Manchester tech event spotlights AI, cyber & trust

DTX + UCX Manchester has outlined 12 featured sessions for its upcoming event in Manchester, with the programme focused on cyber security, artificial intelligence and business transformation.

Spanning two days, the line-up includes keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats and specialist sessions on topics ranging from AI governance and deepfake recruitment fraud to customer experience and endpoint security.

The event will bring together technology and business leaders at Manchester Central as part of Manchester Tech Week. The agenda is built around the theme "From Purpose to Practise: Igniting Curiosity, Building Trust, Confronting Risk".

AI and cyber

Among the main-stage sessions, a Day 1 keynote will examine how AI and machine learning are being used in cyber defence. Titled "Forge the AI hype: How we use AI & ML to stop cyber crime", it features Howard Marshall, Former Deputy Assistant Director, FBI's Cyber Division, and Kelly Bissell, Former Corporate VP of Product Abuse & Risk, Microsoft.

On Day 2, attention shifts to the role of data structures in AI systems. "The impact of knowledge graphs on Agentic AI" will feature Chiru Bhavansikar, Chief AI Officer, Arhasi AI, Andreas Kollegger, Director of Applied AI Research, Neo4j, and Rahul Kulkarni, Field Chief Technology Officer, AWS.

Other cyber-focused sessions explore operational resilience and incident response. Raja M, Cybersecurity Evangelist and Product Marketing, ManageEngine, is due to speak on endpoint resilience as AI and connected devices expand organisations' attack surfaces.

A separate panel, "The resilience blueprint: Uniting AI, Security, and DevOps for bulletproof operations", brings together Adewale Opeloyeru, DevOps Engineer, Nationwide Building Society, Akash Joshi, AI Ambassador, DevOps Society, Jon Burt, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Manchester City Council, and Opeyemi Enitan, Cloud & Endpoint Security Architect, Ultimate Performance.

The programme also includes a discussion on the human impact of cyber incidents. In "Protect your people, not just profits!", Benjamin Tucker, Cyber Security Operations Lead, Forge Holidays, and Ebunoluwa Idowu, Ambassador, Coding Black Females, will join moderator Ruth Rosselson, Resilience Coordinator, Manchester Mind, for a fireside chat on mental health pressures during and after major breaches.

Policy and risk

Regional AI policy is another theme. Tiffany St James, Chief AI Officer, Liverpool City Region, is scheduled to deliver "The CAIO blueprint: Developing regional AI capability", focusing on responsible AI frameworks, public service use cases and skills development.

Another panel, "Progress at a price: Addressing the AI elephant in the room", will examine broader concerns around labour markets, creativity and AI's environmental cost. Speakers include Caroline Ellis, AI & Data Ethics Lead, NatWest Group, Jo Lord, People and Leadership Specialist, GM Business Growth Hub, Keeley Crockett, Professor in Computational Intelligence, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Richard Whittle, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy, University of Salford. Gwyn Slee, CTO & AI Evangelist, G-Star Intelligence, will moderate.

Geopolitics and data sovereignty also feature prominently. "The new border reality: Confronting geopolitics, data sovereignty, and supply chain risk" will include Ben Morris, Head of Cyber Security Operations, UK Home Office, Jonathan Mattey, CISO, Forge Holidays, and Philip Wright, Chief Information Security Officer, LemonEdge, with Bola Rotibi, Chief of Enterprise Research, CCS Insights, moderating.

This reflects a broader shift in technology planning as organisations respond to changing regulation, political uncertainty and concerns over where data is stored and processed.

Data and trust

Questions around data architecture and AI deployment appear elsewhere in the agenda. Jackson Dyson, Head of Data Platform, ICO - Information Commissioners Office, is due to present "Borderless by design: Bringing AI to the data, not the data to the platform", focused on modular approaches to using AI across different systems and environments.

Trust in digital processes is another recurring issue. In "The Deepfake Interview: Breaking In From the Inside", Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor, ESET, will address the risks posed by AI-generated identities in recruitment and remote hiring.

The session highlights a growing concern for employers as face-swapping, voice cloning and forged documents become easier to create with widely available tools.

Customer focus

The event's business transformation strand extends beyond security and AI. Gavin Holland, Global Head of UX, JD Sports, is due to speak on aligning customer data, operations and inclusivity to improve consistency across customer journeys.

A later panel, "Back to basics: putting customer needs back at the heart of CX", will feature Lucie Child, Head of Customer, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Stephen Hutchinson, Desktop Operations Senior Manager, Paramount International.

Alongside the speaker programme, the event is expected to feature exhibitors from technology groups including Veeam, Cloudflare, HPE, Freshworks, ManageEngine, Abnormal AI, Dialpad and Vonage.

The featured sessions point to an agenda centred on practical questions facing large organisations: how to govern AI, defend systems shaped by automation, manage political and supply chain disruption, and maintain trust with employees and customers.

Those themes run through the programme, from the opening keynote on AI in cyber crime to the closing discussion on customer service in a changing technology environment.