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.

Nanette trained as a molecular biologist and now works as a Life Sciences consultant. Nanette moved from academia and spent over 20 years in the commercial scientific sector in Life Sciences and Diagnostics companies in commercial roles focussing on business development, market analysis, commercialisation strategy and due diligence. She has worked for large companies such as Bio-Rad, BBI, Dynal and Invitrogen but prefers working with SMEs. Nanette has previously worked with companies such as Q-Chip, AgPlus Diagnostics and Atelerix. For the last 3 years, she has worked as an Innovation & Growth Specialist for the Innovate UK Business Growth team with Welsh Life Sciences SMEs supporting them to grow, be successful and become Investment Ready. Nanette has worked with several female founders in receipt of Innovate UK’s prestigious Women in Innovation Award. In 2023, she formed a Female Founders group called BioExcellence to support female entrepreneurs in Life Science companies.

Dayne is an expert in innovation funding programmes, including Horizon Europe and Innovate UK. He previously worked within the Research & Innovation departments at Cardiff Metropolitan University and University of Wales Trinity St David, before Co-Founding RedKnight in 2015. Since then, RedKnight has supported over 230 funding applications, helping client’s source over £24m of innovation funding. In 2019, Dayne was shortlisted for the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Award and named on Wales Online’s 35 under 35 businessmen of the year.

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.

Teleri Davies is an accomplished Marketing Communications Manager with an 8-year background in creating events, driving brand growth and managing diverse marketing strategies. She holds a recent Science Communications CPD qualification from UWE and a BA in English Language and Media Communications.

Fluent in English and Welsh, Teleri has helped shape the brand identity of the new Innovation & Enterprise Campus in Mid Wales since 2020. Her experience and responsibilities encompass content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, event management, stakeholder engagement and overseeing funded support programmes for businesses across the biotech, food & drink and agritech industries.

Following a successful career as a Graphic Designer in the Creative Industries based in Cardiff and Manchester, Karl moved into Higher Education sector in 2008.

He worked in the Commercial Services Office of the University of South Wales, followed by a number of years in Student Services Department and Faculty of Business and Society as Marketing and Communications Coordinator for a European Social Funded collaborative programme.

He joined the Research and Innovation Services team at Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2015, where he works closely with external organisations to develop collaborative innovation and knowledge exchange projects. He also supports all academic schools at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the creation and delivery of collaborative industry lead projects and knowledge transfer activities. Karl assists collaborators and partners in identifying and sourcing suitable funding opportunities to support these projects.  He is regularly seen at networks and events meeting various organisations and providing guidance and support.

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.