Congress '19 Schedule

Yoko joined NHK as a producer and worked in various fields including factual reality, news and magazine programs, and documentary series developed for international co-production. Later she joined the acquisition team as a buyer in charge of documentary and factual series. Recently she has been working on international collaboration projects for NHK's 4K/8K channels.

Takehiro Asai joined NHK’s Special Contents Development Center and produced numerous documentary programs about science and social issues. His credits include Origins of Land (a co-production with CuriosityStream), Bodypedia, The Body – Miracles of Our Inner Social Networks (a co-production with S4C, CuriosityStream, Al Arabiya Channel, Autentic, Mona Lisa/France Televisions, and NFB).

Allie Sakakibara is an online marketing guru based in Tokyo. She works as a Senior Manager of Product Strategy & Growth at Discovery Japan, leading the digital revolution to market the brand to a fresh, new audience. She is also the executive producer and host of Discovery's online Edutainment show Dbox on Discovery Japan's YouTube channel, which she helped grow from 10 million to 55 million total views in three months. Before joining the broadcasting business, Allie helped YouTube creators and brands build their businesses on YouTube as a partner manager at Google. When she isn't busy helping brands shine on social media, Allie enjoys using her English-Japanese skills to host events as a bilingual MC.

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Dan Kendall has a reputation for delivering award-winning, high impact, television for global audiences. Since joining Windfall Films in 2016, he has been a key figure in the company’s creative growth – helping devise and produce hit returnable formats for the US and international markets, series and singles for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, and Windfall’s first ever project for an IMAX feature.

With over 20 years production experience, his track record features awards and ratings success across many genres; from History Channel’s Emmy-nominated drama based “mega-documentary” Mankind: The Story of All of Us, CBC’s Lost Secrets of the Pyramid (winner: Canadian Screen Award), Channel 4’s headline grabbing live events Surgery Live (winner: Broadcast Digital Award, nominated Banff Rockie Award), Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial (winner: AIB Science Award) to BBC Two’s history of the Web, The Virtual Revolution (winner: International Digital EMMY, BAFTA New Media Award).

Jo Clinton-Davis is Controller of Factual at ITV. Her commissions include 63Up, The Queen's Green Planet, Long Lost Family, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Paul O’Grady for the Love of Dogs, The Real Full Monty, Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure, Trevor McDonald and the Mafia, and the Crime and Punishment strand. Previously Jo was Head of Commissioning for UKTV's ten channels having been Head of Independent Commissioning at the BBC where she commissioned Masterchef, Grumpy Old Men and The Hairy Bikers. She directed and series produced Making Babies with Robert Winston and The Shop About Selfridges for BBC One, as well as directing many single films for the award-winning strands 40 Minutes and Inside Story.

Since its expansion into international markets three years ago, Kohta has managed and led development for YouTube Originals in Asia-Pacific. He has overseen releases across multiple verticals and genres, from scripted features with Japan's biggest Creators (STALKING VAMPIRE), collaborative music specials with Marvel Comics and Disney (RE:IMAGINE) and global hit music series (BTS: BURN THE STAGE). Before leading Originals in APAC, he was the APAC regional lead for the Creator Lab at the YouTube Spaces. Prior to joining Google, Kohta was a director based in NYC, where he was born and raised.

As Head of Specialist Factual, Fatima Salaria is responsible for History, Science, Natural History, Arts and Adventure. The department produces everything from SAS, Grayson Perry, Guy Martin and critically acclaimed single films like 100 Vaginas and Three Identical Strangers. Prior to joining Channel 4, Fatima was Commissioning Editor for Religion at the BBC. She commissioned award-winning Muslims Like Us, Abortion on Trial, We Are British Jews and The Pilgrimage, and curated the Black and British and the Partition seasons for BBC2, along with many other series and single films across BBC One, Two and Four.

With a passion for creating bridges between different worlds, Deborah is in charge of bringing into play Ubisoft’s brands and expertise beyond video games, including Live Entertainment and VR experiences. An appreciated deal maker and inspiring leader, she also develops strategic and technology alliances with companies from other industries looking for Ubisoft’s broad range of expertise, ranging from automobile or architecture to health and cultural institutions.

A graduate from ESCP Business School (Paris) and Drexel LeBow MBA (Philadelphia), Deborah joined Ubisoft in 1997 as a Marketing Manager. She then headed up Emea Business Development for 10 years before becoming Managing Director of Ubisoft Partners, supervising third parties game development, for 5 years. She created the New Business department in 2015 and has been leading its expansion since then.

Fabrice Esteve is an experienced French independent producer with a strong track record in international co-productions. Since 2012, he's served as head YUZU Productions together with Christian Popp. In seven years, YUZU Productions produced more than 30 hours of documentaries, most of them in international co-productions, with broadcasters such as ARTE, France Télévisions, Smithsonian Networks, Showtime, CBC, ZDF, CCTV10, Al Jazeera Networks, RTS, RTBF, VRT, SVT, TVC, TVE, YLE, S4C, TG4, UR, RTP, Ceska Televise, and ERT.

Recent productions include Microbiota: The Fabulous Power of the Gut, Weed, Greed and Legalization, The Race to Dope, Brains in Danger, Cyborgs Among Us, Becoming Cary Grant, Free to Run (theatrical), The E-Waste Tragedy, and The Bloody Truth. Between 1994 and 2011, he worked at Tele Images, VM Group, Ampersand, Gedeon Programmes, and Docside (now Zed).

Fabrice is one of the co-founders and the current president of the French Association Science & Television gathering 53 production companies, and of the Pariscience International Film Festival.

Since January 2019, Catherine Alvaresse has been head of documentaries for France Télévisions Group. Previously, she served as head of documentaries and cultural magazines of France 2, from 2016 to 2019, and as the deputy director of Specialist Factual Department at ARTE France from 2011 to 2016. She served as a deputy managing director at Europe Images International from 2007 to 2011, director of International Co-productions for Boreales from 2006 to 2007, and director of Acquisitions and International Co-productions at Tele Images International from 2004 to 2006. She is an award-winning international distributor and co-producer of factual programming.

Yuri is the Senior Producer of the Unit focusing on Non-linear Content Development and creating New Media Services on Emerging Media Platforms. Prior to that, he was Senior Producer to the International Co-Productions Team at NHK, with assignments as developing and coordinating various international co-production projects, many of which winning various awards and prizes. Yuri has over 20 years of directing/producing experience at the in-house production team of the network, credited for the development of nationally renowned documentary series and new history formats.

Since Takeshi Shibasaki joined NHK in 1997 he has worked on programs about science, nature and the environment. As a highly experienced mountain climber, he has put his outdoor experience to good use when researching and shooting the Arctic Ocean, the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, alpine glaciers and other places where the environment is changing. His directing and producing credits include 3D Planet Live, Total Solar Eclipse, Crumbling Earth, Deep-Sea Exploration: Tracing the Birth of Life and The Sea of Zipang, as well as award-winning The Arctic Circle, which was co-produced by NHK, Telepool GmbH and National Film Board of Canada, in association with Discovery Channel Canada, and Peabody Award–winning Surviving the Tsunami. Shibasaki is now the editor of the weekly science program Cosmic Front, actively making use of 4K/8K and VR technology encompassing planetarium and game use. He is also in charge of the 4K-UHD Live Transmission from Antarctica.

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Simon Young works in the Specialist Factual Department at the BBC, commissioning series such as A Dangerous Dynasty: The House of Assad and Rise of the Nazis, as well as feature docs such as Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein. He has experience on the channel and production sides for British, US and global broadcasters. Before taking up his present position, Simon worked at National Geographic Channel and started out in independent production, making films such as the award-winning Richard III: The King in the Car Park.

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Since its expansion into international markets three years ago, Kohta has managed and led development for YouTube Originals in Asia-Pacific. He has overseen releases across multiple verticals and genres, from scripted features with Japan's biggest Creators (STALKING VAMPIRE), collaborative music specials with Marvel Comics and Disney (RE:IMAGINE) and global hit music series (BTS: BURN THE STAGE). Before leading Originals in APAC, he was the APAC regional lead for the Creator Lab at the YouTube Spaces. Prior to joining Google, Kohta was a director based in NYC, where he was born and raised.

Adam Bolt is an Emmy-winning documentarian who believes film can tell complex stories to wide audiences. His latest work, Human Nature, explores the science and ethics of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene editing technology. Adam also edited and co-wrote the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job, about the 2008 financial crisis, and was a senior producer, editor, and writer on Showtime’s award-winning climate change series Years of Living Dangerously. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he also serves as director of The Edit Center, an innovative filmmaking school that fosters collaboration between editing students and up-and-coming independent filmmakers.

Alex is Head of Owned Channels at Little Dot Studios, a next generation broadcaster and producer. Alex looks after a department of over 20 channel brands, including Real Stories, a premium documentary channel, and Timeline, a specialist history channel. They all broadcast on YouTube, Facebook Watch, IGTV, Snapchat, Amazon and Roku—reaching millions of viewers every day. As part of this role Alex acquires and commissions documentary and factual content from international producers and distributors.

Mariko Ide is a content producer based in Tokyo for short documentary films at Yahoo! JAPAN’s CREATORS Program, an original digital platform launched in 2018, with the mission to deliver stories that triggers the audience to take action in their everyday lives. With a background as an editor for documentary films, she hopes to help build a creator-first environment as a platform, aiming to find new form of documentary storytelling.

Danielle Steinberg is currently the digital lead for PBS NATURE. She was a founding member of PBS Digital Studios, PBS' original digital network of educational series, where she began her career before moving to National Geographic, also contributing to Nat Geo's first digital series. Before NATURE, she built the video team and strategy for Gizmodo and its environmental vertical, Earther. Danielle hopes to continue creating educational and entertaining content with a focus on science, conservation, exploration, wildlife, and the environment.

In 1990, Takahiro enters NHK as a documentary director. After the Fukushima disaster, he has co-produced programs related to the issue, such as Spaceship Earth and David Suzuki: Journey to the Disaster Zone. He also co-produced My Atomic Aunt. In 2015, Hot Docs recognized Takahiro with their Doc Mogul Award, given to recognize his essential contribution to the creative vitality of the documentary industry.

Kay Siering is Managing Director of SPIEGEL TV. Siering studied political science, history, and journalism at the University of Hamburg and Harvard University in the USA. From 2003 to 2014, he produced reports and documentaries for SPIEGEL TV. He subsequently served as Deputy Chief Editor of the production company through the end of 2018 before being appointed Managing Director of SPIEGEL TV in January 2019. As producer, he is responsible for the production of series and documentaries for both public and private television broadcasters in Germany as well as for international co-productions. Since November 2010, Siering has been a regular stand-in moderator for Maria Gresz on SPIEGEL TV (RTL).

Minori Takao lived in England and in Egypt during her childhood. While studying international relations at International Christian University, she started working as a freelance reporter, radio MC, and translator in 1995. Her first news anchoring experience came in 1998, and she has since continued that career.

Currently, she is the main anchor of NHK World’s daily news program, NHK Newsline. She also became an NHK employee, and has produce numerous features and documentaries about Japan and other Asian countries, covering everything from politics, economics, culture, and entertainment.

Most notably, she has spent much time reporting on the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and its aftermath. She also covered the 2016 US presidential election and reported live hour after hour from New York the incoming results to viewers around the world.

Xiao Long is an independent producer for documentary and factual content, and a curator for documentary film festivals and events. 
 He is the producer or co-producer of the feature-length documentaries of Daughter of Shanghai (2018) and The Champion of the Nature (2017). He is also the co-producer of TV series of the Golf Course of Britain and Ireland (2019), The Great Barrier Reef Wild Life (2019), the Golden Ribbon Short Documentary Initiative in 2018 with ABU and CITVC and more.

Xiao Long is the Co-founder and Director of FreshPitch (www.freshpitch.net), a factual content conference in Suzhou city of China since 2016; the Co-founder and Permanent Secretory of Beijing International Film Festival Documentary Sector (BJIFF DOC) since 2014; the Experts and Writer of Study Report of The Development of Chinese Documentary since 2015; the Founder and Host of Wenjin Documentary Screening in National Library Arts Center since 2017, etc.

Bo Zhang, commissioning editor and documentary producer, focuses on co-financing and co-producing international factual content for bilibili.com, a swiss-knife like online platform for Chinese young generations. For the past nine years, Bo Zhang has produced China-themed documentaries for top-notch broadcasters like Discovery, NatGeo, NHK, History Channel, CCTV-Documentary Channel and France TV, with world-renowned production houses like NHNZ, Beach House, IFA, Brian Leith Productions and Roast Beef Productions.

Satoshi is a professor of astronomy at National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. He joined the observatory in 1996 and since then, he has been developing astronomical instrumentations and carrying out astronomy studies using the instruments. The latest instrument that he developed as a PI is a wide field camera for 8.2 m Subaru Telescope, which they call Hyper Suprime-Cam.

Michitaro is a software engineer of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. He is developing software for astronomical instrumentations. Among them, the novel software that he created is a “hscMap” that enables browsing through massive images of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). The striking performance has actually changed the style of astronomy researches.

Hiroshi Ishiguro received a D. Eng. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009-) and Distinguished Professor of Osaka University (2017-). He is also visiting Director (2014-) (group leader: 2002-2013) of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and an ATR fellow. His research interests include sensor networks, interactive robotics, and android science.

Judy Rymer has been directing and producing drama and documentary films for the past 30 years. Her work covers a wide range of subjects concentrating on social and political history and science. Most recently she produced I Will Not Be Silenced, following an Australian woman's test case for rape through the Kenyan Courts. She is currently producing a feature length documentary on human rights, terrorism and refugees with Barrister Julian Burnside and a series on the rollercoaster of challenges faced in commercialising a scientific discovery.

Carolyn Payne is a Commissioning Editor for National Geographic, working across both development and production. Since the launch of Nat Geo’s 2.0 “fewer, bigger, better” commissioning strategy, Carolyn has developed, commissioned, and executive produced major premium factual series, most notably the Emmy-winning Inside North Korea’s Dynasty and Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist.

Carolyn scaled up the Drain the Oceans franchise, transforming it from a series of successful singles to a ten part returning series that continues to rate highly around the world. Other global hit shows Carolyn has developed and produced include Ultimate Survival WWII, Primal Survivor, Lost Treasures of the Maya Snake Kings, Viking Warrior Women and Fiennes Return to the Nile.

Carolyn has commissioned a number of timely space singles such as Rookie Moonshot, Comet Catcher: The Rosetta Landing, Mission to the Sun, and Mission Pluto.

Prior to working for Nat Geo, Carolyn was a freelance producer, making award-winning shows, such as the Children’s BAFTA-winning Operation Ouch and Election, BBC’s World’s Strictest Parents, and Nat Geo’s The Witch Doctor Will See You Now.

Jonah Weston is Commissioning Editor for Science and Adventure in the Specialist Factual Department at Channel 4. Since arriving at Channel 4 eight months ago, he has overseen the highly successful reformatting of civilian SAS, and delivered the first celebrity version of the show. As well as SAS, he has commissioned a new round of Guy Martin adventures, which see everyone’s favourite ‘bloke next door’ tackle some more dangerous stunts than ever.

Ed Hersh is the founder and principal of StoryCentric, a New York‐based company that provides insight to content producers and networks on development, production and storytelling strategies as well as the evolving media marketplace.

His clients include Discovery Communications, major non-fiction production companies in the US and Canada, and WNET/PBS in New York, where serves as a senior programming consultant.

He rejoined StoryCentric in March of 2013 after nearly four years at Discovery Communications as Senior Vice President, Content Strategy for the Military Channel and before that, as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning for Investigation Discovery.

He also spent seven years at Court TV as a programming executive at A&E, ,and 16 years at ABC News in senior production and programming positions.

He is a graduate of Syracuse University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and currently serves on the adjunct faculty of SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Steve Burns is founder and EP at Roller Coaster Road Productions and continues as Special Advisor to CuriosityStream where he recently retired as Chief Content Officer.

His career spans more than 25 years from National Geographic cinematographer/ producer to senior executive positions at Discovery Networks, including GM of Science Channel, returning to National Geographic as Executive Vice President of Global Content for NGC worldwide. Before CuriosityStream, Burns was a freelance Executive Producer for WNET/ NY's long-running Secrets of the Dead series for PBS in the U.S.

He has won multiple industry awards, including two Emmys for Five Years on Mars and Spirit of the Rainforest. His teams have been nominated for two Academy Awards, won two Peabody Awards and well over 200 Emmy nominations, including dozens of wins, most recently Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places in 2017.

Stéphane Millière is an author, producer and CEO of Gedeon Media Group including five production and one distribution companies: Gedeon Programmes, MC4, Docland Yard, Biloba Films, Terranoa International. With more than 2000 documentaries for TV, and 20 features docs, Gedeon Media Group is one of the leading French producers in the fields of History, Science, Nature, Art & Culture films with over 400 awards from international film festivals.

Roei Amit is head of Digital at the RMN-GP, RMN - Grand Palais, in support of the digital strategy, digital production and distribution; multimedia, digital mediation, communication and media assets. Roei is the former head of Multimedia Publishing at INA, French Audiovisual National Institute and has a PhD in Social Science and Philosophy, EHESS; Professor for Digital and Multimedia.

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Gerd Maria May has been working in journalism for the last 20 years. She has held positions in TV, radio, web and newspaper, as reporter, anchor and head of news. For the last ten years heading media innovation. She has worked primarily with digital transformation, local journalism and constructive journalism.

Along with a position as journalistic associated professor at University of Southern Denmark, teaching journalism.

Gerd has, for five years, held a position as head of editorial development at Jysk Fynske Medier, which is the second largest private danish media company.

Most recent Gerd received a fellowship at Constructive Institute, where she spend a year studying constructive journalism.

Today Gerd is heading big projects with constructive media development in Denmark, teaching and she has just finished writing the first danish textbook about constructive journalism.

Kevin Newman is host and Executive Producer of the ground-breaking podcast Attention Control with Kevin Newman. It is the first charity-funded independent journalistic podcast in Canada, in association with McGill University in Montreal.

Kevin has a proven record of innovation in Canadian journalism. He guided the development and success of Global National as the country’s third national newscast and also the first news podcast on Apple’s iTunes. He later created the innovative Kevin Newman Live for CTV, and was Bell Media’s Digital News Evangelist. While co-anchoring World News Now at ABC News in the U.S., his newscast was the first live streamed on the internet in 1995. Kevin also served for six years on the Board of Directors for the Communitech Hub in Waterloo Ontario which is Canada’s leading start-up incubator. He has created television series and iPad content through his independent company, NewMan Media Ltd.

Kevin’s career in television journalism is exceptional in North America. He has been host and managing editor of CTV’s Investigative series W5, host and executive editor of Global National, co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America, host of CBC’s Midday, national/international correspondent for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline with Ted Koppel, and parliamentary correspondent for CBC's The National, CTV National News and Global News. Along with his son Alex, Kevin co-authored the best selling memoir All Out. He has been awarded multiple Emmy, Gemini, Edward R. Murrow and RTDNA awards, and holds an Honourary Doctorate from Western University granted in 2011. He resides in Toronto, Canada with his wife Cathy.

Naoki has been serving as the senior producer of the NHK’s flagship current-affairs program Today’s Close-Up and developing new formats of investigative journalism. His latest project Open Journalism Project, which initiated and has played a leading role, aims to solve social issues through facilitating collective intelligence of the public by engaging online media and television broadcast. He is a dedicated director/producer with over 15 years' career in factual programming.

Adam Rymer is the CEO of Omnislash, an emerging data platform for gamers. He was most recently President of Legendary Digital Networks where he oversaw all day-to-day business for LDN's digital media brands including Nerdist, Geek & Sundry, and Smart Girls.

Previously he was COO/CFO/Co-founder of film finance/production company, Lava Bear Films. Prior to Lava Bear, Rymer spent eight years at Universal Pictures, most recently as SVP, Digital Platforms, where he spearheaded the studio’s new business initiatives through emerging channels including mobile, interactive games and digital cinema.

He has also had strategy and business development roles at Universal Music and early internet start-ups. He began his professional career as an associate at L.E.K Consulting.

Rymer earned an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a BA in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

Caitlin Saks is a producer for the science series NOVA on PBS. She is currently producing and co-hosting the digital series Polar Extremes Antarctica, as well as hosting the companion online game, the Polar Lab. Caitlin’s other climate-related production credits include co-producing NOVA's Emmy-nominated two-hour television special on climate change, Decoding the Weather Machine, and the virtual reality experience Greenland Melting. Previously, as science editor for NOVA, Caitlin developed the story content for the series, including the Emmy-nominated and Kavli Award–winning film Poisoned Water. Before joining NOVA, Caitlin worked on award-winning films for FRONTLINE, including League of Denial, The Choice 2012, and Money, Power, and Wall Street.

Ken Kawashima moved to Tokyo from his native Canada at age 19, and began his career as a radio disc-jockey for major FM radio stations in the Tokyo area, including Bay-FM 78, FM NACK-5 and TV Kanagawa, where he hosted a weekly video show featuring the latest hip-hop and alternative rock acts. From 2000 onwards, he began his career in journalism, first as music editor for The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, and later as a regular contributing writer for TIME Magazine, The International Herald Tribune and The Japan Times, where he wrote on the latest cultural trends in Japan. He moved into the game industry after witnessing the huge artistic and technological advancements in video games, first working at Square Enix in 2014 as the global correspondent for the FINAL FANTASY XV franchise, headed by Hajime Tabata, and now as the Global Account Manager for Tabata’s startup JP GAMES from 2019.

With a passion for creating bridges between different worlds, Deborah is in charge of bringing into play Ubisoft’s brands and expertise beyond video games, including Live Entertainment and VR experiences. An appreciated deal maker and inspiring leader, she also develops strategic and technology alliances with companies from other industries looking for Ubisoft’s broad range of expertise, ranging from automobile or architecture to health and cultural institutions.

A graduate from ESCP Business School (Paris) and Drexel LeBow MBA (Philadelphia), Deborah joined Ubisoft in 1997 as a Marketing Manager. She then headed up Emea Business Development for 10 years before becoming Managing Director of Ubisoft Partners, supervising third parties game development, for 5 years. She created the New Business department in 2015 and has been leading its expansion since then.

Caroline Behar is now Head of International Coproductions for the France Television Group covering France 2, France 3 and France 5 with all thematics: Science and Discovery, Natural History, History, Investigation and Currents Affairs and the Natural World. She was previously Head of Documentaries at France 5, both for French and International productions.

Clare Birks has spent her career working in the production, co-production and distribution business. She has been running Oxford Scientific Films since 2004 transforming the business into a company with a reputation for creative excellence and innovation combined with commercial acumen. OSF’s output has increased considerably and the range of program has expanded beyond natural history to include science, history, archaeology, arts and culture, and most recently documentaries. Her experience of the international market has enabled OSF to produce award-winning high-end series such as Richard Hammond’s Miracles of Nature and Wild Weather in co-production with Terra Mater Factual Studios. Giant screen experience followed with Meerkats 3D and Pandas: The Journey Home both for National Geographic and Sky. New projects include high-end natural history series with the BBC, Terra Mater, ABC, PBS and CJ E&M Korea.

Alison Leigh was Editorial Director of WCSFP for almost two decades. Under her direction the WCSFP session program acquired the reputation of being the world’s best for tracking the trends and engaging in provocative and engrossing debate around issues affecting our genre. Previously, she played a leading role in producing and commissioning science TV programs in Australia, including six years as Series Producer and then Executive Producer ABC TV Science Unit. Alison helped develop National Science Week in Australia and is a founder member and past President of the Australian Science Communicators. Along with some of her ASC colleagues, she is currently involved in a series of initiatives aimed at mobilising large numbers of institutions and individuals to align and to push for effective policies and strategies to manage the climate emergency and other environmental tipping points.

Lee Constable is a presenter and producer with a focus on science, technology and society. As the host of Australian science TV show, Scope, she researches, writes, presents and produces segments on diverse STEM topics. Lee’s background is in both science and humanities with a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science Communication. She has toured remote and regional Australia as a Questacon Science Circus presenter; founded, produced and hosted social justice and sustainability radio show SoapBox; and is the founder of Co-Lab: Science Meets Street Art, where collaborations between scientists and street artists result in science-inspired murals that evolve live for the public. This year Lee was on board the largest ever all-female expedition to Antarctica with 80 international women in STEMM. Lee filmed this adventure and is currently developing a YouTube series about the experience and the role of women in the planet’s future.

Since January 2019, Catherine Alvaresse has been head of documentaries for France Télévisions Group. Previously, she served as head of documentaries and cultural magazines of France 2, from 2016 to 2019, and as the deputy director of Specialist Factual Department at ARTE France from 2011 to 2016. She served as a deputy managing director at Europe Images International from 2007 to 2011, director of International Co-productions for Boreales from 2006 to 2007, and director of Acquisitions and International Co-productions at Tele Images International from 2004 to 2006. She is an award-winning international distributor and co-producer of factual programming.

Matthew Shribman is a scientist, environmentalist and musician. His science videos have over 25 million views online, and he has appeared on Comedy Centrel, ITV News and the BBC’s Today Programme and Blue Peter. He has given talks for the likes of TEDx London, UN Ops, The British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Extinction Rebellion.

A member of 1% For The Planet and the Patagonia Change Makers Community, Matthew’s collaboration credits range from the Plastic Oceans Foundation to the French Research Institute For Development.

In 2019, Matthew organised for 1,000 trees to appear outside the UK parliament. Over 2/3 of MPs, from all parties, came to collect a tree, in the words of Ed Miliband: "I think you’ve changed the conversation."

In 2018, Matthew began the #NoBeef campaign, which is now supported by Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, the University of Cambridge, Goldsmiths University of London, and academics around the world.

Matthew has also written and recorded music that has been supported by BBC Radio 1, The Times, The Guardian and NME. His musical stage name is Ash Lad.

Bill Gardner oversees content strategy, development and production for the PBS Primetime schedule in the genres of history, culture, natural history and science.

During his time at PBS, projects he commissioned or oversaw have won three Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Dupont-Columbia Award, an Imagen Award, an NAACP Image Award and numerous Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Wildscreen Awards. A specialist in assembling and managing international co-productions, projects he’s collaborated on or commissioned have also earned several BAFTA and Grierson Awards.

Before joining PBS in 2012, Gardner spent over a decade in the independent production world, working as director, producer, writer and show runner on projects for multiple global networks, with production experience in over 30 countries, including spending two months embedded with US Special Forces in Baghdad.

Bill holds a Masters Degree in cultural anthropology, speaks Arabic and has taught university courses in Arkansas and Marrakech, Morocco.

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Joseph Maxwell is head of Documentaries for SBS, Australia. Joseph started at SBS as Commissioning Editor in January 2012. Prior to this, Joseph developed, directed and produced high end prime time documentaries for most of the major broadcasters in Britain. He also set up and ran his own production company, securing major international co-productions in France and USA. In April 2016, Joseph became Head of Documentaries at SBS.

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Since January 2019, Catherine Alvaresse has been head of documentaries for France Télévisions Group. Previously, she served as head of documentaries and cultural magazines of France 2, from 2016 to 2019, and as the deputy director of Specialist Factual Department at ARTE France from 2011 to 2016. She served as a deputy managing director at Europe Images International from 2007 to 2011, director of International Co-productions for Boreales from 2006 to 2007, and director of Acquisitions and International Co-productions at Tele Images International from 2004 to 2006. She is an award-winning international distributor and co-producer of factual programming.

Caroline Behar is now Head of International Coproductions for the France Television Group covering France 2, France 3 and France 5 with all thematics: Science and Discovery, Natural History, History, Investigation and Currents Affairs and the Natural World. She was previously Head of Documentaries at France 5, both for French and International productions.

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Carlyn Staudt leads the global programming strategy of Love Nature’s linear platform internationally and commissions original content to grow the brand’s extensive library of 4K natural history programming. Prior to this, Staudt held numerous roles at National Geographic. As SVP, Global Programming and Managing Director for National Geographic Channels International’s operations in Washington DC, Staudt was responsible for spearheading co-production partnerships and global acquisitions across NGCI’s suite of channels. Staudt also served as Channel Manager for Nat Geo Wild internationally, charged with increasing the network’s footprint and managing all content, both commissioned and acquired.

Joy Ng is a video producer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She splits her time between Earth and sun science, covering stories from the effects of climate change on hurricane intensity to the mystery of the sun’s atmosphere, which is much hotter than its surface. Joy was recognized as one of NASA’s Videographers of the Year for her work documenting a field and airborne campaign to better understand water storage in snow over Colorado’s mountains. Her work at NASA has been featured by The Washington Post, NPR, The New York Times, and Vox. She has worked on productions for PBS, Discovery, National Geographic, The Royal Institution, and The Royal Society. She is a former biologist and a graduate of Imperial College London’s Science Communication Unit. She grew up in the UK and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Kate Pappas is a hands-on Creative Producer whose dedication to understanding the world around her has led to a rewarding career in documentary filmmaking. Since cutting her teeth in London in the wonderful world of kids' science TV, she has worked across a diverse and award-winning slate. Kate has subsequently Produced, Co-Produced, Series Produced and Line Produced around 30 hours of television and works regularly with Genepool Productions, WildBear Entertainment, Chemical Media and Renegade Films. Recent credits include art/science documentary Deception By Design (ABC/OFT); feature documentary Westwind: Djalu’s Legacy (NiTV/MIFF Premier Fund/Madman Ent.) and 11 hours of blue-chip wildlife films with Wild Bear Entertainment. Most recently, she has been at Genepool Productions working across their development slate as well as working with WildBear Entertainment on feature documentary Valerie. In 2018, Kate established Wilding Productions, where she will pursue her passion for telling stories that illuminate the wonders of our natural world.

Since joining the NHK's CG/VFX team in 2005, Yoshiyuki Ito has been a key player in data visualisation for science and news programming, and visual effects for fictional programming. The works he participated include the multi-award-winning Miracle Body series, the Megaquake series co-produced with NGCI, and a three-year drama series Clouds Above the Hill based on a Japanese historical novel by Ryotaro Shiba. Besides his creative work, he is currently working on re-designing CG/VFX production workflow within the network to achieve efficient production environment.

Dan Kendall has a reputation for delivering award-winning, high impact, television for global audiences. Since joining Windfall Films in 2016, he has been a key figure in the company’s creative growth – helping devise and produce hit returnable formats for the US and international markets, series and singles for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, and Windfall’s first ever project for an IMAX feature.

With over 20 years production experience, his track record features awards and ratings success across many genres; from History Channel’s Emmy-nominated drama based “mega-documentary” Mankind: The Story of All of Us, CBC’s Lost Secrets of the Pyramid (winner: Canadian Screen Award), Channel 4’s headline grabbing live events Surgery Live (winner: Broadcast Digital Award, nominated Banff Rockie Award), Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial (winner: AIB Science Award) to BBC Two’s history of the Web, The Virtual Revolution (winner: International Digital EMMY, BAFTA New Media Award).

Michael Grotenhoff is the co-owner of Filmtank, producer and director of international multi-award-winning transmedia projects and TV-documentaries (e.g. “netwars/ out of CTRL” won i.a. Grimme Online Award, Japan Prize, Prix Italia, SXSW Interactive Innovation Award in 2015). Grotenhoff has a degrees in theatre, film and television studies, journalism and politics. His main focus has consistently remained on digital advancements; and as a result, most of his films deal with the digitalisation of society. Grotenhoff is an internationally sought-after guest lecturer for the development and production of cross-media projects. International jury activities (such as Lovie Award). He is a Fellow of the Cultural and Creative Industries Initiative of the Federal Government.

Michael's latest production is the crossmedia project DELTAS, with the internationally award-winning VR Experience Inside Tumucumaque (Japan Prize Nominee 2018, Annual Multimedia Gold Award 2019, Special Jury Mention Raindance Festival 2018, Red Dot Award 2018).

He is currently in production on MYRIAD – Through The Eyes Of Many, a moving crossmedia storytelling experience that allows viewers to understand the Earth as planet as a highly interconnected organism through the raw beauty of animal migration, from the small insect to the big mammal, a window to the profound changes in our shared planet’s global ecosystem.

Yoshinori Tsutsui has spent his 20 years’ career working in science program production, specialised in astronomy and 8K/4K production. His latest works include Space Spectacle: The Mission of Hayabusa 2, a documentary following the JAXA’s mission of an asteroid explorer Hayabusa 2; BETELGEUSE: Death of a Super Star, a part of the NHK’s long-running series Cosmic Front; and an 8K/4K program ANTARCTICA: The Frozen Time Capsule in co-production with SVT.

Emily Baustien serves as Development Manager for Discovery Channel and Discovery Science Channel. In her role, she works with producers to develop and produce primetime series and specials for both networks. Prior to Discovery, Emily worked at Netflix and Authentic Entertainment. She is based out of Discovery’s West Coast office in Los Angeles, California.

Lucinda Axelsson is a multi-award winning executive producer with Oxford Scientific Films, and former BBC Commissioning Editor and BBC NHU producer. She executive produced Serengeti a pioneering wildlife-meets-drama series for Discovery and the BBC where she created the complex interwoven storylines that are it's hallmark.

As a series producer Lucinda was responsible for co-creating the Emmy Award–winning Meerkat Manor with OSF, where for the first time the dramatic narrative techniques of the soap opera were used to reveal the intricate social lives of animals.

She breathed new life in the Blue Chip landmark space with highly rated series on Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Patagonia, Mexico, Thailand and Alaska. She commissioned highly rated shows including Spy in the Wild, Snow Chick and Pets Wild at Heart for JDP, the BAFTA-nominated Attenborough's Life that Glows, and Tribes, Predators and Me , featuring Gordon Buchanan with the NHU.

Judith Curran is a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker with a sideline in drama. Since joining internationally renowned factual production company NHNZ, Judith has been the powerhouse behind a diverse range of high profile shows for numerous networks.

Recently Judith has created Orangutan Jungle School (20 hours for Love Nature plus 6 hours for Channel 4 UK), Our Big Blue Backyard (12 hours blue chip underwater/wildlife for TVNZ and International), and three wildlife specials for Nat Geo Wild: Savage Island Giants, Penguin Central and Wild Dolphins. She also wrote and produced the feature length documentary The End of the Wild (CCTV9) credited with galvanising a massive attitude change in China towards illegal marketing of elephant ivory and rhino horn.

Her drama skills, honed as a playwright at Australia’s N.I.D.A. (National Institute of Dramatic Arts), have always influenced her narrative vision which has been a critical part of her success.

Jo Shinner has worked in the Natural History Unit since 2011. She exec-produced BBC1 series Earth From Space, Animals Behaving Badly, Koko: the Gorilla who Talks To People, Nature’s Miracle Orphans, Animal Super Parents, Nature’s Greatest Dancers, and BBC2 series Animal Babies: First Year On Earth, Big Cats About The House, Nature’s Weirdest Events, and Earth’s Greatest Spectacles. Previous projects as Series Producer have included BBC1 series Super Smart Animals and Monkey Planet.

Jo has also worked across a broad children’s portfolio including CBBC’s Deadly 60, Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature and Wild And Weird, and Cbeebies Andy’s Safari Adventures.

Prior to joining the NHU, Jo worked at Tigress Productions, producing wildlife investigative drama reconstruction documentaries Nature Shock (National Geographic/Channel 5) and an original series for National Geographic Wild Channel Wild Case Files. Jo has also produced various features, music and art documentaries, and observational documentaries across a wide range of subjects for BBC One, Two, Three, Four, Channel 5 over twenty-five years in TV.

Bill Gardner oversees content strategy, development and production for the PBS Primetime schedule in the genres of history, culture, natural history and science.

During his time at PBS, projects he commissioned or oversaw have won three Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Dupont-Columbia Award, an Imagen Award, an NAACP Image Award and numerous Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Wildscreen Awards. A specialist in assembling and managing international co-productions, projects he’s collaborated on or commissioned have also earned several BAFTA and Grierson Awards.

Before joining PBS in 2012, Gardner spent over a decade in the independent production world, working as director, producer, writer and show runner on projects for multiple global networks, with production experience in over 30 countries, including spending two months embedded with US Special Forces in Baghdad.

Bill holds a Masters Degree in cultural anthropology, speaks Arabic and has taught university courses in Arkansas and Marrakech, Morocco.

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Mariko Ide is a content producer based in Tokyo for short documentary films at Yahoo! JAPAN’s CREATORS Program, an original digital platform launched in 2018, with the mission to deliver stories that triggers the audience to take action in their everyday lives. With a background as an editor for documentary films, she hopes to help build a creator-first environment as a platform, aiming to find new form of documentary storytelling.

Yuri is the Senior Producer of the Unit focusing on Non-linear Content Development and creating New Media Services on Emerging Media Platforms. Prior to that, he was Senior Producer to the International Co-Productions Team at NHK, with assignments as developing and coordinating various international co-production projects, many of which winning various awards and prizes. Yuri has over 20 years of directing/producing experience at the in-house production team of the network, credited for the development of nationally renowned documentary series and new history formats.

As Executive Producer of Global Content Development Division of NHK's Programming Department, Horie has been supervising the teams involved in international businesses including both exploitation and acquisition of programs, since 2016, including three years as the head of the department, (2016-19), making use of her long experience in international co-production works at NHK as well as her powerful relationships with international partners.

Kazuteru Hayashi is a visionary director and producer specialised in educational programming. Kazuteru joined NHK at the year of 2000. Since then, he has been producing documentaries for kids and youth, while leading educational content development featuring nature, science and technology topics, including Insects are Genius!, Think Like a Crow! - The Scientific Method, Why!? Programming, Rules: The Beautiful Math, and Dear Teenage Me.

Takayuki Ueda is a producer of the factual entertainment series In the Middle of Nowhere. This primetime show, which hit a record of a 20.8% rating and a 29.0% share at the most competitive Sunday slot, visits and discovers stories of residents of a house who reside, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Takayuki Ueda initiated his career as a radio director. He then developed his skills in the sphere of television where he has produced a wide range of programs, cooking, quiz and factual entertainment. One of his renowned works is The Before and After, a weekly home renovation show aiming to solve a family issue through re-designing their house, where he found inspiration for his current series In the Middle of Nowhere.

Since joining TV Tokyo Corporation in 1991, Jun Matsuzawa has been applying his curiosity and expertise to produce factual entertainment and music programming for more than three decades. His programs are unique and creative, addressing social issues while being family entertainment. His latest series Pond Busters was a national phenomenon. Aired on a Sunday primetime slot, this factual entertainment drains ponds around Japan to clean litter and, most importantly, remove damaging invasive species from their non-native environment.

Akihiko Nakai has a reputation for delivering blue-chip science documentaries for global audiences. While leading a weekly series Cosmic Front, he has been developing contents to push the boundaries of existing science television. Life science, cutting-edge technology and science journalism are of his interests. Akihiko is currently involved in the production of documentaries tracing origins of foods, and exploring history and philosophy behind Oriental medicine.

Dan Kendall has a reputation for delivering award-winning, high impact, television for global audiences. Since joining Windfall Films in 2016, he has been a key figure in the company’s creative growth – helping devise and produce hit returnable formats for the US and international markets, series and singles for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, and Windfall’s first ever project for an IMAX feature.

With over 20 years production experience, his track record features awards and ratings success across many genres; from History Channel’s Emmy-nominated drama based “mega-documentary” Mankind: The Story of All of Us, CBC’s Lost Secrets of the Pyramid (winner: Canadian Screen Award), Channel 4’s headline grabbing live events Surgery Live (winner: Broadcast Digital Award, nominated Banff Rockie Award), Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial (winner: AIB Science Award) to BBC Two’s history of the Web, The Virtual Revolution (winner: International Digital EMMY, BAFTA New Media Award).

Ruth Berry is an award-winning producer, director and writer of blue chip factual programming; content developer, natural history illustrator, moderator and trainer. She loves dinosaurs, Neanderthals, B movie monsters and killer marsupials. Her films have appeared on most broadcast networks including National Geographic, BBC, Discovery, ABC, PBS, ARTE and CBC. Ruth likes to combine her skills as an artist with the discipline of film production to extend story telling style and vision. She is a consultant and freelance producer for Terra Mater Factual studios in Vienna.

Dinah is co-founder and managing director of Caravan. Her most recent awards include the 2015 BAFTA for Best Factual Series, the 2015 Royal Television Society Award for Best Arts Series, the 2014 BAFTA for Best Factual Series, and two Grierson awards. Among her other awards are a Wincott business award, a Digital Emmy and Cable Ace award nominations. Before she founded Caravan, Dinah was a filmmaker in observational, arts, music and science, and also ran a BAFTA-winning crime and investigative documentary series, over her 27-year career at the BBC latterly as creative executive producer. In this role she oversaw content creation and delivery for the BBC’s main London Factual department. Dinah then spent five years making international co-productions in the independent sector.

Maia Krall Fry is an independent producer/director, having moved from fiction film into science documentaries after studying Earth Sciences. Recent independent doc commissions include shorts for BBC Four and Guardian Documentaries. These projects are produced alongside her full-time work on longform content at Windfall Films. Previous independent work, including the feature film Ebony Road, has been supported by Film 4, The Guardian, the BFI, and BBC. Targeting her experience to entertaining fiction and academia was a conscious decision to break into factual content production with the widest applicable expertise. In 2015, Maia attended WCSFP as part of the Wellcome Trust Mentoring Program for Emerging Talent. In 2016 and 2017, as session producer of The Ideas Salon. She was named as a Broadcast Magazine Hotshot in 2017.

Caroline Behar is now Head of International Coproductions for the France Television Group covering France 2, France 3 and France 5 with all thematics: Science and Discovery, Natural History, History, Investigation and Currents Affairs and the Natural World. She was previously Head of Documentaries at France 5, both for French and International productions.

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As Head of Specialist Factual, Fatima Salaria is responsible for History, Science, Natural History, Arts and Adventure. The department produces everything from SAS, Grayson Perry, Guy Martin and critically acclaimed single films like 100 Vaginas and Three Identical Strangers. Prior to joining Channel 4, Fatima was Commissioning Editor for Religion at the BBC. She commissioned award-winning Muslims Like Us, Abortion on Trial, We Are British Jews and The Pilgrimage, and curated the Black and British and the Partition seasons for BBC2, along with many other series and single films across BBC One, Two and Four.

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Carolyn Payne is a Commissioning Editor for National Geographic, working across both development and production. Since the launch of Nat Geo’s 2.0 “fewer, bigger, better” commissioning strategy, Carolyn has developed, commissioned, and executive produced major premium factual series, most notably the Emmy-winning Inside North Korea’s Dynasty and Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist.

Carolyn scaled up the Drain the Oceans franchise, transforming it from a series of successful singles to a ten part returning series that continues to rate highly around the world. Other global hit shows Carolyn has developed and produced include Ultimate Survival WWII, Primal Survivor, Lost Treasures of the Maya Snake Kings, Viking Warrior Women and Fiennes Return to the Nile.

Carolyn has commissioned a number of timely space singles such as Rookie Moonshot, Comet Catcher: The Rosetta Landing, Mission to the Sun, and Mission Pluto.

Prior to working for Nat Geo, Carolyn was a freelance producer, making award-winning shows, such as the Children’s BAFTA-winning Operation Ouch and Election, BBC’s World’s Strictest Parents, and Nat Geo’s The Witch Doctor Will See You Now.

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Bill Gardner oversees content strategy, development and production for the PBS Primetime schedule in the genres of history, culture, natural history and science.

During his time at PBS, projects he commissioned or oversaw have won three Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Dupont-Columbia Award, an Imagen Award, an NAACP Image Award and numerous Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Wildscreen Awards. A specialist in assembling and managing international co-productions, projects he’s collaborated on or commissioned have also earned several BAFTA and Grierson Awards.

Before joining PBS in 2012, Gardner spent over a decade in the independent production world, working as director, producer, writer and show runner on projects for multiple global networks, with production experience in over 30 countries, including spending two months embedded with US Special Forces in Baghdad.

Bill holds a Masters Degree in cultural anthropology, speaks Arabic and has taught university courses in Arkansas and Marrakech, Morocco.

With over 15 years of experience in this industry, Gaston Chedufau has worked in Argentina, Spain and Chile, producing five films, several TV shows and web series, most of them internationally awarded. He joined LAS MINAS SmartMedia in 2010 to manage production and develop new formats.

An Emerging Producer at WCSFP in 2013, he's now playing in the field of science communication attending global events as jury, such as Academia Film Olomouc (2017) and SMASH (2018). In 2016 Gaston started coordinating the Chilean Association of Science & Factual Producers.

At present, he is producing a biopic documentary focusing on the famous Colombian biologist Mrs. Brigitte Baptiste.

Since 2018, Gaston has sat on the board of directors of the Film & TV Producers Chamber and Associate at EGEDA (Entity for Copyright Management). Mr. Chedufau is persuaded of the global appeal of scientific content and aware of all the wonderful things happening in the Southern Hemisphere.

Brigitte Baptiste is currently the Chancellor for Ean University. She is a Biologist graduated of Javeriana University. She has a Master Master in Latin American Studies University of Florida, with additional postgraduate studies in Environmental Sciences of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and a Ph.D in Environmental Engineering (Honoris Causa).

Researcher and teacher in cultural landscapes, ecology and, analysis of territorial transformation, ecological history of productive systems and multicultural analysis of biodiversity use and management, including transgender studies.

At present, she is currently Co-Chair at the Biodiversity Values Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – IPBES. President of the Science & Politics Advisory Committee at the Inter-American Institute for Global Change – IAI.

Brigitte is member of the Board of Directors at the Colombian Agricultural Research Foundation –AGROSAVIA and writer for colombian newspapers “La República” and “El Espectador”. From 2011 until 2019 Mrs. Baptiste was General Director of the Biological Resources Institute "Alexander von Humboldt" in Colombia.

Matthew Shribman is a scientist, environmentalist and musician. His science videos have over 25 million views online, and he has appeared on Comedy Centrel, ITV News and the BBC’s Today Programme and Blue Peter. He has given talks for the likes of TEDx London, UN Ops, The British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Extinction Rebellion.

A member of 1% For The Planet and the Patagonia Change Makers Community, Matthew’s collaboration credits range from the Plastic Oceans Foundation to the French Research Institute For Development.

In 2019, Matthew organised for 1,000 trees to appear outside the UK parliament. Over 2/3 of MPs, from all parties, came to collect a tree, in the words of Ed Miliband: "I think you’ve changed the conversation."

In 2018, Matthew began the #NoBeef campaign, which is now supported by Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, the University of Cambridge, Goldsmiths University of London, and academics around the world.

Matthew has also written and recorded music that has been supported by BBC Radio 1, The Times, The Guardian and NME. His musical stage name is Ash Lad.