Tom Standage is Deputy Editor of The Economist and editor of its future-gazing annual, The World Ahead. He joined The Economist as science correspondent in 1998 and was subsequently appointed technology editor, business editor and digital editor. He is the author of seven history books, including “Writing on the Wall” (2013), “The Victorian Internet” (1998) and the New York Times bestsellers “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” (2005) and “An Edible History of Humanity” (2009). His latest book, “A Brief History of Motion”, was published in 2021. Tom studied engineering and computer science at Oxford University and has written for other publications including the New York Times, the Guardian and Wired, taking a particular interest in technology's social and historical impact.

Amelia Peterson is the Programme Director of the LIS MBA, a reimagining of the MBA created by the London Interdisciplinary School (LIS), a groundbreaking new model of higher education featured in The Times, The Telegraph and Forbes.

Previously Head of Learning and Teaching at LIS, she has led on many of their processes of curriculum and institutional design. She joined LIS from the London School of Economics, where she was a Fellow in the Social Policy department.

In her previous career Amelia worked for Innovation Unit, a non-profit consulting firm focused on public services. She was part of the first cohort of Harvard University's PhD in Education, during which she was an Inequality and Social Policy scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School and was a visiting scholar in Political Science at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Amelia has worked on a wide range of education and innovation projects both in the UK and internationally, including for the OECD and the Brookings Institution, and is a co-author of two books about education: Thrive: the Purpose of Schools in a Change World (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and A Chance to Solve Their Own Problems: Inside the New Methods Seeking to Remake Public Schools (Harvard University Press, 2026).

Bjørn is Chief Analyst in Macro Research at Danske Bank, with previous experience at the Danish Ministry of Finance, Danmarks Nationalbank, and the ECB. He follows the Danish and global economy and financial markets, including the UK and the Nordics. 

Giles Wilkes splits his time between Flint Global, a fast-growing business advisory specialising in politics, economics and regulatory affairs, and the Institute for Government where he writes about business and economic policy. His qualifications for doing so depend on his previous experience as a special adviser to a prime minister (Theresa May, 2017-19) and to the Business Secretary Vince Cable (2010-14), with the time in between spent at the Financial Times writing editorials and the Lex Column. He has previously worked in financial markets with IG Group, in other think tanks, and even the publishing industry, and along the way completed Masters courses in Global Economic History and in Business Administration.