TIME & LOCATION
About
Chair
SPONSOR
Panel
Director, Broadcasting and Media
Siobhan Walsh is a Director in the Broadcasting and Media Group. She joined the team six years ago and oversees the regulation of the BBC and PSB sector. Previously she worked in the Competition Group in Ofcom, working on broadcasting, telecoms and postal regulation. Prior to Ofcom Siobhan was an economist in the Government Economic Service and started out working as an economist in a research team at the University of Westminster, focussing on education and labour market issues.
INEQE Safeguarding Group, Director of Operations
Hannah Paul is a dedicated safeguarding professional with a passion for empowering young people to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly. Hannah provides expert advice and training to parents, educators, and organisations, focusing on building digital resilience, promoting positive online experiences, and preventing online harm. With her background as a volunteer Childline counsellor and extensive experience working with children in the UK and abroad, Hannah possesses a deep understanding of the complex social and emotional factors that influence young people's online behaviour. She is committed to creating a culture of empathy and respect in digital spaces and advocates for a non-judgmental, 'safeguarding first' approach that prioritises education and support. Hannah conducts safeguarding reviews in the UK and abroad across various sectors, helping organisations establish safer environments for children and young people, among them have been reviews for Oxfam GB, The Prince's Trust, and Dulwich College (following the "Everyone's Invited" exposé). Hannah holds an M.Phil from Trinity College Dublin and an LLM from Queens University Belfast, where her studies focused on human rights and the International Criminal Court.
Founder & CEO, Beech Hill Consultancy
Michael Wilson is the founder of Beech Hill Consultancy www.beechhillconsultancy.com - specialising in content and platform strategy working with major international businesses through to entrepreneurial start-ups. He also specialises in media and content management and building strong business profiles. He is also currently an advisor to the UK communications regulator, Ofcom. Across 30 years - he has held senior roles at Sky News, Five News, UTV Northern Ireland and ITV and been an advisor to major global media companies. He was also the CEO of the Isle of Media, the national development agency for the Isle of Man digital and creative industries. He remains the Chair of the advisory board. For more than a decade he was the Managing Director UTV - and represented UTV on the Board of ITV Network. He is a former member of the Royal Television Society’s Centre’s Council and is a founder member of the Irish Film and Television Academy. His programming has won BAFTA, Royal Television Society and New York Television Festival Awards.
Belfast Telegraph Journalist
Niamh is currently a full-time journalist for The Belfast Telegraph, covering everything from breaking news to sports and politics, as well as writing features and hosting podcasts. From Co Tyrone, she has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics & Literature from Queen’s University Belfast, but found her true calling when she studied journalism at Ulster University six years ago. She has previously worked for BBC News and BBC Sport NI, and is also a member of the Women In Media Belfast community interest company, which is dedicated to highlighting the voices of women and providing more opportunity in local media for women. She is particularly interested in covering mental health issues, social injustices in Northern Ireland, and stories regarding women in sport. Shortly after completing her Journalism MA, she received the NCTJ Trainee award for sports journalism. She has previously worked for tech and business outlet Sync NI, BBC News and BBC Sport, and in the new year, Niamh will be helping the BBC Education team deliver workshops on 'fake news' and mid/disinformation to secondary schools across NI.
FactCheckNI director
Alan is a director of Northern Ireland’s independent fact checking organisation FactCheckNI. He is freelance journalist and producer who records, live-streams and writes about civic, academic and political events; chairs discussions; writes as a theatre critic, reviews films, and blogs about politics. He makes podcasts for NGO clients, and as a freelance radio producer. Alan also sporadically works on consumer, cultural, religious and ethics programmes. For 21 years, he was a designer and enterprise architect in IT departments at BT supporting a range of lines of business as well as external customers. He was a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland between 2017 and 2023. He was appointed to the BBC Audience Council of Northern Ireland between 2007 and 2012. Alan is a member of the Corrymeela Community.