National Lab

Professor James Bennett is Director of CoSTAR National Lab, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor at Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of StoryFutures. His research work spans creative, social and technical aspects of innovation technologies and cultures (AI/XR/VR/AR). He is a strategic leader of large teams and grants, with over £85m of research and commercial R&D income won from across the UK and believes in building inclusive and collaborative work cultures and partnerships. 

Sarah is Director of Operations for StoryFutures and CoSTAR – National Lab. As Head of Delivery for StoryFutures Academy and Head of Operations for the UNBOXED 2022 StoryTrails programme Sarah played a key role in StoryFutures’ winning bid for the £51.1m AHRC/UKRI CoSTAR National Lab funding. Previously Sarah worked as a Production Manager for all the main terrestrial television broadcasters.  

Ade is Director of Technology for CoSTAR National Lab and Professor in Creative Technologies at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has over 30 years' experience working across the creative industries including 23 years at the BBC in research leadership roles. He will be overseeing the technology strategy for CoSTAR and the running of CoSTAR National Lab’s facilities including its flagship studio at Pinewood.   

Will is a Professor of Creative Industries at Royal Holloway University and the Creative Lead for the CoSTAR National Lab, jointly chairing the CoSTAR Network's prototyping and pilots programme. He also leads the WorldBuilding Team who have recently been awarded a £1.2million grant to explore how ethical AI could support a more equitable live music industry. With over 30 years industry experience in screen and performance, he co-authored the DCMS Culture Is Digital Report was awarded an MBE for services to the Creative Industries in 2024. 

Becky is Co-Head of Innovation at CoSTAR National Lab, and for the National Film and Television School. She has previously led a wide variety of production and research acceleration initiatives for the Creative Industries, and is now co-leading the Prototypes & Pilots Programme for CoSTAR. Becky was formerly Head of Immersive Technology at Digital Catapult, and a Development Producer and Research Engineer at the BBC. 

Miles is Co-Head of Innovation at CoSTAR National Lab leading on prototyping and pilots in partnership with the National Film and Television School. He has expertise in digital strategy and setting up and leading innovation and delivery teams. Before joining CoSTAR Miles worked at the BBC for 13 years where he established and led BBC News Labs focusing on the intersection of journalism, data and digital.   

Adrian is Professor of Computer Vision, founding Director of the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI and Director of the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at the University of Surrey. Pioneering research into 4D computer vision for modelling people for entertainment, manufacturing and healthcare.   

Fiona is Professor of Creative Industries at Royal Holloway University of London and leads on Knowledge Exchange, Enterprise and Commercialisation programmes at CoSTAR National Lab.  Fiona has worked at the nexus of public sector funded innovation, technology and the creative industries in the UK and Ireland, authored numerous industry reports and founded Immerse UK in 2016, triggering significant new public R&D funding and industry engagement in new and emerging technology in the UK.  

Polly is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Attention Lab at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Head of Audience Futures for the CoSTAR National Lab. Her work investigates human attention, awareness and experience in multisensory contexts has been used by the aviation sector, the BBC and ThinkBox.    

Angela is Professor of Creative Industries and Head of Inclusive Futures for CoSTAR National Lab, responsible for research into democratisation and standards, and integrating principles of inclusive innovation into emerging technology. She also oversees inclusion and sustainability for the National Lab. Angela has an industry background in the television industry for twenty-five years, as a commissioner and executive producer and led creative diversity at the BBC and Channel 4.  

Mark is Professor of Digital Innovation and Head of Business Futures for the CoSTAR National Lab. With an industry background based mostly in project management and consulting, his research covers the social and commercial values of emerging technologies.   

Ruth is Head of Department for Games Technology & Mathematics at Abertay University and Head of CreaTech for CoSTAR National Lab. Ruth teaches Data Structures and Parallel Programming (GPGPU) researching the development of modelling and visualisation frameworks. Ruth is an editorial board member for International Journal of Games Technology & Scientific Reports.

Technology and Design Executive, Professor, Photographer. meriko is a technical design director focused on cross-disciplinary work on new interfaces and media languages in emerging narrative fields, and partners with studios, theatres, researchers and creatives who push the boundaries of technology in the service of story, art and community. She is Honorary Professor of Creative Technologies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She also works with ScanLAB Projects, where she is Executive Producer of FRAMERATE (La Biennale di Venezia, SXSW, BFI LFF, Phi Centre) and co-director of Felix’s Room (Berliner Ensemble). meriko spent more than two decades at Apple, where she created some of the most innovative technologies of the last 25 years. She was a founding member of the iPhone team, and designed and built the iPhone cameras - fundamentally changing photography across the globe. 

Alex has worked on immersive and spatial computing technologies, brand and experience design and marketing and communications for over 20 years. As Chief Experience Officer of Disguise, he oversees the overall brand and user experience across every touchpoint, develops the strategy for Disguise’s industry verticals and leads the global marketing & design teams. Earlier in his career, while in senior roles at AKQA, R/GA, and The Mill, Wills oversaw the development and production of campaigns, content and transformative experiences for brands including Nike, Google, Magic Leap, Riot Games, and Beats by Dre.