Speakers

Alex Ballinger MP is the Labour Member of Parliament for Halesowen, elected in July 2024. Before entering politics, Alex served as a Captain in the Royal Marines from 2005 to 2013, later working in international development across the Middle East and Pakistan with the FCDO. He later ran a mental health charity in Birmingham offering support to people experiencing mental health problems. Since entering Parliament, Alex has emerged as a vocal advocate for gambling reform. Alex has campaigned to tighten regulations on gambling advertising and improve protections for vulnerable individuals. He has raised questions in Parliament about the effectiveness of measures to prevent access to unlicensed online gambling platforms and continues to push for stronger consumer safeguards. Alex is a member of the APPG for Gambling Reform.

Jon Ungoed-Thomas has worked for the Observer since 2021, covering consumer affairs, business and politics. He previously worked at the Sunday Times for more than a decade, where he was deputy editor of the Insight investigation team and chief reporter. He has reported extensively on the gambling sector for the Sunday Times and the Observer. He was shortlisted in the British Journalism Awards 2018 for his investigations into young people and gambling which prompted the regulator to write to betting firms to request they remove promotions likely to appeal to children. He has been shortlisted as reporter of the year and business journalist of the year at the British Press Awards. He won scoop of the year with two colleagues in 2018.

Raffaello is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol, specialising in the intersection of social media marketing, public policy, and consumer protection. He is also the Impact Lead at the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research and a member of Ofcom’s Research, Evidence and Evaluation Working Group. Raffaello’s research on the effects of gambling advertising on young people has received widespread attention, featuring in national and international media such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Der Spiegel, and CBC News. His work has shaped parliamentary debates in the UK and Canada and contributed to major policy discussions and reforms concerning gambling marketing regulation. Beyond academia, Raffaello has collaborated with research organisations including YouGov, Ipsos, the Behavioural Insights Team, The Outsiders, and Demos, as well as key stakeholders such as GambleAware, YGAM, Ara, Beacon, GamCare, and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Reform.

Sue Turner is dedicated to using her expertise in AI governance and ethics to inspire people and organisations to use AI with wisdom and integrity. With both a Law degree and an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, she established AI Governance Limited in 2020 to advise businesses and policy makers on pragmatic AI, data ethics and governance issues, and making a positive societal impact. Her Board development clients range from Fortune 100 and FTSE 350 businesses to small charities, and her reach is global through accredited training programmes and being a founder member of the United Nations AI Skills Coalition. She has been rated in the World's Top 100 Women in AI Ethics and was one of the first 14 people globally to be accredited in the Foundations of Independent Audit of AI systems. She was awarded the OBE in 2021 for Services to Social Justice.

Sam McGregor is Deputy Director of Smart Data Research UK, a UK Research and Innovation data infrastructure programme hosted by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Her background and interests centre on enabling impactful, large-scale research, infrastructure and innovation projects and programmes that address the biggest challenges we face. Sam joined Smart Data Research UK from the Arts and Humanities Research Council where she established and oversaw ground-breaking, multidisciplinary and multisectoral research and innovation investments spanning artificial intelligence, design for the green transition, and the creative industries. She was previously Head of ESRC Data and Infrastructure, where she led on development and delivery of data services and big data investments including Administrative Data Research UK, the Consumer Data Research Centre, HateLab, and the UK Data Service.

Ali Vowles is a multi-disciplinary freelance journalist and presenter who has worked for the BBC on TV and radio for over thirty years. She is a skilled interviewer with a warmth, friendliness and authority that brings out the best in people. There is nothing Ali likes more than getting to the heart of a story and asking the questions that everyone wants the answers to.

Joey is a third year PhD Researcher at Cardiff University, researching men’s experiences of gambling harms in the UK, funded by Gamble Aware. Taking an ethnographic approach, Joey conducted participant observation in two distinct sites: local slots casinos, and his local Gamblers Anonymous group. Slots casino observations allowed for Joey to experience gambling first-hand, and to provide context for the observations in Gamblers Anonymous and subsequent interviews. For just under a year, Joey actively attended Gamblers Anonymous, observing how gambling and gambling harms are discussed in support group settings, taking note of the environment and the behaviour that occurs in Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Participants from Gamblers Anonymous were also recruited for subsequent interviews and conversations, with additional interviews with key stakeholders such as gambling counsellors.

Maria Moxey is a Senior Research Associate for the University of Bristol Business School. With a disciplinary background in sport and sociology, Maria’s research interests include the intersection between sport, culture, and social issues. Maria is currently undertaking a study exploring how gambling interrelates with grassroots football culture. She is a member of a research team who has conducted a number of studies exploring the proliferation of gambling advertisement in televised sports events. Findings have informed policy debate among groups such as Peers for Gambling Reform, the Gambling-Related Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group, and the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and received coverage via Channel 5 News, The Guardian, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Jordan is a recent graduate of Economics with Innovation (MSci) at the University of Bristol. For his final-year project in collaboration with two other students from the university’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Jordan researched the gambling behaviour of university students. Jordan conducted interviews with key stakeholders and developed and implemented a card sorting exercise to assess student perception of gambling in the context of gambling-related activities. The project output is an evidence-based toolkit to support university staff in raising awareness and education. Along with Ben Parker, Jordan is now working to implement the toolkit in UK universities, with the support of a £8,000 Runway award grant. As a graduate mature student, prior to university, Jordan worked in technology roles in the Ministry of Justice and as a live music promoter. Jordan has also conducted research at the University of Oxford examining the use of AI in public policymaking.

Ben has recently completed a degree in Anthropology with Innovation at the University of Bristol. He is passionate about designing practical, evidence-backed solutions to complex social issues. As part of his final-year project, Ben co-founded the Fair Play Toolkit designed to reduce gambling-related harms in higher education. The project received early support through the Runway Innovation Award and has since secured further funding from Ara, the regional gambling harms charity for the South-West and Wales.

Marlene D’Aguilar is the Health in All Policies Strategic Lead in Public Health, Haringey Council, London. Her work is focussed on the wider determinants of health, addressing health inequalities and inequities, developing strong, agile partnerships to influence change and embed health and wellbeing policy across the local authority priorities. She leads a dynamic team covering a broad portfolio that includes the built environment, housing, air quality, licensing and Haringey’s award-winning gambling harms reduction programme.

Alistair is the Director and Founder of Deflect and Protect a non-profit training organisation focused on digital harms. Our goal is to create a world where positive internet behaviours can be embraced. He has a BA (Hons) degree in Education Studies, and over half a decade of experience working directly with teenagers as well as members of the autistic community.

Andy started gambling at the very young age of 9 years old. At the age of 13, his mum attempted to stage an intervention with the use of members from the local GA group. Early gambling centred around arcades in his hometown of Falmouth. On joining the Royal Navy in 1998, the use of fruit machines was exacerbated due to many cultural factors of the forces, as well as accessibility to both the machines and borrowing from banks.

Julie MacLeavy is Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Bristol and Co-Lead of the ‘Innovation, Transition, Change’ Challenge within the Academic Research Hub for the Prevention of Gambling Harms. She has a background of research exploring the challenges of socio-economic change and precarity. She is currently leading a project to explore gambling’s evolving role in seaside economies and its impact on local lives.

Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, former James McGill Professor and Director of Clinical Training in School/Applied Child Psychology and Professor, Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He is a clinical and research consultant to numerous hospitals, school boards, government agencies and gaming corporations. Dr. Derevensky has published widely in the field of gambling, adolescence, behavioural addictions and developmental psychopathology. He is the author of more than 350 peer-reviewed journal articles, 65 book chapters and 4 books related to gambling disorders and behavioural addictions as well as being on the editorial board of multiple journals. He has been awarded multiple international awards for his research, clinical and training work. Dr. Derevensky is the Director of the McGill University Youth Gambling Research and Treatment Clinic and the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviours.

Dr Philip Newall is a lecturer at the University of Bristol's School of Psychological Science and has 20 years of experience in the topic of gambling. Their primary research interest is gambling psychology, where they have done research on various applied/policy issues and also done more theoretical work on the determinants of gambling-related harm.

Nikki leads the Gambling Harms Action Lab at the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. She heads their work with financial services and the wider sector to tackle gambling-related financial harms. From May 2023 to April 2024, she was Interim Head of Research and Policy. Before this, Nikki worked as a Research Officer, leading their work to tackle mental health problems and financial difficulties in the debt advice sector, health services and the benefits system.

Emma is a Customer Vulnerability Manager at Nationwide Building Society, where she leads efforts to support customers facing gambling-related harm. She represents Nationwide on the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute’s Gambling Harms Action Lab, contributing to cross-sector collaboration and policy development aimed at reducing gambling harm and improving financial wellbeing.

Helen is Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences, and Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. She is a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. She has given policy advice at HM Treasury, HMRC, BEIS, DfT, DIT, the European Commission and the OECD. She was previously Director of Productivity and Innovation Research at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Her research covers urban economics and the effects of place-based policies, productivity and innovation.