in Microelectronics at Cambridge University.
Abhi Naha
Abhi Naha is the Digital Accelerator Director at PwC. He is creating and leading a new tech division for PwC. The Digital Accelerator solves innovation challenges using the power of scale ups and ecosystems for greater insights, impact and value creation. Abhi was the CCO of CW Cambridge Wireless and CEO of the Product as a Service Consortium. At CW, Abhi initiated and lead on the 5G private network testbed in Cambridge, corporate digital innovation accelerators and high value collaborations. Abhi was the CEO and Founder of Zone V a Cambridge start up backed by Qualcomm and ARM focused on empowering people with aging eyes and visually impairment through inclusively designed smartphone software. He held senior roles at Powermat, San Jose based Synaptics and advisory roles for Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake in the area of mobile user interface technologies. Abhi is a senior advisor to an autonomous vehicle mobility scale up Conigital, Industry Partner (Digital Infrastructure) for Arjun Infrastructure Partners with 5 Billion Euros of assets under management and an Ambassador for the United Nations Global Sustainability Index Institute. Abhi studied Electronics and Electrical Engineering, has an MBA in International Marketing and authored a book on Mobile Handset Design when approached by Cambridge University Press. More recently Abhi has created an initiative to help train widows in developing countries learn python programming, gain financial empowerment and become future leaders.
Craig Pemberton
Craig develops customer-facing innovation projects for Vodafone UK Business, designing PoCs, test-beds and technology demonstrators. With over 20 years in the industry he has held a number of technical design, consultancy and senior management positions and is currently leading co-creation with clients to explore the full potential of the latest developments in next generation networks, including 5G SA, slicing, Edge Computing and IoT. With multiple successful projects across diverse verticals from public sector, transport, retail, media and entertainment, Craig has first hand experience of applied communications technology in solving business challenges. Craig holds a BSc in Geological Geophysics, MSc in Information Technology and is a Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Virtual Networks SIG Champions
Julie Bradford
Julie has worked in the wireless industry for over 15 years. At Real Wireless, she is a thought leader in 5G business case analysis including understanding 5G use cases, quantifying (in financial terms) the operational and socio-economic benefits of 5G services and understanding network dimensioning and cost implications under 5G virtualised networks.
She has most recently been working with city councils around their wireless strategy and related Green Book outline business case development. She also led Real Wireless’ techno-economic analysis on the EC Horizon 2020 5G-MoNArch project. Inspired by the project’s smart sea port testbed constructed by HPA, Nokia and DT in the Port of Hamburg, this analysis included quantifying the operational benefits of 5G to port authorities and other port users and the cost implications of delivering these industrial grade wireless services from existing mobile infrastructure via network slicing supported via the virtualised 5G-MoNArch network architecture.
Previously, Julie was Communications Engineer at QinetiQ UK, consultant at PA Consulting UK, and Senior Systems Engineer for Airvana UK. In addition to working at Real Wireless, Julie is a CW board member and champion for the CW Virtual Networks Special Interest Group (SIG).
Andrew Palmer
Andrew has more than 33 years of experience in IT, Telecoms and TV and Media, having worked in various roles for IBM, AT&T, Ericsson, Motorola and Arris. Andrew's present role is to leverage existing CGI capabilities that match the needs of our clients in the Space, Defence and Intelligence sectors, as well as building new capabilities that will support the emerging and changing needs of our client base. Andrew has proven experience in developing and delivering complex SI and Services solutions that meet both business and technology needs. Andrew has co-authored "UK Telecoms For Dummies", an essential guide to the complicated UK Telecoms sector as well as articles for publications such as the Cambridge Wireless Journal including "How do we build the new world of 5g?". He frequently speaks at conferences and provides media commentary on industry topics like 5G, IoT and Smart Cities, as well as being a member of the techUK Spectrum Policy Forum and the Cambridge Wireless Virtual Networks Special Interest Group.
- Twitter:
- @AndrewPalmerCGI
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpalmercgi/
Paul Rhodes
Paul has a B Eng in Communications Engineering from University of Hull and worked in the wireless industry internationally for over 30 years. At Evolved Networks he is responsible for RAN and Open vRAN Public and Private network architecture, strategy. He has deployed 4G and 5G small cell networks in both classical architecture and as dark-fibre disaggregated RAN networks and is currently refining the technical and cost implications of centralised classic and virtualised networks. During his career Paul has worked in Telco Vendors and Infrastructure Providers, significantly for Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, CityFibre and World Wide Technology in Technical and Commercial roles in both Europe and North America. He is also an Expert Working Group Member in Wireless Networking at UKTIN.
Wireless Heritage SIG Champions
Stirling Essex
Stirling Essex has over 25 years of product development, product management, strategic marketing and business development experience in many areas of wireless technology, and has been intimately involved in the development of test systems for GSM, CDMA (IS-95), 3G (W-CDMA) and LTE. He founded Espansivo, a technology consultancy specialising in helping organisations with their technology, product and business decisions, in 2005. Stirling was previously a co-champion of the CW Future Wide Area Wireless Special Interest Group and and was a member of the CW Board from 2004 to 2015.
Professor Andy Sutton
Andy Sutton is a BT Fellow and Principal Network Architect for Wireless Access. The wireless access domain includes 4G/5G RAN architecture and mobile backhaul/xhaul, along with microwave and millimetre wave radio systems, and satellite communications. Andy holds an MSc in Mobile Communications from the University of Salford and has over 35 years of experience within the telecommunications industry. Andy’s current research interests include advanced RAN coordination techniques, including C-RAN and OpenRAN, optical fibre and radio based backhaul/xhaul, along with LEO satellite communications and High-altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), all in the context of building resilient heterogeneous networks. Andy holds the post of Visiting Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Liverpool and the University of Salford, he is a Chartered Engineer and holds Fellowships from the IET, ITP and BCS. Andy sits on the editorial board of the ITP Journal and is a CW SIG Champion for eMBB and Wireless Heritage.
- Twitter:
- @sutton960
Geoff Varrall
Geoff Varrall joined RTT in 1985 as an executive director and shareholder to develop RTT's international business as a provider of technology and business services to the wireless industry. He co-developed RTT's original series of design and facilitation workshops including 'RF Technology', 'Data Over Radio', 'Introduction to Mobile Radio', and 'Private Mobile Radio Systems and developed 'The Oxford programme', a five day strategic technology and market programme presented annually between 1991 and 2005. Geoff has been running in depth technology and market workshops for the industry for over 33 years, spanning five generations of mobile cellular technology. A co-author of the Mobile Radio Servicing Handbook (Heinemann Butterworth, UK), Data Over Radio, (Quantum Publishing, Mendocino, USA and 3G Handset and Network Design (John Wiley, New York). Geoff's fourth book, Making Telecoms Work – from technical innovation to commercial success (John Wiley) was published in early 2012 followed by 5G Spectrum and Standards published by Artech House in July 2016. His latest book 5G and Satellite Spectrum Standards and Scale is now available from Artech House and can be ordered from http://uk.artechhouse.com/5G-and-Satellite-Spectrum-Standards-and-Scale-P1935.aspx. As a past Director of Cambridge Wireless, Geoff is actively involved in a number of wireless heritage initiatives that aim to capture and record past technology and engineering experience and is a patron of the Science Museum In his spare time he plays Jazz trumpet semi-professionally and is a marathon and ultra-runner.
Nigel Wall
Nigel has been involved with connected vehicle research since 1992 when he led BT’s mobile data research team – initially using modems on first generation analogue TACS mobile phones! Since 2001 he has provided consultancy complex-systems, with a primary specialism in connected vehicles. He acted as the Monitoring Officer for twelve of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle research projects supported by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Climate Associates provides consultancy on delivering pragmatic sustainable systems and services, based on life cycle assessments where wholesale replacement of current systems with lower footprint solutions may not be the most sustainable option.