INVITED SPEAKERS

Serena Kennedy began her career in Policing in 1993 with Greater Manchester Police having gained a degree in Applied Biology at the University of Hull. Since that date she has had a varied career across three forces.

In 2017 Serena joined Merseyside Police as Assistant Chief Constable, Investigation and Intelligence after she had successfully completed the Strategic Command Course. Also, in this year Serena finished a Master of Studies in Leadership and Policing at the University of Cambridge. In 2018 she was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable and in April 2021 became the first female Chief Constable to lead Merseyside Police.

Leadership is something that Serena is passionate about and she continues to develop herself through CPD and coaching. She has always taken seriously her role as a leader within policing and invests time coaching and mentoring people both regionally and nationally. This is something that she considers to be vital to ensure good leaders thrive within policing and that we achieve a fully inclusive organisation.

As Chief Constable her force strategy includes Inclusion, tackling serious & organised crime, community engagement, wellbeing, preventative policing and protecting vulnerable people. 

She has been the national lead for drones and Response Policing and she is the Chair of the newly formed National Prevention Coordination Committee. 

In July 2023 she was proud to be awarded a King’s Police medal in the first King’s Birthday Honours list.  Serena is married to Ian, a retired Police Officer and has three children and two grandchildren, all of whom keep her very busy.

 Serena’s presentation is entitled, Preventative Policing: A national and local perspective

Andi Herring is the CEO and Co-Founder of LCR’S Pride Foundation, the Liverpool City Region's LGBT+ Charity

The organisation is best known for delivering their flagship event Pride in Liverpool, which attracts over 20,000 people to march through the city's streets. Year-round, the foundation works to remove the barriers that our community face when living, working and visiting the region.

This presentation will cover the foundation's pioneering 'You're Safe Here" safe spaces scheme which equips everyone with the knowledge of how to create safe spaces, be an ally and active bystander and awareness of support services for victims of crime or who feel unsafe. Andi will share the process of designing the scheme, with community consultation and some of the learnings specific to the region's LGBT+ community that shaped their approach.

You're Safe Here has now accredited over 120 venues and trained over 1000 staff members in Liverpool and has recently been commissioned in Chester and Cheshire West and Sefton as part of the scheme's expansion. 

The presentation will give the opportunity to ask questions in a safe environment and learn more about the work of the LCR Pride Foundation.

Andi is joining the Club Health Conference on the eve of the UK Pride Organisers Network National Conference, which is also hosted in the city that weekend. The UKPON conference brings together hundreds of pride organisers of all sizes to collaborate and further the network's collective goals.

Michael is the CEO of the UK Night Time Industries Association and Chair or both the UK Door Security Association and national Promoter Society.

With several decades of experience working within independent, corporate and public sector environments at executive level, Michael specialises in Marketing, Operations, Licensing, Logistics and System Implementation. With significant senior management roles within Luminar Leisure Plc, The Drinks Group and the University of East Anglia and now as the Chief Executive of the Night Time Industries Association, he has been exposed to a considerable range of businesses within the night time economy business sector.

Michael has been involved within many high-level initiatives both within local and national government, alongside key stakeholders. Many of my roles within this industry have involved the facilitation of best practise for independants and multi-site operators of venues, bars and pubs, with more recent experiences working very closely with festivals and live venues in shaping operational efficiencies and best practise on a regional level in conjunction with the Police and Local Authorities.

Michael’s role as Commercial Director at the University of East Anglia was seconded to the Central Office of National Union of Students (NUS) where he was responsible for the restructuring of their Procurement Strategy for all licensed premises for their University retail sites across the country.

Michael has been responsible for several multi business procurement contracts with international retail suppliers which have generated circa £50M plus in listing merchandise and retrospective agreements. He has also been fundamental to the roll out of a national music event strategy for the largest late night entertainment multi venue operator in Europe. Michael has worked closely with a considerable number of artists and music brands in developing bespoke shows for both stand-alone events and larger scale festivals across the UK and still maintain a strong relationship and excellent reputation within the industry as an operator, promoter and procurement specialist

Michael’s presentation

The nightclub scene has always been synonymous with euphoria, providing a space where music, dance, and social interactions blend to create unforgettable experiences. As technology continues to advance, the future of clubbing holds exciting possibilities for enhancing these euphoric moments. Imagine a world where temperature, atmosphere, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR) converge to create immersive and multi-sensory clubbing experiences like never before. In this talk, we will explore how these elements can come together to shape the next generation of club culture.

Mica Sefia is a 22 year old singer / singer writer based in Leeds and originally from Liverpool. She is a Leeds Conservatoire alumni student now working for the conservatoire as their EDI project Co-ordinator as well as working with Black Lives in music as an Ambassador.Mica uses her experience as a Black woman in the industry to educate others and create safe spaces and opportunities for those who may not always be considered. She believes it is important for all the factors to be considered when entering a space, stereotypes often play a huge part in night life situations as well as power play and mental health. Having policies in places works effectively to insure everybody is able to have an enjoyable experience no matter what space they walk into especially in the night time economy 

My talk will explore issues such as social prejudice and safe space environments and how we can create these to ensure everybody is welcomed into all spaces.

Nightlife is an environment in which pleasure, intoxication and sexual expression and relations co-exist. Whilst for many nightlife is a safe space, safety can be compromised due to the prevalence of risky behaviours (e.g. alcohol and other drug use, a culture of intoxication and sexual risk taking), and social norms that render sexual violence more acceptable and expected than in other parts of everyday life. Over the past two decades, increasingly attention is being drawn to preventing sexual violence and gender inequality in all but particularly nightlife spaces. Various social movements such as #MeToo and #EverySexism provide a supportive social and cultural context for preventing sexual violence, however whilst there is clear evidence that sexual violence is a key nightlife issue, gaps in knowledge exist about how to address sexual violence in this complex environment. Across several countries, interventions to promote nightlife workers (e.g. bar staff, security) bystander intervention are emerging as a method to address sexual violence, and these appear to be having positive impacts on addressing norms that promote sexual violence and increasing confidence to positively intervene. Such interventions require further implementation and evaluation however to determine their impacts of sexual violence, and equally need to be supported by wider interventions that address gender inequality and the cultural norms that underpin sexual violence.

This talk will consider the evidence on nightlife-related sexual violence and reflect on the development and implementation of bystander (and other) interventions in this setting, and opportunities for transformation.

Biography

Zara is a Professor in Behavioural Epidemiology at the Public Health Institute (PHI), Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. As head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Violence Prevention at PHI, she works with WHO to promote and support a public health approach to violence prevention at local, national and international level. She has worked on nightlife-related research for 20 years, examining risky alcohol consumption (including preloading) and associated harms (e.g. violence).

Zara’s research has informed the development of prevention activity across various UK and European nightlife settings, including: the development of nightlife worker bystander training on identifying and preventing sexual violence (e.g. STOP-SV; Good Night Out Campaign); and implementation of community based multi-component approaches (i.e. STAD In Europe; Drink Less Enjoy More) to preventing excessive alcohol consumption across public and private drinking settings. Zara is from Liverpool and works with local communities and organisations to promote healthy nightlife in Liverpool’s night-time economy. She sits on various local and national steering groups relating to nightlife health and is active in engaging with nightlife users to ensure their voice informs policy and practice.

Carly was appointed as Bristol’s first Night Time Economy Advisor in April 2021, which involves a pivotal role between night time operatives and local government.

Bristol Nights has a clear focus on collaborative working around essential issues which support better jobs, safer environments, and pragmatic advice. Under Carly, Bristol Nights has launched the UK’s first city-wide Harm Reduction strategy; a Drink Spiking scheme focussed on perpetrators; a Women’s Safety Charter, including free anti-harassment training for the whole sector; and Thrive-At-Night, prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of the workforce. Carly chairs Bristol Nights and designs people-centred campaigns which support businesses, workers and audiences who enjoy the city from 6.00 pm to 6.00 am.

Carly is passionate about nightlife, the people who work in it, and is a true advocate of Bristol’s beautifully rich after-dark culture.

Cristiana Vale Pires, MSc, PhD, is a founder member of Kosmicare and a researcher and lecturer collaborating at the Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH) of the Faculty of Education Psychology of the Catholic University of Portugal. She has vast experience in collaborating and coordinating European and national research and community-based projects and harm reduction services in the fields of drug use in social and nightlife and festival environments, sex work, chemsex and sexualized drug uses, gender-responsive models of care and psychological support in drug intervention. Cristiana collaborated also as a consultant and external expert at EMCDDA and Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe and she is a member of the European Group on Gender and Drugs, European Chemsex Forum, NEWNET and at the International Night Studies Network.

Cristiana’s presentation will focus on drug use among LGBTQIA+ people, discussing gaps, needs and innovative approaches in terms of drug monitoring and response. Data from a gender analysis based on the experiences of a group of non-binary people who responded to the EMCDDA´s European Websurvey on Drugs will be presented. In addition, emerging models of care, safe(r) spaces and harm reduction approaches that are responsive to diversity and to the specific needs of LGBTQIA+ people who use drugs in nightlife and other social and other environments will also be presented.

Increasing your choice of Low and Alcohol-free drinks can diversify your customer base boost your takings and create loyalty. Laura Willoughby MBE, founder of Club Soda shares unique insights case studies and practical steps to improve the choice of drinks available in all social settings - and why this matters. 

Laura Willoughby MBE is the founder of the world’s largest Club Soda The Mindful Drinking Movement and the UK’s foremost expert in low and no alcoholic drinks. Club Soda runs the new Low & No Tasting Rooms in Covent Garden. Receiving an MBE for services to the community in 2004, Laura’s devotion to Club Soda means hundreds of thousands of people are supported in their journeys to live well by being more mindful about drinking alcohol.

Laura was named number 16 in 2023’s Drinks Retailing’s latest Top 100 Most Influential People in Drink; one of the 100 most influential women in hospitality by CODE and is a Trustee for The Drinks Trust. The Club Soda Tasting Room was Drink Retailing’s Independent Retailer of the year 2023. Club Soda is the UK's mindful drinking specialist. Experts in alcohol and behaviour change they also run the Club Soda Tasting Room & Bar in Covent Garden. The Tasting Rooms are a space for consumers to try and buy low and no alcohol drinks and for brands to connect with consumers and the trade. Club Soda is a social impact B Corp Business and creates change choice and connection through research events drinks expertise corporate workshops menu conclusion and more.  

The Club Soda Tasting Room was Drink Retailing’s Independent Retailer of the year 2023. You can find Club Soda at www.joinclubsoda.com  on social @joinclubsoda and at The Club Soda Tasting Rooms, 39 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5RR

In 2010, Owen founded the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, an innovative service offering treatment for emerging drug problems including novel psychoactive substances, club drugs and online purchased prescription medications. The service has recently expanded to support student health services at Imperial College London and University College London.

National roles include Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, trustee of the Society for the Study of Addiction, board member at the International Society for the Study of Emerging Drugs and a special adviser to the Universities UK drugs taskforce. His research interests include emerging drugs harms, particularly in young people.

Dr Cathy Montgomery is a Reader in Psychopharmacology and Head of the Institute for Health Research at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Her research interests lie in the effects of substance use on neurocognition in recreational and dependent substance users, and the recovery of cognitive and neurological function during abstinence. She is particularly interested in using neuroimaging techniques such as functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy to investigate brain indices of impaired cognitive function in substance users. From 2006-2019, Cathy was Honorary Secretary of the Psychobiology Section of the British Psychological Society, and currently leads the UK ARCNWC Marginalised Groups sub-theme.

 Recreational substance use (of e.g., cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine) is associated with subjective and objective changes in mood, cognitive function and brain function which persist beyond acute intoxication. Some cognitive functions (e.g. memory updating) appear to be more affected by substance use, while others remain relatively preserved. This talk outlines our attempts to systematically investigate the effects of recreational substance use on cognitive function, and the mediating role of various factors (sleep quality, endocrine function, polysubstance use, ecological validity of tasks used). It is clear that there are a number of risk factors and individual differences in pharmacokinetic processing of recreationally used substances which could make use riskier for certain sub-groups of individuals. Combined with issues surrounding purity and strength, it is difficult to predict if an individual may be at risk of substance-related neurocognitive changes, and if these recover with prolonged abstinence. Clear communication about how to reduce risk associated with recreational substance use would feed in to harm reduction approaches for these individuals.