2025 Topics & Themes
AI – Digital Solutions
HR Related Legislation
Wellbeing and Mental Health
DEI
Future of Workspaces
Talent Retention and Development
Ethical Leadership
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If you are interested in a speaking opportunity, please contact eventteam@summit-events.com
Raphael Rowe is a journalist, investigative reporter and presenter who is best known for hosting the Netflix series ‘Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons’.
Raphael has a powerful and unique life story, having spent 12 years in a maximum security prison for crimes he did not commit – his life sentence and convictions for murder and robberies were overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2000. Raphael documented his fascinating life story in his 2020 autobiography Notorious.
Less than a year after his release, Raphael began a new career as a journalist and broadcast reporter for the BBC, for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He later moved to television, reporting in 2003 for BBC One’s 6 O’Clock News.
Between 2004-2006, Raphael went on to make a series of hard-hitting documentaries for BBC Two and BBC Three, covering issues such as serial killers, knife crime, drugs, corrupt UN peacekeepers, environmental crime and terrorism, with one of his investigations playing a pivotal part in freeing a man convicted of the assassination of a high-profile BBC celebrity.
Raphael also spent time as a correspondent for the BBC’s Panorama, the world’s longest running current affairs TV series, where he found himself in a reporting role as the first ex-prisoner and person of colour, with dreadlocks, to have achieved such a position.
Raphael’s investigative journalism work has taken him to some of the world’s most dangerous places; having smuggled diamonds, secretly filmed Congolese militia rebels, risking his own life to save an orangutan whilst reporting on illegal international logging and deforestation.
In 2022, Raphael hosted a fascinating 2-part Crime & Investigation series British Injustice, where he looked at two cases of wrongful convictions, looking at why they happened. The programme also saw Raphael helping to reunite the wrongfully convicted with the families of the victims.
2022 was also a big year for Raphael in the podcast world, as his Audible Original series The Catch won the British Podcast Award for ‘Best True Crime Podcast’. Raphael also has his own podcast, Second Chance, where he regularly talks to guests who have rebuilt their lives from a place of darkness.
Most recently, Raphael is known for being the host of Global Top-10 Netflix show, Inside the World's Toughest Prisons – the 2nd most watched factual programme on Netflix. The show is now in its seventh series & its most recent season was its successful season to date, charting at No.5 globally. The show sees Raphael enter maximum security prisons to meet inmates and look at how we vary in our treatment of prisoners around the world. Raphael also recently featured in Dynamo’s new show ‘Dynamo Is Dead’, alongside fellow contributors including Pete Davidson, Tyson Fury & Demi Lovato.
Recent times have seen a real movement amongst the workplace - one that recognises the power of having a diverse and inclusive workforce - but there is still a long way to go. Sadly, Raphael found himself a victim of institutional racism which led to his wrongful sentencing and incarceration. After his release however, he made history as the first person of colour to present on BBC’s Today Programme, 6 o’clock News and Panorama. Raphael stands to evoke real change in society but even his transition into a journalist didn’t come without its pre- judgement, despite the fact the BBC was even condemned as “hideously white” by those at the top. There is still so much work to be done. Raphael firmly believes that education, acceptance and embracing each other’s differences are what will allow people from different cultures and backgrounds to flourish in the workplace and through his continuous efforts, he has become a leading advocate for equality, social justice and reform. Raphael is on a journey to support businesses on their road to change and by speaking for those who may feel injustice within the workplace, he can help companies to not only talk the talk, but always walk the walk.
Key points:
• Diversity & inclusion
• Power of difference
• Equality
• Change
• Embrace
Paul was a HR professional for over 35 years before recently retiring. He worked in local government, the voluntary sector and the health service – with experience in the fields of recruitment, employee relations, employment law and diversity. When working for Barnardo’s he took on the role of national equality and diversity manager. After a short spell as a Head of HR in an NHS trust, he was seconded into the Department of Health and Social Care’s Equality and Diversity Team to help them develop the first national strategy in this area. Paul went on to work for NHS Employers – which represents and supports NHS trusts across England – and helped NHS organisations to embed diversity and inclusion good practice across the NHS. He also worked on various external diversity working groups and initiatives – with bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative – and wrote frequently about all aspects of diversity through various social media channels. Paul continues to be a Chartered Member of the CIPD and is involved in their Policy Forum.
This session would look at the moral, legal and business cases for EDI within the context of today’s political, economic, social and technological challenges faced by organisations.
Catrin is an award winning HR Professional, who was placed at number 12 in the HR Magazine 2025 Top 100 Most Influential PR actioner’s list.
Catrin trained as a designer in the Fashion industry and had a successful 10 year career before transitioning into the HR world over 20 years ago. Since then she has worked within HR across media, professional services and the Bio Tech Industries. Catrin joined Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC) in 2013 taking the business from 15 to over 400 employees. Over this period she has transformed the HR operations by systematically implementing comprehensive workforce initiatives to support the organisation's mission to secure a 15% UK market share in Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products by 2035.
Since relaunching the People Strategy in 2021 post COVID, Catrin has used a comprehensive 18-point People Strategy and has delivered significant results including reducing staff turnover by 6%, increasing promotion rates by 12% and achieving a +65 Net Promoter Score in CGTC's first employee survey, exceeding the +50 target.
Her strategic approach has generated substantial cost savings, with direct recruitment innovations saving £1.5 million over two years and an additional £90,000 annually from reduced turnover.
Under Catrin’s leadership, the HR function has, established three career development programmes for employees, introduced comprehensive wellbeing support and health advice, improved benefits provision, and launched a new system for reward and recognition.
Through implementing and embedding psychometric tools, Catrin has also strengthened organisational culture and communication and the introduction of a new AI-based approach to training has improved also engagement.
Her work directly supports CGTC’s contribution to Britain's increasingly prominent position in the world of advanced medical research.
Working within a high growth industry means that building future talent is an important strategic requirement.
To ensure that as a business, we could maximize our internal potential and identify skills required for success, demanded a profound transformation change in how we identified, supported and developed all our employees, whilst creating a culture of continuous learning.
Ahmed Salah is Global Head of Human Resources at Oxford Economics, with over 20 years of international experience across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas. He has led HR transformation, organisational design, and global HR operations across industries including professional services, engineering, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, NGOs, and accounting. At Oxford Economics, he focuses on aligning people strategy with business goals, scaling HR to support rapid global growth, embedding culture, and enabling sustainable performance through digital HR solutions, AI adoption, and innovative workforce practices.
Aligning HR Strategy with Business Goals Through AI and Digital HR
The session will explore how HR can align more closely with business strategy and drive measurable impact. I will discuss:
• The role of HR leaders in ensuring HR is positioned as a driver of business strategy rather than a support function
• How AI and digital HR enable HR to be more efficient
• Practical ways HR strategy can support business objectives, including market expansion and sustainable growth
• Examples of how digital solutions transform performance management, talent development, and talent acquisition
This will be a practical and forward-looking session, showing how organisations can build stronger connections between HR strategy and business goals while leveraging AI and digital tools.
Judith is the lead HR professional at Rugby Borough Council, joining the authority to lead HR transformation and organisational change. She has over 20 years’ experience within HR, L&D and Organisational Development.
Judith has experience of working at board level across a variety of sectors including education, national and local government as well as the charitable sector. She has delivered both HR and OD national projects within retail, finance and logistics. By creating a leadership presence focusing on the people priorities she has worked with senior leaders to ensure strategic business priorities align with and deliver operational outcomes.
Her experience is varied and wide ranging; having worked with senior civil servants, Government Ministers as well as Directors within retail and logistics as well as Chief Executives of charities, local authorities and school multi-academy trusts.
Judith is a Fellow of the CIPD.
Judith lives in Warwickshire and away from work enjoys running, reading, cooking and spending time with her family. She is also a school governor, a volunteer role she finds incredibly rewarding.
• Identifying the key priorities
• Creating and sharing the vision
• Leading the delivery
• Managing the stakeholders and the politics
• Measuring the impact
With a wealth of experience gained across diverse sectors—including Manufacturing, Defence, Hospitality, Facilities Management, and now Education—Karen is a seasoned HR transformation and integration project leader. Her expertise has been instrumental in supporting organisations through Mergers & Acquisitions, large-scale TUPE transfers, and complex change initiatives designed to drive organisational growth and strengthen employee engagement.
Karen’s strong commercial acumen, developed through multi-site, cross-industry exposure, enables her to drive sustainable business improvements by aligning HR strategy with overarching business goals. She has a proven track record of eliminating inefficiencies and enhancing operational effectiveness by transforming traditional HR practices into agile, value-adding solutions.
Her approach is deeply people-centric, underpinned by a passion for continuous improvement and a reputation for delivering clarity, momentum, and impact during periods of change. Known for being results-driven, resilient, and highly efficient, Karen is a trusted advisor to senior leadership and stakeholders at all levels.
Drawing on Lean and Kaizen principles acquired during her time in manufacturing, she led a landmark project titled “Digitising and Transforming Recruitment Processes for Lasting Cultural Impact and Cost Efficiency,” which achieved a £3.2 million Return on Investment over a two-year period. This initiative not only streamlined recruitment operations but also embedded a culture of innovation and accountability across the business.
Her passion lies in helping businesses evolve through transformation—putting people at the heart of every solution.
Integrating manufacturing and industrial engineering principles into HR, in support of delivering transformational change to foster a culture of continuous improvement.
With over 43 years’ in business, Tony has a wealth of experience from working in a broad range of sectors and functions. This enables him to bring a unique perspective to his reward role. As a business disrupter and innovator, he has driven change in the businesses he has worked for or with. He has worked for some of the most innovative businesses in the UK and been at forefront of some of the most significant changes in the market.
With now over 8 years working in Reward leadership, driving global transformations in companies including ECB (Cricket board) Marshall Aerospace & Defence Group, Carnival plc, dentsu Group, Cambridge Press & Assessment and Aristocrat, Tony has developed a deep understanding how compensation and benefits impact the big picture and has developed reward strategies for future success. He brings a commercial mindset to drive innovation and transformation, delivering impactful results.
Prior to this, he spent decades as a benefits consultant and advisor, building strong connected programmes to deliver cost savings and employee engagement. An early joiner to the Darwin team 25 years ago he helping them carve out the new world of online flexible benefits.
Running his own consultancy firm for 7 years he created online platforms, reward branding and propositions for some of the largest business names in the world including: McGraw Hill Group of Companies (Standard & Poor's), Charles Stanley, Weil Gotshal & Manages, Swiss re, H J Heinz, The Telegraph Media Group, Waterman plc, Toshiba, Bernard Matthews and Chanel.
As a consultancy director for Benefex, he managed clients including Bank of England, LSEG, Bank of America, E.on, EDF, Centrica, M&S, Coke Cola Enterprises, CAA and Plusnet (part of BT Group)
As an administrator, salesperson, adviser, manager, director, consultant, business owner or VP Tony has gained a vast knowledge of the reward landscape.
We know that an informed workforce will make better choices and live a healthy lifestyle but:
What media type, what content, how, where and when do we engage them.
Is it based on claims history, demographics, location and role.
Prevention/Intervention
We also know the early a problem is detected the lower the risk and the cost so how do we provide:
Early cancer detection (highest cost claims), musculoskeletal prevention (most frequent claims)
Bringing employee’s families on board with wellbeing programmes (they account for a large proportion of claims ).
How is it paid for and by who?
Treat/Manage
Digital accessibility and proliferation of online platforms mean an employee does not know who or where to go to for help. How do we:
Guide them through the maze
Manage their time to take tests, have physio, follow ups etc
Help with immediate needs (quick links)
How do we ensure claims are managed to the right service and at the right time
With two decades of global HR leadership, Felicia has built her career at the intersection of transformation, culture, and growth. She has worked across industries and continents, from APAC to North America, helping organisations scale, navigate M&A, and design workplaces where people and performance thrive.
Her experience includes scaling operations across APAC and leading initiatives in HR transformation, organisational design, leadership development, culture change, and employee experience. She also serves as a Non-Executive Director within the education sector.
Passionate about shaping the future of work, Felicia blends data, culture, and behavioural insight to create value-driven workplaces. Known for making complex transformation human and practical, she will lead a session at the Human Resource Summit Lisbon on “The Future of Workspaces: Building Secure, Human-Centred Cultures.”
The workplace of the future is not defined by office walls or digital platforms, but by the cultures we create within them. As organisations embrace hybrid models, AI, and digital collaboration, people, not technology, are emerging as the greatest source of both resilience and risk. In this interactive session, we’ll explore how HR leaders can shape workspaces that are not only productive and inclusive but also secure. Together, we’ll discuss practical ways to address human risk, embed trust into digital-first cultures, and prepare for the future of workspaces where safety and belonging go hand-in-hand.
Key outcomes:
• Recognise the human behaviours that pose the greatest risks in future workspaces.
• Explore how culture and employee experience can strengthen organisational resilience.
• Co-create practical actions HR leaders can take to make hybrid and digital workplaces secure, engaging, and future-ready.
Laura Ashley-Timms is the best-selling author of the award-winning book The Answer is a Question and a renowned thought leader on the subject of coaching who is regularly published in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, BBC, The Times, Fast Company, Newsweek and many more.
She’s also the COO at Notion (L&D Supplier of the Year), the co-creator of the STAR® model, the multi-award-winning STAR® Manager programme and an expert on how to leverage Operational Coaching® behaviours across organisations to drive commercial results and improve productivity and engagement levels.
Laura learned about the power of coaching from her early childhood career in international sports and was coaching others by the time she entered Oriel College, Oxford. With over thirty years of international business experience, living and working in the USA, Europe and Asia, Laura has a strong focus on pragmatism and results. She’s been recognised as one of the UK’s top executive coaches and as one of 40 Outstanding Global Women.
Join me to discover the fastest and easiest way you can deliver a coaching culture that pays for itself multiple times over.
Are you tired of coaching initiatives that fall flat? Ready to transform your organisation into a coaching powerhouse? This session will equip you with a proven 5-step blueprint to build a sustainable coaching culture that delivers tangible results, built on scientifically proven research across 62 organisations in 14 sectors.
Discover the big mistakes organisations are making with their coaching strategy and why almost every penny you’re spending on your 'manager as coach' programmes is completely wasted.
Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionise your culture and drive extraordinary results!
This advance to traditional coaching methodology will be of huge interest to professionals who deliver and embed coaching into organisations.
You'll walk away with:
● A foolproof model for establishing a thriving coaching culture
● A step-by-step blueprint to maximise the impact of your coaching skills training
● Actionable strategies to measure and demonstrate ROI
● Insights into how to ignite employee engagement, productivity, and performance
● The secret to cultivating a proactive, solution-oriented workforce
● Access to an assessment to benchmark your organisation against the blueprint
Speaker Programme
The Summit programme consists of inspirational Keynotes, Strategy Sessions (case study presentations followed by focused discussion), interactive Action Learning Workshops, and debate. In addition, we will add value by offering a series of round tables, presentations, and toolkits in the build-up to the event.
If you have any recommendations for speakers or topics for future events please email eventteam@summit-events.com
Register your interest in the 32nd Human Resource Summit
15 - 17 October 2025
Submit your name and email address and a member of the Summit team will send you further details including:
- the confirmed list of attendees
- instructions on how to apply for a delegate place
- sponsorship options
“The event was a fantastic learning and development opportunity for any HR professional. It was a great to meet peers across various HR disciplines, learn and benchmark against our own HR function. It was my first time attending an event like this and it opened my eyes to the types of suppliers and services that are available to our organisation to assist us on various challenges we face.City of London Corporation”
“This HR Summit was a brilliant way to meet with very relevant industry counterparts and suppliers. The sessions were carefully chosen with an excellent set of speakers. And the suppliers did not hard-sell their products, as often is the case with forums like these. The venue provided ample opportunity to unwind as well the arrangements done by the Summit team in terms of food and hospitality were excellent.General Assembly”
