Securing skills for growth in the UK Screen Industries

Director of External Affairs, WorldSkills UK

Emma leads on championing future skills needs in the UK, ensuring that WorldSkills UK is actively engaged in the discussions, and providing unique insights into how the organisation and sector can help meet these needs. She is also responsible for using diagnostic research and insights along with impactful strategic partnerships to increase the profile of our work and drive change in our programmes to ensure they are fit for purpose. Emma joined WorldSkills UK in 2018 to lead the organisation’s thought leadership programme, ensuring the insights from competition-based skills programmes and international benchmarking could be shared to inform skills policy and practice across the UK. Before that Emma worked at the CBI as Chief of Staff and across a range of policy teams and prior to that in the policy development team at Universities UK.

Youth Engagement Specialist, BBC

A broadcast journalist working with young people to assist them in telling their stories and reaching their potential. Areas of expertise include creating and maintaining professional relationships with adults and young people from all backgrounds, youth engagement, youth and community work, youth mentoring, training and workshop delivery, creative facilitation, corporate outreach, corporate volunteering, volunteer management, grant making, grant management, child protection and safeguarding, audience insight & development, project management, broadcast journalism.

Director, Work Advance

Heather is Director of Work Advance, where she provides research and advisory support with a particular focus on inclusive growth; industrial strategy; work and skills; diversity and inclusion. She was previously Interim Director and Deputy Director of the Work Foundation (part of Lancaster University) and Head of Public Policy for Experian PLC. She has nearly two decades of experience in advising Government including the Cabinet Office, MHCLG, BEIS, DWP, HCA and the Welsh Assembly; Local Authorities across the UK, Industry bodies, Skills bodies, think tanks and major corporates. This has included high profile projects for Government, such as the Cabinet Office’s review of Local Economic Resilience and CLG’s State of the English Cities report.

Director of Skills and Workforce Development, British Film Institute

Sara is currently the Director of Skills and Workforce Development at the British Film Institute, overseeing a multi-million-pound portfolio of initiatives designed to develop and progress a greater diversity of talent into the screen workforce and support businesses to adopt inclusive operating practices.  She also works closely with Government departments in all nations of the UK to both inform, and create sectoral responses to, skills policy priorities.

 Sara is passionate about supporting fair and equal entry to work across the cultural industries regardless of one’s background, previous educational achievement, or personal circumstance.  Having previously held senior roles at ScreenSkills and Creative & Cultural Skills, she has led the development and delivery of national sector skills programmes supporting sectoral growth whilst opening the sector’s doors to underrepresented talent. She has also worked with hundreds of employers to help them learn about and adopt fair access and inclusive recruitment practices.  During her time at Arts Council England, Sara co-created the £15 million Creative Employment Programme, which she subsequently went on to deliver, supporting thousands of unemployed young people into work across the arts.  She later created and led the delivery of the award-winning Discover Creative Careers Week, which continues today.

Sara initially trained at art school, later training as a post-16 teacher and has worked in both Further and Higher Education.  An avid supporter of culture, Sara is currently a Trustee of the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, the only Theatre in the country to double as a National Trust site.