Dr Andrew MacLaren is an award-winning university lecturer based at the CREWS research centre, School of Social Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

His research is principally concerned with the sociolinguistics of teamwork: how teams communicate. His current work focuses on astronaut communication in deep space exploration, and the communication processes of healthcare teams in trauma scenarios.

Andrew has authored textbooks and peer-reviewed articles relating to cultural and small group dynamics: from the British Army in Afghanistan, professional kitchen teams, investment decision making to The Only Way is Essex.

Beyond research and teaching, Andrew is an internationally recognised speaker, consultant for Fieri Leadership & Development and Treasurer of the Military Education Committee (Edinburgh).

Before entering academia, Andrew spent 10 years working as a tennis coach. He still sees his spiritual home as on a tennis court.

Mark Ridley is a top UK CTO and a seasoned technology strategist with a wealth of experience in corporate innovation and startup advisory. Having held CTO and CIO roles at Believe Music, the Financial Times, Liberis, Dynamo Mortgages, AVADO, and reed.co.uk, Mark brings extensive knowledge across diverse industries such as healthcare, education, employment, financial services and publishing.

As the technical co-founder of reed.co.uk he helped build the UK's leading careers website, serving millions of job seekers each month. Mark now works closely with executive teams in a wide array of businesses advising on strategy, innovation, and navigating the challenges of rapid growth. He is an evangelist for lean and agile principles, an advocate for the pragmatic adoption of technology and a sceptical futurist