MediaMagazine Conference for A Level Media Studies: Friday 19th January 2024, BFI Southbank, London

April McCarthy

April is a Media Consultant at the English and Media Centre and Head of Media and Film Studies at Hampstead School.

Claire Pollard

Claire Pollard is the advisory teacher for Media Studies at the English and Media Centre. She is the editor of Media Magazine and the programme leader for the Goldsmiths Media and English PGCE working with trainees in schools all across London. Prior to working at the centre she taught English and Media Studies for 15 years in inner London schools, most of the time at Stepney All Saints in Tower Hamlets where she established Media as a new curriculum subject. She has been an examiner for GCSE English literature and a moderator for A level Media Studies and has delivered CPD for OCR, the MEA and the BFI. Claire also contributed a chapter to Doing Text: Media After the Subject and she co-authored the second edition of Media Studies the Basics.

Andrew McCallum

Andrew McCallum is Director of the English and Media Centre. Prior to that he ran a PGCE course in secondary English, and previously he taught for 15 years in London schools, spending most of that time at Acland Burghley School in Camden. He holds a doctorate in education, is author of Creativity and Learning in Secondary English (Routledge) and writes regularly for NATE's Teaching English magazine. If asked to name the EMC publication he's most proud of having worked on, it would be a three-way contest between Iridescent Adolescent, Diverse Shorts and Write On.

Sonia Livingstone

Sonia Livingstone DPhil (Oxon), OBE, FBA, FBPS, FAcSS, FRSA, is a professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has published 20 books including The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age and Media Regulation: Governance and the Interests of Citizens and Consumers. She has advised the Council of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, OECD, ITU and UNICEF on children’s online opportunities, risks and rights in the digital environment. She is currently leading the ‘Digital Futures for Children’ centre at LSE with the 5Rights Foundation. See www.sonialivingstone.net

Shahid Kamal Ahmad

Shahid has been named one of Games Industry International's Top 10 Persons of the Year and 100 Top Influencers in the British Games Industry, Develop's 25 People that Changed Games, one of MCV's Brit List 100 and received Develop's Publishing Hero award for his team’s role in opening PlayStation up to developers and for commissioning No Man’s Sky, Hellblade, The Persistence, Velocity 2X, Hotline Miami, Rogue Legacy and over a hundred others. The Strategic Content initiative helped to establish countless developer and publisher success stories.

Having spent 41 years in the video games industry, Shahid is an Executive Producer for DeepWell DTx, coaches developers for PlayStation Talents, makes games (currently Chimera 2 and Super Bomber Moon X), helps others make games (Floor 13: Deep State), podcasts on 'Remaster' for Relay FM and is a patron for Safe in Our World.

He is the author of the Twitter viral sensation 'Code is Just'. In his spare time, Shahid likes to make music.

Peter Lunt

Peter Lunt is Professor in Media and Communication Department, University of Leicester. The main themes of his work have encompassed questions of the relation between social identity and consumer culture engagement in public life through the media cultural difference identity and social interaction in social media and the role of media regulators in public life. His research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council UK the European Commission and through a number of consultancy research projects and has been published in several books. He is the co-author of Media Regulation: Governance and the Interests of Citizens and Consumers and his new book, Goffman and the Media will be published in February 2024.

Charlie Phillips

Charlie Phillips is a documentary film producer, commissioner, programmer, and consultant. He works with documentary makers from all across the world as producer and consultant on creative and financing strategies. As Head of Stories, he commissions all short documentaries for Lyfta, an immersive learning platform for schools, featuring storyworlds including documentaries about inspiring real human stories. Charlie was previously the Head of Video at The Guardian, overseeing all moving image for the Guardian's platforms, including its award-winning documentaries, which included the winner of the short documentary Oscar in 2021, and best short at the BAFTAs 2022. He is currently the main programmer for Folkestone Documentary Festival, was previously Deputy Director and EP Industry Participation at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and has led training programmes and mentored filmmakers all across the world.

Rowan Ellis

Rowan Ellis is a writer, video essayist, and LGBTQI+ advocate who creates content around queer history, pop culture, and activism. Her YouTube channel has over 210,000 subscribers and her videos have a collective total of nearly 8 million views. Her work has been covered in publications including Forbes, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Elle UK, and BBC, and she is the co-founder and co-organiser of Ruckus Retreat, a residential retreat for creatives. She lives in London with her two cats — Persephone and Ichabod — and an oven perpetually full of baked goods.

Sophie Artemigi

Sophie Artemigi is a games designer who makes narrative mobile games. Her latest project Hook Up debuted at #1 on the App Store’s paid charts and was featured on the Editor’s List. She was named one of MCV’s 30 Under 30 in 2022 and is a BAFTA Connect member.

Clive Chijioke Nwonka

Clive Chijioke Nwonka is Associate Professor in Film, Culture and Society at UCL, and Faculty Associate of the UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation, UK. Nwonka’s research centres on the study of Black British and African American film, with a particular focus on the images of Black urbanity. Nwonka has published extensively on racial inequality in the screen industries. Dr. Nwonka’s research is interdisciplinary and spans across Film Studies, literature, Cultural Studies, Black Studies and Sociology and he is the author of the forthcoming books Black Boys: The Aesthetics of British Urban Film (2023), and Black Arsenal: Race, Cultural Memory and Black British Identity (2024).

Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci is a writer, director and producer who has been responsible for some of the best comedy films and TV shows both in the UK and abroad. He has written and directed The Personal History of David Copperfield starring Tilda Swinton and Dev Patel, The Death of Stalin starring Steve Buscemi and Sir Michael Palin and In the Loop starring James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano). He’s had success in the states as the creator of HBO comedies Avenue 5 and Veep but before that he was responsible for some of the best British comedy in the 90s and 00s writing and producing shows such as The Thick of It, The Day Today, The Mary Whitehouse Experience and the Alan Partridge film, radio and TV shows which have spanned more than 25 years.