TRUSTEE

Samantha Cansfield pursued studies in business and philosophy before she channelled her passion for property in to a successful business, which she developed and managed for over 25 years. Concomitantly she is focusing on expanding her knowledge in the field of geroscience and has traveled extensively, attending many of the most prominent aging research conferences.

Her understanding that aging is malleable has fueled her desire to alleviate the suffering associated with age-related diseases. In pursuit of this goal, Samantha has invested resources in to several startups within the field, with the dual aims of educating both the public and the academic community about geroscience, and introducing more effective diagnostics and therapeutics to the market.

TRUSTEE

Started as a science communicator. Has a particular interest in making science more available and appealing to laypeople, both to encourage young people to pursue STEM, and to ensure clarity with the general population on novel, potentially controversial, research, so that ethical conversations are approached with a more specific focus and reasonable scientific understanding.

MRes Bioscience research. Co-authored:

Effects of age and social isolation on murine hippocampal biochemistry and behavior (2020).

Researched gerontology under Prof. Richard Faragher at the University of Brighton. Wrote a history of the theories of ageing, and expects that ageing science will include the greatest biomedical research & discoveries of this century.

Currently working to launch a biotech startup developing ultra sensitive point-of-care assays whilst also directing a non-profit youth organisation.

TRUSTEE

Calum is a sought-after keynote speaker and best-selling writer on artificial intelligence. He focuses on the medium- and long-term impact of AI on all of us, our societies and our economies. He advises companies and governments on AI policy, and co-hosts the London Futurists Podcast.

His non-fiction books on AI are Surviving AI, about superintelligence, and The Economic Singularity, about the future of jobs. Both are now in their third editions. He also wrote Pandora’s Brain and Pandora’s Oracle, a pair of techno-thrillers about the first superintelligence. He is a regular contributor to magazines, newspapers, and radio.

In the last decade, Calum has given over 150 talks in 20 countries on six continents. Videos of his talks, and lots of other materials are available at www.calumchace.com.

He is co-founder of a think tank focused on the future of jobs, called the Economic Singularity Foundation. The Foundation has published Stories from 2045, a collection of short stories written by its members.

Before becoming a full-time writer and speaker, Calum had a 30-year career in journalism and in business, as a marketer, a strategy consultant and a CEO. He studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, which confirmed his suspicion that science fiction is actually philosophy in fancy dress.

TRUSTEE

Adrian Cull is the founder of the Live Forever Club, a UK-based non-profit organization promoting equality in longevity and distributing evidence-based information on ageing and longevity to a wide non-academic audience. He authored the Live Forever Manual in 2018 and continues to advocate the benefits of living radically longer, healthier, lives.

TRUSTEE

Jon London has been involved in science communication for over 25 years. With a background in Physics he was involved in an aerospace startup competing in the original Ansari X-prize to launch the first non-governmental manned suborbital spaceflight.

He has been involved as a consultant on a wide range of British television shows from 'Braniac' to 'Stargazing live' and has presented stage shows and workshops to schoolchildren and adults across Europe.

Jon is currently an elected member in UK local government and continues to advocate for an evidence based technical approach to the issues facing society, including that of aging.

TRUSTEE

David Wood has a background as a mathematician and a philosopher of science. He then spent twenty five years as one of the pioneers of the mobile computing and smartphone industries, with software written by his teams eventually being used in half a billion smartphones worldwide, from companies such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Samsung.

Since 2008, David has chaired the London Futurists meetup, making it the world's largest meetup with a focus on foresight.

His other current roles include being the Foresight Advisor to Singularity NET, Board Director of the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies), and Executive Director of the Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation.

He is the author or co-author of 14 books about the future, including "Vital Foresight", "The Abolition of Aging", "Smartphones and Beyond", and "The Singularity Principles".

TRUSTEE

Ben has worked in the field of longevity research since completing his studies in biochemistry and pathology at Trinity College, Cambridge (2007). He has held positions at Methuselah Foundation and SENS Research Foundation, and served for over a decade as Assistant Editor/Deputy Editor of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research; he now serves as Director of Web Services & Content at Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation. Ben is a generalist whose interests cover the whole endeavour of treating and preventing human age-related disease, as well as an experienced systems administrator and full-stack web developer.

CHAIR

Jenny has worked for two decades in both volunteer and paid roles with several UK charities, deploying her remarkable empathy, attention to detail and passion for improving the lives of others to empower and advocate for individuals who have been disadvantaged by traumatic life events or long-term disability. As the chair of Progress on Longevity's board of trustees, she is now bringing that skill set and enthusiasm to improving the prospects of all those suffering from age-related disease, disability, and prejudicial treatment.