Are we really building a better world with technology?
Technology can be clever. It can be cool. It can be creative. But to truly make a difference, we must use technology for good.
Now in its seventh year, 2019’s WXG will explore smart cities, sustainability, accessibility, AI in healthcare, technology in sport, and much more.
Chris Todhunter
Founder & Technical Director, Studio Republic
Chris is founder and technical director of Studio Republic and has worked in web development for longer than he cares to admit. His baby, Studio Republic, is well into its teens now. Like most teenagers, Studio Republic has been exploring its identity and where it fits in the world. The Studio has become focused on sustainability and social justice: making great work for the good people of the world.
A reluctant public speaker, Chris is occasionally farmed out by the Studio to give industry talks on first steps to sustainability. His raw honesty and candid approach to failure help to make sustainability a possibility.
Miranda McCarthy
Founder, Wavelength VR
Wavelength VR founder Miranda McCarthy has been a lifelong patient. Suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis, she has undergone multiple joint replacement surgeries and lived with chronic pain her entire life. At the age of ten, Miranda developed her own technique for distracting her brain from pain using visualisation and a simple breathing exercise. 30 years later she’s finally able to transfer this knowledge by merging it with technology.
Miranda now has the opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading authorities in VR to create BEYOND, a VR experience for pain management aimed at children suffering from chronic pain.
Steve Haake
Sports Engineer, Sheffield Hallam University
Steve Haake established sports engineering as a worldwide discipline and went on to lead the largest academic research centre of its kind in the world. Steve worked with UK Sport from 2000 and led a team as a UK Sport Innovation Partner between 2008 and 2012, helping create performance-improving technologies for Olympic teams.
He presented two Canadian documentaries that looked at the effect of technology on sport and has appeared on BBC, Channel 4, and radio programmes across the world as well as writing for New Scientist, Times Higher Education and Physics World. He is author of Advantage Play: Technologies that changed Sporting History.
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