Barney Sloane is currently National Specialist Services Director at Historic England, leading a department of archaeologists, heritage scientists and historic buildings conservation experts. In addition, he leads three interlinked strategic programmes aimed at enhancing the public value of archaeological investigation (primarily through the planning process) in England: 21st Century Challenges for Archaeology (21CAP), Heritage Information Access Simplified (HIAS), and the Future for Archaeological Archives Programme (FAAP). Each of these aims to build better bridges between archaeologists, museums, local authority curators, academia and of course the public.

Barney started his career as a professional archaeologist with the Museum of London in 1986, leaving to undertake an AHRC-funded research project at the University of Reading on medieval burials in 1999. He joined (then) English Heritage as archaeology grants manager before becoming head of strategic planning and management, and then (after Historic England was formed) Research Director. He is a board member and past president of the European Archaeological Council, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Julia Sallabank is Professor of Language Policy and Revitalisation at SOAS, University of London, where she has worked since 2007. She gained her PhD from Lancaster University in 2006 and previously worked as a Commissioning Editor for Oxford University Press. Her main research interests are endangered language documentation and revitalisation; sociolinguistics/sociology of language; language policy and planning, especially in multilingual contexts. Her recent research focuses on links between language revitalisation and wellbeing, working with communities and partners in Europe and Thailand. From 2023 to 2026 she was Principal Investigator at SOAS for a major Horizon Europe project, Revitalising Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity (RISE UP, riseupproject.eu), working with eight partners from six European countries, which analysed language policies and language ideologies, and practices in language revitalisation, as well as organising interactive workshops and cultural events. She is a member of the Guernsey Language Commission and is developing materials for the endangered language Guernesiais (Guernsey, Channel Islands) with Guernsey teacher and researcher Yan Marquis.

In 2021, she published Revitalizing Endangered Languages: A Practical Guide (Cambridge University Press), a fully open-access book co-edited with Professor Justyna Olko of Warsaw University, Poland. This is the first guide to language revitalisation for practitioners. She is also the author of Attitudes to Endangered Languages: Identities and Policies (Cambridge University Press, 2013). With Peter Austin, she has co-edited Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Documentation and Revitalization (British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2014) and the Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages (Cambridge University Press, 2011). Her most recent papers are overviews of linguistic diversity (2024), language revitalisation (2026), and family language policy (in press).

Marie-Louise is a choreographer, artist-scholar and Assistant Professor at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University (UK). Her research interests include dance, museums, and critical heritage, as well as areas of intersection between Classics and Dance Studies, such as ancient dance and the performance of epic. Her PhD (2018) investigated dance in the archaeological museum, and she has since worked on several large-scale European research projects focussed on participatory approaches to cultural heritage. Recent projects include “Kinaesthetic Heritage: Bodies, Memory, Contested Histories” (British Council, 2025, PL) and she is currently working on Dance Map (Horizon Europe, 2025–2027), investigating 20th and 21st century European dance heritage, and The Isadora Project, a new performance work about how memory and history dance through time and space.

Educated at the University of Oxford and vocationally trained at the Ecole Marceau in Paris, Marie-Louise began her professional performance career with Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil (2003–2009). She has worked in the UK as an independent choreographer and dance artist with companies as diverse as Birmingham Opera Company, Marc Brew, Gary Clarke, and Ballet Cymru, and choreographic work has included pieces for a Tate / ARTIST ROOMS exhibit at mac Birmingham, and for the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford as well as theatre work. Marie-Louise is also an Artist and Research Associate of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, University of Oxford.

Marie-Louise has published widely in Dance Research Journal, Performance Research Journal and International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media among others. She co-edited Art and Dance in Dialogue: Body Space Object (Palgrave, 2020) and her new book, Radical Archaeology: Dancing in the Museum, is forthcoming with Routledge. She is a Co-Editor for the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices and a Series Editor for Bloomsbury's Dance in Dialogue book series.

Sarah Kay is a Cultural Heritage Curator with the National Trust, with more than 25 years of experience in heritage conservation, collections, and public engagement. Following studies in Languages and History of Art, and a postgraduate diploma in Fine and Decorative Arts with Christie’s, she spent 11 years working with Christie’s in Germany and in international advertising in France before joining the National Trust.

Over the past 26 years, Sarah has worked across volunteering, research, curatorial, and cultural heritage roles, both freelance and within the organisation. Her expertise spans historic collections, interiors, gardens, and landscapes, with a particular focus on researching and interpreting heritage to engage diverse audiences and communities.

At Attingham Park (2006–16), Sarah pioneered a Conservation-in-Action approach that brought conservation practice into the public eye and led to presentations at international conservation conferences, including ICOM, ICON, AIC, AICCM, and the Swedish National Heritage Board.

She has played a leading curatorial role in strategic projects and significant acquisitions across the National Trust’s Midlands portfolio, including Attingham Park, Croome Court, Shugborough, Kedleston Hall, and now Ironbridge Gorge, the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In her current role as Regional Cultural Heritage Curator (Specialist Delivery Partner), Sarah works collaboratively across disciplines to advise and support properties on inclusive histories, evolving heritage significance, the interpretation of under-represented stories, public engagement, and the application of conservation principles. Her work seeks to ensure that heritage remains relevant, accessible, and meaningful to contemporary and future audiences.