NI’s biggest technology event
is here: Big Data Belfast!

In addition to his role at EY, Alastair is also Board Member at openEHR UK reflecting his commitment to shaping the future of healthcare through open standards.

Prior to joining EY, Alastair was a founding member of a leading Electronic Medical Records Product. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he supported the NHS’s response through his work on COVID-19 Testing, Contact Tracing and Vaccinations. He has also led several large scale interoperability projects across the NHS, including a shared care planning service across London.

Alastair holds a B.Sc. (First Class Hons) in Computer Science from Queen’s University Belfast.

It is the first initiative of its kind in Northern Ireland, providing an outcomes-focused, trauma-informed, public health approach to violence reduction. Adele has worked on issues relating to paramilitarism in Northern Ireland for over a decade.

In his work, Andrew is able to draw from his extensive knowledge and experience spanning a broad range of related areas – such as Transformation, Edge to Multi-Cloud Technologies, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence – to advise boards and their teams on their optimal paths to success. In recognition of his expertise, he currently holds the position of Discussion Leader at HPE’s Customer Innovation Centre in London.

Before joining HPE, Andrew worked at Micro Focus (now OpenText) where he led the Advisory & Professional Services teams on a range of strategic client accounts – across Financial Services, Pharmaceutical and Manufacturing industries. Prior to this Andrew was a Senior Manager at the world’s leading technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. – spending 5 years supporting clients in the Arabian Gulf and 3 further years aligned to the Public Sector in the UK&I. This combined experience has given Andrew unique perspectives on what it takes to succeed, the pitfalls that are to be avoided along the way and the approaches and frameworks senior leaders should embrace and adopt to keep their critical technology programmes on track.

As a seasoned public speaker, throughout his career, Andrew has spoken at CIO and Digital Transformation events – aimed at senior business and technology leaders – across UK, Ireland and the broader EMEA region. Andrew qualified from University of London with a BSc in Biological Sciences, holds an M.B.A (with Distinction) from Manchester Business School and is in the final stages of his Ph.D at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). His doctoral research centres on the challenges of effectively governing the use of AI and Machine Learning in Heavily Regulated Industry contexts – such as Banking and Finance. Andrew is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) – an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to promoting research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence.

In terms of speaking engagements Andrew’s main focus at present is on raising awareness of the fact that humans are no longer the only ‘agent-type’ in the modern organisation. Instead, companies have become ‘socio-material assemblages’ made up of humans AND machines. In his view, modern firms (their strategies, policies and principles) still run on the outdated notion of ‘human-centricity’.

Andrew believes that this paradigm-shift towards ‘the second machine age’ renders most of the collective wisdom we hold on how best to manage, govern and optimise organisations – much less relevant and in some cases completely redundant. He also covers the all-important area of leveraging high-quality data – as the foundation stone to successful AI (and other) endeavours.

Andrew splits his time between London, England and Belfast, Northern Ireland with his wife, daughter and dog. Amongst other things, he is passionate about music, literature and cross-country mountain biking.

Steve creates and drives the technical direction and strategy for Ergo’s managed services business and leads Ergo’s consultants and their teams, delivering ICT solutions to corporate and enterprise customers.

In his role he manages and has grown, Ergo’s core specialisations in digital transformation, cloud adoption services and ICT strategies and was responsible for the development and growth of Ergo’s managed services business, currently servicing in excess of 400 customers who have outsourced various levels of IT services to Ergo.

With an undergraduate degree in Food Science and a PhD in Food Supply Chain Management, Stephanie has spent her career working in food manufacturing environments in a R&D capacity, as well as working on and managing several multi-million pound research projects while working for Queen’s University Belfast.

Stephanie has worked with Foods Connected for the several years, working on innovation projects and implementing the Trace Connected solution within the food industry.

Tim is an accomplished and experienced technologist, assisting our clients to understand how different technologies can help solve a wide range of different business problems.

Prior to joining EY Tim worked with another big 4 with a focus on Business/Digital Transformations, Programme & Project Delivery, Service Delivery and Strategy development and execution.

Tim holds a B.Sc. in Business Information Technology from Queen’s University Belfast.

Prior to EMA, he was CIO at Spectral Energy, one of the top scale-ups in the Netherlands. Whilst based in Slovenia for more than a decade from 2006, he first ran his own nearshoring software consultancy and then led the Market Surveillance and Analytics team at the EU’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.

Born and raised in County Down, Stephen has more than 25 years’ experience in providing data-driven software solutions within a multinational context. He holds a Masters in Engineering and Computer Science from Oxford University.

Scott is also a certified data ethics professional from the Open Data Institute, and he applies this knowledge with customers across the public and private sector, focusing not only on areas of data ethics, but also the ethical and responsible usage of AI.

In her current role as business development manager in Momentum One Zero, Michaela is supporting companies to co-create, access, and exploit Momentum One Zero’s expertise and advanced technologies in Secure Connected Intelligence and translate them into solutions for the agrifood sector.

In October 2019, he joined Ulster University as a Research Associate, where his work has focused on applications ranging from the healthcare domain to the Agri-tech space. James has actively contributed to four large multi-million-pound European projects and multiple locally funded projects, leading on IoT sensor development through to producing computational models to derive meaningful insights from large datasets.

He has also previously lectured on the MSc Data Science degree at Ulster University. In his most recent work, he was the lead researcher on the Longitude Prize on Dementia-funded Clear.ai project, developing technologies to help detect, prevent, and monitor agitation in people living with dementia in the community.

Rob has served as CEO of CIGA Healthcare and Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland. Rob has held or holds visiting and honorary lectureships at King’s College London and Queen’s University Belfast. Rob formally chaired Matrix, the Science and Technology policy panel for the Northern Ireland Government and represented Northern Ireland on the Chief Scientific Advisors Network for the UK. He currently serves as CEO at Intelligent OMICS Ltd, an AI driven drug discovery company.

Peter collaborates closely with business units to identify and address opportunities, ensuring solutions align with the bank’s core strategies. His expertise in data analytics and visualisation is key to simplify complex business challenges, translating them into effective data projects.

Prior to her role at Allstate, she contributed to modelling projects in Astrophysics and Medical Physics at Queen’s University Belfast. Leveraging her academic expertise and teaching experience, Deborah has effectively transitioned into the realms of Big Data Analytics and predictive modelling in the insurance industry.

She is also responsible for delivering Allstate’s training courses in Data Analytics.

Experienced in external audit, he helps lead the EY Audit Centre of Excellence and works with a large team, supporting innovation and statutory audit transformation through the implementation of data and analytic technologies.
Additionally, Gareth works with EY clients to transform internal audit through analytics, automation and process optimisation.

Prior to joining EY, he worked as Senior Manager at another big four firm. Gareth holds an LLB in Law and Accountancy from the Queen’s University Belfast.

As Head of Design at Nextdoor, she built the design team and a user-centric culture, and helped grow the user base to over 40 million people. Most recently, she served as Chief Design Officer at strategy and advocacy consultancy The Holding Co., where she built products and systems to support care.

He has spent the last two years as the Telematics Engineering Manager at Wrightbus. Martin’s background is in vehicle powertrain simulation, and control systems, and has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from QUB.

As Data, Analytics & AI Lead & with a remarkable career within data analysis, risk assessment, and technical consulting, Alistair brings a wealth of expertise to the table. Skilled in SQL, R, and Python, he excels in automation, data governance, and enhancing data quality. His extensive experience in delivering technical solutions, managing teams, and fostering learning and development makes him an invaluable addition to our lineup.

Don’t miss the chance to gain insights from Alistair and an incredible roster of speakers at this year’s event!

Mike is responsible for helping drive digital and AI innovation across DCC.

DCC operates in 21 countries, supplying products and services used by millions of people every day. Building strong routes to market, driving for results, focusing on cash conversion, and generating superior sustainable returns on capital employed enable the Group to reinvest in its business, creating value for its stakeholders.

As a proven business leader with expertise in business development, digital strategy, and large-scale problem solving, Mike has built successful ventures in AI, Supply Chain Software, Mobility, Fin-Tech, and e-Commerce. His entrepreneurial spirit and mission-driven approach have consistently fuelled success in dynamic, fast-paced industries.

We are excited to have Mike share his insights and expertise at Big Data Belfast.

The author of Bust: How the Courts Exposed the Rotten Heart of the Irish Economy (Penguin), Dearbhail has used her platforms to consistently highlight a range of diverse issues affecting women including workplace equality, gender based violence, the socio-economic impacts of declining birth rates (Fertility Shock, RTE, 2019) and the contribution of women religious in Irish Life (The Last Nuns in Ireland, RTE, 2024).

President of the Strategy Committee of the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, Dearbhail has served on the boards of Fighting Words, Ireland’s national creative writing centre for children and young adults, the St. Stephen’s Green Trust and the External Advisory Board of Maynooth University Department of Law. Dearbhail holds an LL.B (Law) from Trinity College Dublin as well as a Masters Degree in Journalism from Dublin City University.

Before joining Limerick City & County Council, Alan worked for 25 years in software engineering, primarily in the U.S. financial and insurance industry. He led global engineering teams across many technology stacks, delivering digital transformation by enabling a change in engineering culture to embrace modern engineering practices.

Chris’ research interests lie at the intersection of cyber security and the engineering of safety-critical systems, in applications where it is not possible to halt operation and analyse potential malware without creating significant safety concerns. He helped lead the Department for Transport (DfT) review of UK airports, airlines and air traffic organisations that informed the National Cybersecurity Strategy for Aviation. He set up cyber security labs for the UK Civil Nuclear Industry. He was SG Chair of the National Cyber Security Centre’s Community of Interest in Industrial Control Systems. He is a member of the National Cyber Advisory Board (NCAB) appointed to support the implementation of the UK Cyber Strategy.

His early work helped deliver a range of analysis techniques to identify lessons learned from previous failures. He subsequently served as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower public inquiry where he helped identify recommendations to improve data and communications across the UK emergency services.

His more recent work has delivered techniques for the ethical introduction of machine learning in military systems, including safety and security requirements, on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

He has held fellowships from NASA, as well as the US Air Force and the US Navy (Office of Naval Research).