Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Head of Department and Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, UK

Biography: Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh OBE is Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences, Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford. He is Professorial Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant with the UK Health Security Agency and Public Health Scotland. He was previously Chair of Primary Care Research and Development, Director of the Usher Institute and Dean of Data at the University of Edinburgh. He has played important advisory roles to a number of governments, inter-governmental bodies, including the World Bank, World Health Organization and the World Innovation Summit for Health, and leading scientific bodies including the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society. Aziz has worked for over 25 years on digitising health systems, securely linking health and cross-sectoral data and then using these data to inform and influence health policy, improve the safety and quality of care, and develop personalised risk assessments. He has been awarded fellowships from 10 learned societies, including most recently the US’ National Academy of Medicine. Aziz was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for ‘Services to Medicine and Health Care’ in 2014 and a Knight Bachelor in 2022 for ‘Services to COVID-19 Research and Policy’.

Imperial College London, UK

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Biography: Daniel Elson is Professor of Surgical Imaging and Biophotonics in the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer and the Institute of Global Health Innovation. His group develops and clinically translates photonics technology and new endoscopic techniques for surgical imaging applications, including multispectral, polarization-resolved and fluorescence imaging. This work has been funded by the ERC, EPSRC, MRC, TSB, CRUK, Wellcome Trust and the NIHR, totalling >£50M as investigator, and including collaborations with industrial partners such as Karl Storz, Covidien, Cymtec and Intuitive Surgical. He has published over 125 fully peer reviewed journal articles, one edited book, thirteen book chapters and has contributed to more than 350 conferences.

Nottingham Trent University, UK

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Biography: David J. Brown is currently a Professor in interactive systems for social inclusion and Director of the Computing and Informatics Research centre, at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK. He is the Principal Investigator of two EU H2020 Grants (MaTHiSiS and No One Left Behind) to investigate the use of sensor data to understand the emotional state of learners to provide personalised learning experiences and digital game making to enhance the engagement of students with learning disabilities and autism. He also acted as a Co-Investigator to EPSRC Internet of Soft Things, to investigate the impact of networked smart textile objects on young people’s wellbeing. He is the Co-Investigator from NTU, UK, for the Going Global Partnership Industry-Academia Collaborative Grant 2022–2023 funded by the British Council for the Project titled “Co-Designing a Smart Curriculum and Personalised Method of Delivery for Inclusive Value Added Courses” in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, UK. He acts as co-PI in the EU Horizon Europe PHASE IV AI project for Privacy-Preserving approaches to the use of synthetic Electronic Health Records for the timely prediction of patients at the highest risk of lung cancers who will benefit from advanced screening techniques. Other recent awards include a British Council project to work with universities and school networks in Vietnam to understand how AIEd Tech can promote inclusive education approaches. He is the Chair of the International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technology and Associate Editor for Frontiers: Virtual Reality in Medicine.

Queen Mary University of London, UK

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Biography: Professor Shafaq Sikandar is the group leader of the Sensory Neurophysiology lab at the William Harvey Research Institute. Her research training was based on rodent and human models to study the neurophysiology of pain. Shafaq’s PhD training was in the Pharmacology department of University College London, and she continued postdoctoral training in the Anaesthesiology department of University of California San Diego and in the Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research of UCL. In 2018 she was awarded a Versus Arthritis fellowship and appointed lecturer in sensory biology in the Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology.
The Sensory Neurophysiology lab researches neuronal mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain, with a focus on musculoskeletal pain and neuro-immune interactions. We use in vivo and back translational approaches with mouse models in combination with molecular biology. Clinical studies are focussed on patients with post-surgical pain, arthritis, cancer pain and fibromyalgia.
Shafaq teaches on BSc modules Repair & regeneration (BMD361) / Disconnected pathways (ICM6013) and is the FMD Equality Diversity and Inclusion Lead for Communications and Engagement.