Keynote Speaker: Leonardo Garnier

Panelist: Colman Farrell

Colman is an award-winning serial social entrepreneur, medical doctor and education innovator focused on Re-Imagining Higher Education. Most recently, as Head of Programme Development at the Innovation Academy (IA), University College Dublin, he led a diverse team of Entrepreneurial Specialists, from both business and social sector backgrounds, in the design and delivery of a suite of programmes on Creativity, Innovation, Leadership, Sustainability and Entrepreneurial Thinking & Action. Previously, he was the co-founder of the School for Social Entrepreneurs Ireland and co-founder and CEO of Suas, an award-winning Irish education-focused non-profit, supporting programmes in Ireland, India and Kenya. Colman is an awardee of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, the US State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Programme and the Arthur Guinness Fund. He is an advocate of new models of education that enable learners to realise their full potential, so they can become the leaders, creators, innovators, business and social entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Panelist: Evelyn Nomayo

Evelyn is a Full-stack Software Developer passionate about training and mentorship. She is a research fellow at Trinity College Dublin and currently on a contract with Accenture as a Research and Technology Engineer. She led a team of 3 girls in 2020 to win a Global Technology Challenge that involved 5,600 participants with the team coming first place. Furthermore, she also won the Diversity in Tech Award in 2020 and Woman of Europe Award Nominee 2020 (Top three). She is currently researching Generative AI in the Blockchain space.

Panelist: Alex Whyte



Alex is the Global Citizenship Education Programme coordinator at Global Action Plan, where he works with schools and community groups to support climate action. His background in English language teaching and education in emergencies helps him to craft engaging climate education experiences. In 2020, he received a Master’s in International and Comparative Education from Stockholm University. He currently lives in County Clare and has recently discovered a passion for bouldering.

Panelist: Chriszine Backhouse

Chriszine is a lecturer on the “Creativity and Change” special purpose award at MTU, a level 9 course which promotes the exploration of global citizenship education through the arts. She uses socially engaged forms of theatre to investigate and respond to local and global justice issues. Through her work and research, Chriszine explores the intersection between creativity, community and change. She has brought engaged theatre practices into diverse communities to process complex topics, including gender based violence, social exclusion, access to housing, racism, and environmental issues. Within her work, she aims to make invisible systems of oppression visible through theatre, as well as to create spaces where people’s stories are heard. Over the past few years she has facilitated projects in partnership with the Irish Refugee Council, where they have used Playback theatre and Spoken word poetry to explore human rights, particularly the right to education. For the past year, she has coordinated a Forum theatre mentorship programme with Julian Boal. Chriszine received an BA in Theatre and Development, and a MA in Drama Therapy from Concordia University, Montreal Canada.

Panelist: Sarah Robinson

Sarah is a senior postdoctoral researcher at LERO, Science Foundation Ireland's Research Centre for Software and the School of Applied Psychology, UCC. She is currently working on responsible software engineering and in particular, what the public wants the software industry to prioritise. A community and cultural psychologist by training, she previously worked as a humanitarian practitioner with UNFPA, UNOCHA and Concern in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. She is interested in the innovation that can happen when you bring creative artivism together with new communities of practice. She is currently partnering with Creativity and Change on considering local-global impact of software and how that might link to development education, as well as software engineering more broadly. 

Moderator: Vikki Brennan

Vikki is a senior manager on the labour rights team with Novartis Pharmaceuticals. A former CEO of Proudly Made in Africa, the Irish NGO focused on trade with Africa, she has over 10 years’ experience is responsible procurement, ethical international trading and business and human rights. Previously, Vikki worked at the Bangladesh Accord Foundation in Amsterdam and as senior ethical trade manager for food multinational Associated British Foods in London. She is IDEA’s Chairperson

Facilitator and Graphic Harvester: Becky Hatchett

Becky Hatchett is a creative practitioner with over 20 years experience working in community engagement, facilitation and visual storytelling. She’s spent most of her professional life in London working across the education, culture, heritage and corporate sectors, often bridging the gap between these sectors and supporting her clients to engage harder to reach audiences. In 2017 she won the London Transport Museum's Innovator of the year award for her engagement work in the sector. Becky has continued to have a successful career since settling in Ireland five years ago. She has worked independently and is associated with ThinkVisual.ie and Drawsome.ie, building her network of co-practitioners and supporting a range of clients including WWF, UNESCO, Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce, Engineer Ireland, UCC, DCU, Maynooth University, Green Campus, and many others. Recently, she worked with IDEA on a new Innovation Training workshop. She holds academic and vocational qualifications in Art, teaching, person centred counselling and transitional analysis.