Becky Cooper, Portland College

Becky is Curriculum Manager at Portland College, where she has over 20 years of experience working with people with disabilities in both mainstream and specialist educational settings and services. Her passion for inclusive education and the transformative power of technology led her to complete an MSc in Education Assistive Technology.

Motivated by her interest in using technology to improve teaching and learning, Becky has led efforts to integrate assistive technology throughout the college. Under her guidance, it has become a strategic priority to ensure all students have access to tools and experiences that remove barriers to learning and prepare them for adult life.

Becky has successfully led numerous projects focused on developing and embedding digital skills and assistive technology within the college, the wider community, and in support of learners’ transitions beyond education.

Charlie Baxter, The Music Works

Charlie (he/him) has been working in music leading and education since 2010. He is passionate about making music enjoyable and accessible for all. Charlie joined The Music Works in 2022 as Senior Music Leader with a specialism in disability work and since then has been working with SEN and neurodiverse young people, pushing the boundaries of accessible tech to enable people with complex needs to access music. Charlie also performs as a musician himself, touring around the UK and Europe playing live electronic music.

David Curran, Moon Hall School

David is Head of Careers and Assistive Technology Lead at Moon Hall School, a specialist school for learners with dyslexia in the UK. With over 20 years’ experience across mainstream and specialist settings, he leads the strategic integration of assistive technology and AI across curriculum, pastoral and careers provision. A qualified Level 6 Careers Leader, David designs inclusive chatbot interventions, delivers CPD programmes, and develops digital literacy resources tailored to neurodivergent learners. He is also an independent careers advisor and a regular contributor to international sessions on accessible and ethical AI in education. David’s work bridges the gap between innovation and inclusion, combining classroom practice with strategic vision to support learner agency and real-world impact. Through his international workshops, professional networks, and commitment to equity, he champions a futures-focused, learner-centred approach to technology in education.

Dean Hall, Treloar’s

Dean has spent the past 8 years working at Treloar’s school and college with young people who have a range of different physical and neurological disabilities. He helps the students navigate challenges and build independence through a range of technologies. Dean originally qualified as a Design Engineer, before diversifying into a career in Assistive Technology. Dean has a wide range of design and engineering experience from his time in the manufacturing and construction sectors. This allows him to offer unique solutions to his students.

Currently, Dean works in a team of six who support young people from ages four to twenty-five in accessing and using technology that fits their unique needs. He likes the challenge of solving the wide selection of day-to-day problems faced by students and finding bespoke solutions to allow them to gain more independence and quality of life.

Eimer Galloway, Kingspark School

Eimer is a Depute Head Teacher at Kingspark School in Dundee with 25 years of teaching experience. In 2024, she graduated, with Distinction, from the University of Dundee’s MSc course in Educational Assistive Technology, achieving Best Student and Best Project awards.

Eimer works closely with leading academics from the University of Dundee to advocate for the increased use of assistive technology at the school and in the wider community. She currently leads a Dundee City Council-funded initiative that aims to establish an Assistive Technology Service at the school. This service, based on a Community of Practice model, aims to assess, provision, support and review the assistive technology needs of pupils at the school, all of whom have complex or severe additional support needs and will benefit immensely from the use of assistive technology.

Fil McIntyre, TechAbility

Fil supports organisations and individuals to deliver technology solutions which enhance life, learning and communication. He has provided training in assistive technology hardware and software to a wide range of professionals from schools, colleges, universities, charities and healthcare. Fil moved to managing TechAbility full time in February 2021 after three years in a split role between TechAbility and Beaumont College in Lancaster. At Beaumont College, Fil was the Lead Assistive Technologist where he managed a team which assessed and supported students to gain maximum advantage from technology. Prior to Beaumont College, as part of The BRITE Initiative, Fil delivered Assistive Technology training and support to every college in Scotland. He has also been part of the training team at Inclusive Technology and developed the first assistive technology post at Seashell Trust specialist school and college.

Lee Holder, The Music Works

Lee (they/them) is a self-professed Music Hacker and has been using music technology to overcome their own challenges to making music for the last 35 years. Lee now uses this experience to empower young people in their musical journeys as Disability Lead for the Music Works, exploring new and abandoned technologies to remove barriers to making music for those with the most complex needs and advocating for inclusion in the creative arts for those who face the biggest challenges.

Paula Kane, Kingspark School

Paula’s journey to a profession in the field of Educational Assistive Technology began in the completion of a BA (Hons) Social Work degree, followed by the completion of an MSc in Educational Assistive Technology. Paula has worked at Kingspark School, a specialist provision for children aged 5 – 18 years with a range of disabilities and complex additional support needs, for 6 years, firstly as a Learning and Care Assistant and currently as their Assistive Technology Team Leader.

Paula is extremely passionate about the invaluable role Assistive Technology can play in the lives of the children and young people attending Kingspark School, firmly believing that high quality assessment, provisioning and ongoing support of Assistive Technology can be truly transformative.

Paula has played a lead role in beginning to embed AT into Kingspark and continues to seek out professional development opportunities to ensure that she is well equipped to support children and young people experience the joy that AT can bring.

Richard Fletcher, Nottingham Trent University

Richard is a Dyslexia/SpLD specialist at Nottingham Trent University, with prior experience as a part-time lecturer and research assistant. He has presented on the topic of Generative AI & Dyslexia/SpLDs at a variety of conferences since 2023. Richard helped lead a student-staff co-created research project on this topic in 2024 which has since led to further research projects. He has knowledge of the wide range of mainstream and specialist assistive technologies often provided to students, combined with the experience of working alongside these students in a one to one setting over the long term. As a result, while he is optimistic about certain applications of technology, he is also equally sceptical of over-hyped and ‘techno-solutionist’ thinking.

Rohan Slaughter, University of Dundee

Rohan has an Assistive Technology, IT and education management background. He joined the University of Dundee as a senior lecturer in Assistive Technology in late 2020 to support the development of the MSc in Educational Assistive Technology (EduAT). Rohan worked for the first part of his career at Beaumont College, a Specialist College where he was employed as Assistant Principal and Head of Technology. Following this he worked in a consulting role at Jisc, the national EdTech charity, prior to joining the University. Rohan is programme lead for the MSc EduAT, which is a globally unique course that aims to train people from a range of backgrounds to undertake the assistive technologist role. The course includes material, knowledge and skills drawn from education and teaching, computing and technology as well as health and therapy. Rohan’s research is practically focussed and designed to support evidence-based policymaking in assistive technology and allied areas.

Rosie Woods

Dr Rosie Woods (Cert.Ed., Ad.Dip.Spec.Ed., MA, MSc, PhD) is a former headteacher of three special schools and of wide-ranging special needs FE provision. She has extensive practical experience in meeting the needs of a range of neurodivergent children and young adults. Her work and research have focussed largely on the communication needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). In particular, Rosie has been concerned to explore how best to meet the complex communication needs of individuals with PMLD, where severe physical and visual impairments inhibit access to current AAC methods and devices. Many individuals with PMLD have no verbal voice and frequently cannot sign, point, hold cards, photos, symbols, objects of reference, move limbs independently or use eye gaze, keyboards, screens or switches. Despite these constraints, Rosie has worked with children and young adults with PMLD to investigate and assess their potential development of language, in collaboration with families, professionals, and researchers.

Tina Voizey, Ace Centre

Tina is a special educator with over 30 years’ experience working with learners with complex disabilities, many of whom use AAC in all its forms. She has had a diverse career which has taken her from teaching in a classroom, to SEND Consultant for suppliers of AAC solutions, Widgit Software and Tobii Dynavox, to her current role as Information and Resources Manager for Ace Centre, a national charity supporting people who use AAC and AT. She is also a volunteer Trustee of Communication Matters, AAC SIG lead for the British Assistive Technology Association and co-chair of a national AAC SIG.

Trevor Edwards, Portland College

Trevor began his IT career over 30 years ago as a field service engineer at a small engineering firm. Since then, he has built a diverse and accomplished career across IT retail, second-line support, helpdesk management, infrastructure, and IT project management for major corporate organisations.

After years in the business sector, Trevor sought a more meaningful connection to his work, wanting to see and feel the real-world impact of his efforts. This led him to focus on the role of ICT in special needs education, where his passion truly lies.

Trevor is a strong advocate for the transformative power of technology in education. He firmly believes that the days of ICT saying “No” are behind us. His mission is to make ICT accessible and adaptable while maintaining a strong emphasis on safety and security. His work is driven by a commitment to empowering learners and educators through smart, inclusive technology solutions.