Connect 2026 Panels Announced
The Learning Network is excited to announce the two panels that will take to the stage at Connect 2026, its annual conference, which arrives at The Eastside Rooms in Birmingham on Friday 27th November. Six expert panellists will take on two of the biggest conversations in L&D today: how AI is reshaping the skills people need at work, and what it takes to build more evidence-informed ways of working.
Panels have long been one of the liveliest parts of the Connect programme, bringing together a range of voices from across the industry and giving delegates the chance to put their own questions directly to the people on stage. The Learning Network encourages panellists and audiences alike to explore ideas thoroughly, to follow the threads that matter, and to push conversations further than they might otherwise go; a willingness to challenge and be challenged sits at the very heart of every panel, and that makes for discussions that are frank, thoughtful, and rarely predictable.
The first panel turns to AI and the effect this enormous technological shift is having on workplace skills. As AI changes the shape of work across almost every organisation, the panel will explore which skills people will need to thrive in the years ahead, and how L&D professionals should be thinking about skills as a topic in the first place. With AI fast becoming part of everyday working life, it is a conversation that goes straight to the heart of what L&D is for, and how it can help organisations build the workforce of the future.
Joining the AI panel is:
- Wesley Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer at Mint, who is passionate about technology, people, and making what is broken work by trying something new, whether that means organisations, processes, technology, or teams.
- Houra Amin, Director and Founder of Blue Jay Learning, who draws on behavioural science and systems thinking to help organisations turn investment in new systems, skills, and ways of working into measurable changes in behaviour and performance.
- Toby Harris, Chief Technologist at Filtered, an award-winning learning solutions architect who helps Filtered's enterprise customers build effective learning infrastructure, and who also edits and publishes academic research, serves as a Research Fellow for the Aldous Huxley Centre in Zurich, and co-hosts two podcasts.
Between them, the three bring perspectives from technology leadership, behavioural science, and learning infrastructure, which promises a conversation that moves well beyond the hype and into the practical realities of skills in an AI-shaped workplace.
The second panel explores evidence-informed practice: what it means for us as people and as professionals, and how we go about adopting more evidence-informed ways of working. Across the profession, there is a growing appetite to make decisions based on what the research tells us, and a recognition that turning that appetite into everyday habits can be tricky. The panel will dig into what that shift looks like, where it gets difficult, and how L&D professionals can start making it happen in their own organisations.
Taking part is:
- Sara Farwell, Performance Consultant at Solutions Makers, a cognitive neuroscientist and fitness professional who combines science and human connection to help people with their greatest personal and professional challenges.
- Dr Maciej Zatonski, Medical Director, a physician and former surgeon who now works with Sara to advise founders and senior executives using evidence-based science.
- Tom McDowall, Founder and Principal Consultant at Evolve, a speaker, writer, and consultant whose work focuses on leadership, learning, and organisational performance, and who supports L&D, HR, and leadership teams as they adopt evidence-informed practices and experiment-led design.
With a neuroscientist, a physician, and a consultant on the same stage, the evidence-informed practice panel brings together very different routes into the same question, and delegates can expect plenty of healthy debate along the way.
The two panels sit alongside keynotes from Donald H Taylor and Susi Miller, new hands-on workshops led by Sascha Evans and Kurt Ewald Lindley, and a packed programme of sessions, with plenty of time between them to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and connect with the wider L&D community.
The Learning Network would like to say a huge thank you to the sponsors making Connect 2026 possible: headline sponsors Comtec and Evolve L&D, and sponsors L&D Free Spirits and INSERT SPONSOR NAME. Thanks also go to The CPD Group, which has accredited the conference, so every delegate can claim CPD points for the day.
With six panellists ready to dig into two of the biggest questions facing L&D, Connect 2026 promises a day of lively, challenging conversation, and tickets are on sale now.
- Date: Friday 27 November 2026, all day from 08:00 to 17:30
- Venue: The Eastside Rooms, Woodcock Street, Birmingham, B7 4BL
- Tickets: On sale now at The Learning Network website: thelearning-network.org/event/connect-2026-building-the-future/