4th November 2008 at the Eden Project, Cornwall

The Chair

Nick Buckland - Deputy Chairman of the South West RDA

Nick Buckland lives near Launceston, Cornwall. He spent 20 years working as a senior manager in the UK IT industry, mainly for US companies. Nick is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Information Technology Practitioner, a fellow of the British Computer Society and royal Society of Arts, a Governor of Plymouth University and is on the Board of Devon and Cornwall Learning and Skills Council.  He holds a number of company directorships and sits on the DTi's Technology and Strategy Board.

The speakers

Robin Mannings - BT

The Future World of Work

Robin Mannings' career includes mobile radio system development , wireless systems research and telematics research, consultancy and research management. As a Research Foresight Manager (aka futurologist) at BT Group, Research and Venturing Dept, Robin’s main interests are focused on the future of science and technology and how it will impact on, and interact with, the future of business and society. He is particularly interested in potential future disruptive technologies and has recently written a book, (Ubiquitous Positioning) about the future of knowing where everything and everybody is situated. He is a chartered engineer, a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and a graduate in electrical and electronic eEngineering (Cardiff). He is currently studying for a Professional Doctorate at Lancaster University's Computer Dept in the area of ubiquitous positioning systems. He has a strong interest in culture and history and enjoys watercolour painting.

Peter Thomson - Director of the Future Work Forum

The Advantages to Business

Peter founded the Future Work Forum at Henley Management College (now Henley Business School - University of Reading) in 1992 when he left Digital Equipment, where he headed up the Personnel function for the UK and Northern Europe. His interest in new working practices had developed in Digital and he was instrumental in making them pioneers in the use of technology to enable flexible working.

Whilst Peter’s interests embrace the socio-economic factors affecting work, his real interest is how work is changing within organisations. This gives the Forum a particular focus on how managers are adapting to new working practices. For employers who want to prepare themselves for a new world of work Peter has a unique insight into the problems they will face. He often presents at conferences on topics related to the future of work and provides consultancy to many different organisations.

Peter James - SustainIT

The Advantages to the Individual

Peter James is a Visiting Professor of Environmental Management at the University of Bradford . Peter currently leads UK CEED's SustainIT programme with the Centre's Director Jonathan Selwyn.

Peter has managed a number of UK CEED projects in the area of teleworking and e-working, including: the work on Internet-enabled logistics and supply chains for the UK Digital Futures programme; teleworking research projects for the AA and BT ; a BT/EU funded series of awareness-raising seminars for UK local authorities.

Jack Russell

Positive strategies for flexible working

Jack Russell is the director of PDC Inspiration – a Personal Development Coaching company specialising in motivation through inspirational speaking and leadership challenges in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Jack holds a degree in Outdoor and Physical Recreation with Psychology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, taught Geography for 3 years and was Head of the Geography department in two schools. Jack is a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and is a highly qualified outdoor coach.

Whilst there are many people working in the field of personal development, Jack stands head and shoulders above the rest. He has worked in the field of human potential since 1986 and clients include Royalty, the All Women Polar Relay team and a multitude of top companies and organisations

John Horne - Programme Director, Workwise South West

Workwise SW

John set up his own consultancy, John Horne Associates, in 2007 to support ICT programmes across the South West. He has since been involved with

• The evaluation of the Connecting Somerset programme;
• The development of an ICT advice and guidance programme for Devonport;
• The creation of Work Wise SW.

With over 30 years experience with BT at Corporate, regional and Area Level John left BT and joined Business Link Devon and Cornwall in 1996 as a Telecommunications consultant. and went on to head up DTI/EU projects including UK On-line for Business. He took responsibility for Business Link’s partnership activities in the support of Broadband initiatives firstly in Cornwall with the actnow project and later Broadband4Devon. This involved the design of the programmes and the management of the Business Link ICT adviser teams. John was a member of the actnow Steering Group.

John was appointed as Director of the £12m Broadband4Devon Objective Two programme which brought Broadband connectivity and ICT infrastructure and e-commerce enhancements to SMEs across the county. This hugely successful programme was responsible for the creation of over 1500 jobs and in raising the profitability, productivity and efficiency of over 6000 SMEs.

Julian Cowans - Cornwall Enterprise

What is flexible working? & Technology in Action

Julian is a Development Manager for Cornwall Enterprise working on the future digital infrastructure of Cornwall. He previously was the Programme Development Manager for the very successful actnow project bringing broadband to Cornwall and responsible for the actnow flex project.

Prior to joining Cornwall Enterprise Julian worked at the University of Bath developing IT systems, and for Cramer Systems in Bath developing and implementing telecommunications software.

Julian spent 10 years working overseas in oil exploration, with stints living in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Mexico returning to university in 1999 to study Computing Science at Imperial College.