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‘Alice Asks…’ Arrives in Belfast

We're thrilled to announce that we'll be hosting our second 'Alice Asks...' event as part of Imagine! Belfast’s Festival of Ideas and Politics, in the coming weeks. Our first ever ‘Alice Asks…' event took place in Dublin last September, and featured renowned US-based messaging and campaigns expert Anat Shenker-Osorio. This time round, our event will focus on ethics and AI, and will feature a panel of expert speakers discussing issues such as disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories, deep fakes – and their impact on public communications and trust.

Event Details:

Topic: Alice Asks… our expert panel: Is AI eroding our trust in communications and threatening democracy? Timing: 2.30pm on Friday, 22nd March Venue: The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

Speakers:

  • Alice CEO Martina Quinn
  • Niall McKeown, an expert in AI and digital transformation
  • Ciarán O’Connor, a Senior Analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
  • Sarah Travers, a former BBC news journalist and TV presenter, who will MC the event

Speaker Details

Martina Quinn is the founder and CEO of Alice. She specialises in devising and delivering communications campaigns that create positive societal change. Over the course of her career, she has worked on campaigns to promote marriage equality, climate justice, integration and migrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and more… She provided communications support to the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment and Together for Yes in the lead-up to Ireland’s successful abortion referendum in 2018, and she devised the award-winning WorkEqual campaign, which promotes workplace gender equality. Martina has also worked on local, general and European elections since she was in her early teens. She currently chairs the Board of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Ireland and represents Ireland on the Board of ICCO, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation. She is also a member of the Board of Women’s Aid.

Niall McKeown is the founder of Ionology, a pioneering digital transformation strategy company, which has been at the forefront of blending artificial intelligence with business strategy. Niall has dedicated his career to guiding mid-sized organisations worldwide through the complexities of digital transformation, with a particular emphasis on the ethical and strategic implications of AI. He is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University and works with ICT Skillnet to provide training for businesses on the effective use of AI.

Ciarán O’Connor is a Senior Analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, working in the Research and Policy unit. Ciarán specialises in researching extremism, disinformation and digital threats to democracy online. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding human rights and reversing the rising tide of polarisation, extremism and disinformation worldwide. Before joining the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, Ciarán worked with Storyful, a social media news agency, from 2014 to 2020. During this period, he focused on sourcing and verifying user-generated content online, and reporting on various topics including technology, extremism, and disinformation.

Sarah Travers is co-founder and director of Bespoke Communications, a training and professional development company serving both the UK and Ireland. Formerly a BBC news journalist and TV presenter, Sarah's passion lies in storytelling and the individuals who shape narratives. She is a familiar face to many in Northern Ireland, where she was news anchor in the BBC newsroom for 17 years, covering high-profile stories throughout the Northern Ireland peace process, and key events like the London 2012 Paralympics and BBC Children in Need. Sarah has also presented lifestyle programming for UTV and is in demand as an event and conference MC and podcast host. She currently presents ‘The Business Eye’ podcast and ‘The Lens’ for Business In the Community.

Would you like to attend ‘Alice Asks…’? We’re inviting clients and friends of Alice to join us as our guests at this ‘Alice Asks…’ event. If you would like to come along, please email meadbh@alicepr.com with your full name and email address.

You can also find out more about the Imagine! Festival and the full line-up of great events at: https://imaginebelfast.com/2024-at-a-glance/