Who Gets to Tell the Story?

George E. Osborn is a leading expert on the video game industry with over a decade and a half experience explaining games to the wider world. He has previously worked as Head of Campaigns and Communications at Ukie, the UK video games trade association, where he advised politicians, business leaders and the public on the industry and its political, economic and social impact.

George has been featured across the media, including The Guardian, Sky News, The New York Times, BBC World Service, Politico and Gamesindustry.biz. He is the creator of the Video Game Industry Memo newsletter, and founder of video game consulting business Half-Space Consulting.

Dr Myriam Francois is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and presenter whose work spans television, documentary, and digital media. A former host of The Stream on Al Jazeera English, she now presents the acclaimed current affairs YouTube show The Tea with Myriam Francois. Her documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, and Al Jazeera have been widely praised, and her directorial debut Finding Alaa (BBC/CBC) premiered at Hot Docs and the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, was selected for BAFTA consideration, and won Best Documentary at Flicker Fest 2024. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oxford and speaks internationally on journalism under fire, civil liberties, feminism, and Islamophobia.

Dr Nafeez Ahmed is an award-winning investigative journalist, systems theorist and strategic communications executive. He is the author of Alt Reich: The Network War to Destroy the West from Within (2025), Failing States, Collapsing Systems (2017) A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save it (2010), The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry (2006) and several other books. He is Executive Director of the Foundation for Civilisation Renewal, and creator of the AgeofTransformation.org newsletter which tracks the world’s biggest crises. A former journalist for Guardian and VICE, he does special investigations for Byline Times. His work has been used and cited in official inquiries in the US and UK, in the House of Commons, House of Lords, US Congress.

Meshael is a PhD researcher at Hamad bin Khalifa University. Her work examines identity, nation-making, and modernity in the contemporary Gulf. Drawing on backgrounds in communication, Middle East studies, and Islam and global affairs, my research explores how politics, culture, and global power shape collective identities and public narratives.
Alongside her academic work, Meshael works in Qatar’s Government Communications Office focusing on strategic communications and public engagement. Her interests include post colonial thought, media representation, nationalism, and the evolving relationship between tradition and modernity in The Middle East.