Judges

Dr Louise Bright is Director of Research and Business Engagement at the University of South Wales. She has held positions with the Welsh Government looking at ways to increase the level of research funding in Wales was the Associate Director of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education with responsibility for Wales.

She is a peer reviewer for the HR Excellence in Research Award and was a member of the Chief Science Advisor for Wales Task and Finish Group which wrote a report considering women in STEM in Wales. Most recently, Louise has established the Wales Women in STEM network.

Alice Gray is a presenter and science writer, known for her passion for policy development surrounding equity in STEM industry. Her advocacy work, including collaborations with the National Assembly for Wales and the European Space Agency, has helped to raise the profile of gender equality in science and helped to create frameworks to better the environment for women and girls in STEM. Alice’s dedicated activism led her to be named as part of BBC’s 100 Women in 2015, a list of 100 influential and inspirational from that year.

She has appeared across the BBC television and radio and ITV News, as well as producing and presenting neuroscience documentaries and science podcasts.

Liz founded Grapevine Event Management in 2011 and it is now one of the most well recognised corporate events companies in Wales delivering high quality creative and innovative events. Liz is one of the co-founders of the Wales STEM Awards. Speaking about the awards Liz has said “while there is some great work being done to champion STEM in Wales, there was nothing being done to shine the spotlight on this work to inspire the next generation. These Awards aim to do this, by bringing the business community together for the first time to recognise those entrepreneurial and innovative ventures that are making a difference to the STEM sector.”

Lyndsey is the founder of creative communications agency jamjar and co-founder of the Wales STEM Awards. She has over a decade of experience working with clients across a range of sectors in Wales and specialises in developing top-level communication and brand strategies. Over the last eight years, she has led jamjar to win over 20 awards for its work from its industry bodies – the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Tonia is Managing Director of The Science Behind, a Cardiff based neuroscience clinical research services company. Working closely with pharmaceutical companies Tonia and her team provide technical and scientific expertise and technology to help clients understand drug effects on the human brain. 

With a background in communications, Tonia has always been interested in how people and things work. Her career has taken her through environmental, oil & gas engineering and life science sectors and industry-academic collaboration programmes. 

For more than 20 years, Andrew Thomas has worked at the cutting edge of brain stimulation and brain imaging research. He set up Brainbox in 2010, with his business partner manufacturing and supplying integrated neuroscience solutions to the world’s leading brain research institutions. What sets Brainbox part is the genuine interest Andrew and his team take in the scientific endeavours of their clients, which is reinforced by the Brainbox Initiative. Launched in 2017, the Brainbox Initiative was developed to champion up and coming neuroscience researchers and provide an opportunity for them to be front and centre of their research, showcase their work, network with peers and find opportunities to collaborate.