Digital Leaders’ Conference 2016

On 26th January, we will be holding the second GDST Digital Leaders’ Conference at South Hampstead High School. Over 200 students, aged 10-18, will gather from schools across the Trust for a day of inspiration and challenge. The aim of the conference is encourage the students to pursue studies, and eventually careers, in the field of digital technology.

A terrific line-up of speakers and workshops promises to make it a memorable occasion. The conference will begin with a keynote speech from Emma Mulqueeny, founder of Rewired State and Young Rewired State.

The girls will then receive their challenge for the day: to develop an event, campaign, competition, app, website or product that promotes digital technology careers and study to women. 

Teams from different schools will work together on their ideas before presenting their final concepts in a showcase exhibition at the end of the day. To help them on their way, they will have access to careers sessions, coding workshops and a 3D photo booth. 

Their efforts will be assessed by a highly distinguished panel of judges; Jenny Brennan, a front-end developer for Code Kingdoms; Jen Hyatt, Founder and Board Director of Big White Wall; Elena Sinel, Founder and CEO of Acorn Aspirations; and Rosie Slater Chief Information Officer of the British Red Cross.

The judges will also take part in what promises to be a fascinating panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities for women in IT.

The competition doesn’t end there though; the winning teams will receive a budget to allow them to pilot their idea.

Follow #digitalGDST on Twitter for updates from the conference and discover what happened at last year’s event in our Storify report.