Chris Clifton - CTO & Divisional Director:Europe based Sony Semiconductor & Electronic Solutions (SES), Sony Europe B.V.

Chris is the Chief Technology Officer and Divisional Director for Europe based Sony Semiconductor and Electronic Solutions (SES) with responsibilities for new technology/product incubation and telecommunication/semiconductor R&D activities. His main mission is to identify and help accelerate the development of core enabling technologies which will underpin future consumer and industrial electronic products. Current research focus areas include 3GPP related technologies which will pave the way towards the 5G era including the wireless M2M connectivity technologies which will underpin the next IoT revolution. He currently serves on the ETSI board.

A significant period of his time at Sony has been spent managing the Wireless Semiconductor Development activity in Basingstoke, joining the Sony Semiconductor operation in 1997. During this time the company succeeded in securing significant design wins in the European cellular phone market. After spending a period of time at the main development site in Atsugi, Japan, the design flow for the GaAs MMIC technology was transferred to the UK Design Centre so that European products could be designed locally.

Following the successful set-up of the MMIC design facility by Chris and his team, other areas of Mixed-Signal development were expanded at the Basingstoke facility including cellular RF transceivers, full Bluetooth chipset solutions and analogue devices for DTV applications, under his leadership. In 2001, he became Divisional Director for Wireless products within the European Development Centre.

In 2006, Chris launched a local design centre for the development of LCD panels for mobile consumer electronics devices. Since this time, he has maintained a strong interest in display and image capture technologies, in addition to several other strategically important microelectronic technologies such as MEMS.

Prior to Sony, he held positions as Chief Design Engineer at the GEC III-V semiconductor facility at Caswell and RF Engineering Manager at DSC Communications.

As well as being a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and Chartered Engineer (CEng), Chris has served on the boards of a number of UK government bodies covering training and promotion of engineering within the UK. Also a member of the UK Strategy Advisory board for 5GIC (5G Innovation Centre at Surrey University).

He has authored more than 20 international publications and holds a number of patents. Academic qualifications include a BSc(Hons) in Physics and a PhD in Electronic Engineering.

David Hayes - Founder, Plasma Antennas

Sampson Hu - CTO & Founder, Smart Antenna Technologies

Dr Sampson Hu (Smart Antenna Technology)

Kevin Morris - Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering, University of Leeds, Head of School, University of Leeds - School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering

Kevin Morris received the B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics and communications engineering from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., in 1995 and 2000, respectively. He is currently a Professor of Radio Frequency engineering and Head of the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He has authored or co-authored over 130 academic papers, and he holds five patents. His research principally concerns looking at methods of reducing power consumption in communications systems with specific interest in the design of efficient frequency flexible transceivers. He is currently involved with several industrial and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) research projects. He was the Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol from 2014 to 2018.

Mark Beach - Professor of Radio Systems Engineering, University of Bristol (Communication Systems & Networks Research Group)

Mark Beach received his PhD for research addressing the application of Smart Antenna techniques to GPS from the University of Bristol in 1989, where he subsequently joined as a member of academic staff. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1996, Reader in 1998 and Professor in 2003. He was Head of the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from 2006 to 2010, then spearheaded Bristol’s hosting of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Communications. He is the Co-Director of this centre. He leads research in the field of enabling technologies for the delivery of 5G and beyond wireless connectivity; which includes the recent award of an EPSRC Prosperity Partnership in the field of Secure Wireless Agile Networks (SWAN). Mark’s current research activities are delivered through the Communication Systems and Networks Group, forming a key component within Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab. He has over 30 years of physical layer wireless research embracing the application of Spread Spectrum technology for cellular systems, adaptive or smart antenna for capacity and range extension in wireless networks, MIMO aided connectivity for through-put enhancement, experimental evaluation and optimization of Massive MIMO, Millimetre Wave technologies as well as flexible RF technologies for SDR modems. With a strong industrially focused research portfolio, he is also the School Research Impact Director.

Brian Collins - Managing Consultant, BSC Associates

Brian has designed antennas for applications including radio and TV broadcasting, base stations, handsets and consumer products, and has operated his own consultancy firm for the last 12 years. He has published more than 70 papers on antenna topics and contributed chapters to several recent textbooks. He operates a small consultancy company, chairs the Antenna Interface Standards Group and is an Honorary Visiting Professor in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London.

Paul Harris - Principal Wireless Architect, VIAVI Solutions

Paul is a wireless technology expert with experience across a range of areas including research, design, implementation and standardisation. He received his PhD from the University of Bristol for evaluating the performance of massive MIMO technology in the lead-up to 5G and is currently a Principal Wireless Architect within the CTO Office at VIAVI Solutions providing thought leadership on new and emerging technologies for 5G, 6G and beyond. In line with this he represents VIAVI within a range of bodies and fora including 3GPP, the O-RAN Alliance, ETSI, the Next G Alliance, the 6G-IA and the UKTIN. His experience prior to joining VIAVI includes representing Vodafone within 3GPP for radio performance aspects, contributing to the development of massive MIMO channel estimation solutions at Cohere Technologies, and working with customers as a domain expert at National Instruments to establish effective research solutions using software-defined radio. He is also a Chartered Engineer, Senior Member of the IEEE, Fellow of the ITP, and an Honorary Industrial Fellow at the University of Bristol.

Peter Kibutu - 5G NTN Market lead, TTP plc

Peter has been working in the cellular industry for over 15 years, specialising in modem system architecture and physical layer development. Before joining TTP, Peter worked in the development of 2G/3G/4G wireless modem products and small-cell base station projects for a number of leading cellular equipment vendors. At TTP Peter has worked with a wide range of clients in the satellite and cellular communication domains, specialising in end-to-end system engineering, modem system development and advising on commercial aspects. Currently Peter is the TTP technical lead for 5G/6G activities and represents the company in range of industry bodies including 3GPP and UKTIN.

Peter Topham - Principal Engineer, Qualcomm Technologies International

Peter has more than 30 years experience of RF and high-speed circuit design, taking chips into production ranging from FM Band II through cellular, Bluetooth and on to UWB at 10GHz. He has been with Qualcomm for 7 years, specialising in low-power RF design for portable and wearable products.