In a break from their monthly slot in New York, the event will bring together academics, comics, journalists, and strategists, to explore meme mysteries, reveal the ways memes influence our lives, learn about who is responsible for our virtual future, ponder what we do about memes that have been adopted by controversial groups, and laugh about the ways we navigate the web and our world.
Our expert panellists
Sophia Smith Galer is a multi-award-winning journalist, author and TikTok creator with over 130 million views. She is currently a Senior News Reporter for VICE World News and a Visiting Fellow at Brown University.
In 2022 she was selected for the Forbes under 30 list, British Vogue’s list of the UK’s 25 most influential women, and her first book, Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century, was published by Harper Collins to critical acclaim.
She is credited with pioneering TikTok as a newsgathering and publishing platform and speaks internationally about her investigations across sexual and reproductive health rights.
Luke Bailey is Head of Digital at i, and formerly an editor at BuzzFeed UK.
Saima Ferdows is a TV producer and director, stand up director and writer.
Sirena Bergman is a Digital Culture editor at Insider, based in London, focusing on social-media trends, online movements, influencers, and internet culture.
She has previously worked as an editor and reporter at The Independent, The Guardian, Mental Floss, Metro, and more. As a reporter she specialized in social justice commentary and reporting on influencers and online culture. She has written for publications including Vox, VICE, The Cut, Forbes, Mashable, and HuffPost.
Hussein Kesvani is a journalist, writer, editor, media producer and consultant. Kesvani is the author of Follow Me Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims, which was long-listed for the Orwell Prize for Non Fiction Writing in 2020.
He is also a co-host of the popular UK political podcast Trashfuture and it’s spin-off show, Ten Thousand Posts.
Ryan Broderick is part of Digital Void, a journalist, video producer, podcaster, and community moderator. He's the writer of the Garbage Day newsletter.
Dr. Jamie Cohen is the Head of Education at Digital Void, a digital culture expert, writer, speaker, educator, and producer. He founded a college degree in internet studies, wrote a textbook on the subject and is the co-author of the first peer reviewed paper on Pepe the Frog.
Thursday September 14 2023,
Doors open 7:30pm for an 8pm start,