Host

Magid Magid is a Somali-British author who came to the UK as a refugee aged five and is the Founder and Director of Union of Justice. He was a member of the European Parliament representing Yorkshire and the Humber, Mayor of his beloved city (Sheffield), and an elected councillor representing his community. He sits on the Board of Trustees for the EU think tank Friends of Europe, the arts university The University of the Underground and is co-chair of refugee charity City of Sanctuary Sheffield.

Magid was named one of Time’s 100 rising stars shaping the future of the world, One Young World Politician of the Year 2019 and European Young Leader 2019.

Panellists

Robert Larter
Deputy Science Leader of Palaeo Environments

Robert is a Marine geophysicist who has worked at British Antarctic Survey since 1987. His main research focus since 2004 has been on late Quaternary ice sheet history, glacial geomorphology and glacial/glacial-marine processes. Also maintaining involvement in research on tectonic and palaeoenvironmental history of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean through the Cenozoic era. Technical specialisms include acquisition, processing and interpretation of seismic reflection, marine magnetic, swath bathymetry and sidescan sonar data. Scope of theoretical knowledge and coding experience includes forward and inverse seismic modelling and tectonic plate fitting/rotation calculations.

Hamish Pritchard
IPCC lead-authorship of the Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC);

Hamish's contribution to the British Antarctic Survey include; a new assessment of the role of Asia’s mountain glaciers in regional hydrology and socio-economics that identifies their importance in protecting societies against acute drought stress. Highly cited studies identifying the extent, mechanism and underlying cause of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet and tidewater glacier loss through accelerated glacier flow and ocean-driven ice-shelf thinning. The Bedmap2 (and now Bedmap3) project that Hamish managed and for which he created the core data products of topography and ice thickness that are proving fundamental to much contemporary continental-scale Antarctic Ice Sheet modelling.

Ffion Mitchell

Ffion is a 25-year-old marine environmentalist, whose purpose is to work with audiences and sectors across Wales to secure the health and sustainability of Welsh seas for future generations. She brings this purpose to life through her roles as Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager for North Wales at the Marine Conservation Society; Board Member of Wales Environment Link and Consultant for the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. In her free time, she is committed to supporting young people into the environment sector through her role as an Early Career Professional Mentor at the University of Plymouth.

Steve Waters (Writer)

Steve's many plays include Limehouse (2017) and Temple (2015) for the Donmar, and his forthcoming version of The Caucasian Chalk Circle for the Rose Theatre, Kingston, in association with the Michael Grandage Company (2022); and for the Bush Theatre, the original production of The Contingency Plan (2009) and Little Platoons (2011); his collaboration with Sheffield Theatres goes back to World Music in 2003, The Unthinkable in 2004 and The Last King of Scotland in 2019.

Steve's work for radio includes the acclaimed four-part drama Song of the Reed for Radio 4, Miriam and Youssef and Fall of the Shah for BBC World Service, and #Public Enemy, inspired by Ibsen’s play, to be broadcast later this year. He is Professor of Scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia and his books include; A Life in 16 Films: How Cinema Made me a Playwright (Methuen, 2021) and The Secret Life of Plays (Nick Hern Books, 2010). His plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

Caroline Steinbeis (Director Resilience)

Caroline is an Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres. She was the recipient of the 2009 JMK Award and has been on attachment at the National Theatre where she completed the Director’s Course at the NT Studio in 2008. In 2012 Caroline was appointed as the Royal Court’s International Associate, developing and directing workshops and play from all over the world.

For Sheffield Theatres, credits include Rutherford and Son and Love and Information. Other theatre credits include; Tales From The Vienna Woods (adaptor and director, RADA); Edward II (Arts Theatre, Cambridge); The Tempest (Royal and Derngate/National Youth Theatre); The Crucible and Brilliant Adventures (Manchester Royal Exchange); We Want You to Watch (National Theatre); The Broken Heart (Shakespeare’s Globe); Show 6 (Lyric Hammersmith and UK Tour, Secret Theatre); Talk Show/Mint and Time to Reap (Royal Court); Earthquakes in London (Headlong, UK Tour); Fatherland (Gate Theatre); Mad Forest (Battersea Arts Centre) and Mile End (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh). Film credits include Stella and From A Strange Land (part of the official selection for Aesthetica Short Film Festival).

Chelsea Walker (Director, On the Beach)

Chelsea's theatre credits include; Missing Julie (Theatr Clwyd), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Cougar and Low Level Panic (Orange Tree Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (UK Tour), Shudder (Soho Theatre), Yous Two (Hampstead Theatre), P’Yongyang (Finborough Theatre), Klippies (Southwark Playhouse), Chicken Dust (Finborough, Curve Leicester), Lean (Tristan Bates). Chelsea is the winner of the RTST Sir Peter Hall Directors’ Award (2017) and has twice been a finalist for the JMK award, receiving the runners up prize in 2016. She reads for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwrighting and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Chelsea has just directed her first short film GOBBLE by award-winning playwright Anoushka Warden.