Speaking & Collaboration

Speaking, collaboration,
and recent contexts.

My work spans film education, creative practice, research, and institutional development, with activity across teaching, writing, public speaking, and collaborative projects. I engage with questions at the edge of contemporary film and media education, where the field is going, what practitioners need, and where the real possibilities for change lie.

Topics

What I speak about

I speak from 30+ years of experience working across international broadcast production and UK higher education. The talks that work best are built where theory and practice meet: argument grounded in three decades of production, tested in the classroom.

AI in filmmaking practice

A practitioner’s account of what generative tools actually do (and don’t do) in a real production workflow. Covers visual development, pre-production, editorial review, and the ethical positions filmmakers need to form. Grounded in ongoing lab work and book research.

The future of film education

The structural gap between what film schools produce and what the industry requires: why it exists, what it costs students, and what a seriously reformed curriculum could look like. Draws on doctoral research and curriculum design practice at UCA and MetFilm.

Decolonising the film curriculum

Curriculum design as the primary site of intervention for equity in film education. Moving beyond recruitment discourse to the harder question of what canons, critical traditions, and practitioner models are built into how we teach filmmaking.

Practice-based research

How making generates knowledge, and how that knowledge can be validated and shared. The epistemological conditions under which practice counts as research. Includes the Prototype Institution methodology and its implications for how we design practice-based doctoral programmes.

Documentary ethics and authorship

The decisions documentary filmmakers make about representation, access, and power, and how these decisions should be taught. Draws on a career making and producing documentary work across international contexts.

Academic leadership in creative HE

Leading film and media programmes in UK higher education: curriculum governance, quality assurance, staff development, and the challenge of maintaining intellectual seriousness in a sector under commercial pressure.

Formats & contexts

How I engage

Conference talks & keynotes

Talks for academic and industry conferences on film education, practice-based research, AI in creative practice, and curriculum design. Available for keynote and panel formats.

Workshops & masterclasses

Practical workshops for students and practitioners on filmmaking craft, AI workflow integration, documentary ethics, and professional development. Half-day or full-day formats.

Panel discussions

Contribution to panels on the future of film education, AI and creativity, widening participation, and practice-based research. Comfortable with both academic and public-facing formats.

Institutional consultation

Working with film schools and media departments on curriculum review, programme development, and strategic positioning. Available for longer-term advisory engagements.

Engagements

Recent and upcoming engagements

Named and dated. Photos and session materials are being added as they clear.

Industry conference

Frame Forward 2026

On the industry–education interface and AI in moving-image practice.

2026

Academic conference

Bournemouth University Postgraduate Research Conference

Presenting the EdD research: The Prototype Institution and the systemic reform of practice-based film education.

June 2026

Industry education series

Adobe Generation AI Series

On AI in creative education and practice, as an Adobe Creative Educator.

2026

Panels

MetFilm School MA panels

Panel contributions across the MA programmes at MetFilm School, London: documentary practice, AI workflows, and professional formation.

Ongoing

Invite me to speak.

For conference talks, keynotes, workshops, panels, or institutional consultation; get in touch with details of the event and context.

Get in touch