Madeline is an experienced cybersecurity professional with more than 10 years’ experience in a range of sectors including in autonomous systems, computing, IoT, automotive and future mobility. Her technical background encompasses methods for cybersecurity and artificial intelligence assurance for complex, opaque, and autonomous systems and she has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the area. She also has a demonstrated track record in leading research and innovation programs, bringing novel ideas from basic technology readiness levels right through to technological maturity. This includes delivering on short-term technology transfer programs such as system integration, through to multi-year programs taking fundamental research into industry settings.
Madeline has a PhD in Automotive Cybersecurity, an MSc in Forensic Computing, a PgC in Higher Education Professional Practice and a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry.
Kurt Dennis
- Sales Manager for UK and Ireland, UL Solutions
Kurt Dennis is a professional with over 11 years of experience in the testing, inspection and certification (TIC) side of the medical industry.
Kurt is currently the Sales Manager for UK & I within the Consumer & Medical Information Technology Division (CMIT) of UL Solutions and possesses a deep understanding of global regulatory requirements for both the consumer and medical technology sectors.
With a proven track record of driving sales growth and fostering strong client relationships, Kurt excels in identifying customer needs and supporting them with tailored solutions.
His dedication to excellence, combined with his extensive industry knowledge makes him a trusted advisor both for his clients and for his team.
Aditya Deshpande
Dr Aditya Deshpande works as a security lead at ARM has 10+ years of embedded security experience in the automotive and the defence industry. Dr Aditya Deshpande has worked on various pilot projects introducing security into the product from concept to production and post development. He has also previously worked in academia developing international security standards for vehicle electronics and published various conference and journal articles.
Richard Jacklin
- Business Development - Commercial Lead, Plextek
Richard is the Commercial Lead for Plextek Services, helping customers design and produce highly innovative electronic, radar and radio communications enabled solutions. His career, now over 30 years, has included sales management, product management and engineering leadership in companies including Ericsson, Samsung, UL, Keysight, PPM and NI. He has presented and contributed to many forums including Cambridge Wireless, GSMA working groups, and Satellite Innovation Group. Richard graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a degree in Electronic Engineering, he was also awarded Chartered Engineer status and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Nikita Johnson
Nikita is a Product Cyber Security Engineer at Rolls Royce who is tackling the cyber threat challenges on multiple fronts within Aerospace and other safety-related sectors. Her work involves active contribution to several national and international standards and regulation bodies such as Eurocae's WG-72 and NCSC's Supply Chain Security Community of Interest (COI). Part of her role also involves the day-to-day detail of technical risk assessments and cyber assurance for legacy systems that were not designed with cyber security in mind. Previously, Nikita developed the Safety-Security Assurance Framework (SSAF) as part of her PhD with BAE Systems. She has since continued affiliation with several research groups and projects with the primary goal of improving safety and security argumentation and assurance in industry.
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.
Firas Sadek
Firas currently leads several strategic initiatives at Airbus in the industrial cybersecurity landscape, and is a Jury Member for the Industrial Cybersecurity Certification at Airbus Cybersecurity School. His international career extends over several industries with more than ten years of experience and exposure to different regulated environments. He has led multiple security missions including risk assessment and management, threat and vulnerability management, designing defensible security architectures, building and automating security operations centers, developing strategic cybersecurity programs, and leading cyber workforce capacity building.
Having spent most of his career in mission-critical environments, Firas advocates the trilogy addressing physical, operational and cyber aspects of security. As an active international speaker, Firas always emphasizes the pragmatic multi-dimensional security approach that he brings from real-world experience, always weighing the security cost against the risk reduction Return on Investment. He is GICSP and CISSP certified, and has been active through workshops and contributions influencing ICS security white papers.
Fergus Wong
- Global Cybersecurity Solution Architect, UL Solutions
Before joining UL Solutions in 2022, Fergus worked in product management and business development for the data center products and business.
In UL Solutions, he is a trusted advisor for those customers looking for cybersecurity solutions and those that are on their cybersecurity journey of the product development cycle; however he is also a program development leader in regulations-related study and development, such as the recent U.K. Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Regulations.
The key areas of Fergus’ expertise relate to consumer IoT, medical, payment and industrial cybersecurity.