Prof Andy Miah

You've had a fascinating career spanning art, technology, and science. What initially drew you to Greater Manchester, and what keeps you here?

I moved to Liverpool in 2005 when the city was building up to its year as European Capital of Culture and, through that, I quickly became involved with the Manchester scene. So many people work and live across these two great cities and, when the opportunity to work at the University of Salford came up, it was a very easy decision. 

Over those years, I really embedded myself into Greater Manchester’s cultural scene and worked with some remarkable institutions on fantastic collaborations across art and science, including Abandon Normal Devices. Greater Manchester’s willingness to push the boundaries is built into its DNA and that is also a key reason for why I stick around. In any one week, I could be working with researchers in artificial intelligence, planning a science festival, or working with SMEs on a drones project. As the fastest growing tech hub in the UK, Greater Manchester has a really dynamic culture and this shapes everything we do. Being able to work across the breadth of the major frontier sectors of Greater Manchester is incredibly exciting.

Your work explores the intersection of technology and humanity. What are some of the most significant trends you see shaping the future of conferences and events, particularly in terms of digital engagement, immersive technologies and hybrid experiences?

Right now, I’m very focused on what’s happening in the world of esports. Both from the perspective of gaming and our media economy, but also from the perspective of stadium and event design, esports is driving a new conversation about what an event could be and it’s really exciting. Some of the world’s pioneering creators - from architects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe0n1VtkVAw&t=730s  to game developers - are firmly fixed on this world and how it can evolve our cultural scene. At the University, we created a new course on esports recently which reveals just how much of a growing concern it has become. 

Over my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s largest events conducting research at each Olympic Games for over 20 years. The power of these events to drive innovation and community is second to none. I think ever since the world fairs, the events we design have shaped our world in critical ways and this is one of their unique features. The entire creative community finds their way into pioneering new work through mega events, which is also why I’m so excited that we brought the UK’s premiere creative industries conference to MediaCity in 2024 - and are doing it again in 2025! The BEYOND Conference is a great example of how creators converge on events to show people what’s just around the corner. They’re a little glimpse into the future and, for this reason, they’re a very ambitious world in which to work.

You're a passionate advocate for science communication through events. How do you see the balance between physical and digital presence evolving in conferences, and what advice would you give to organisers looking to create successful hybrid events?

We learned a lot about how to do this well during the Covid-19 period and one of the critical challenges is finding an interface between the two. Some great experiments used metaverse worlds to bring people into virtual worlds in which they could interact with the physical event content. What’s great about that - compared to just a live stream - is how it can deliver focused participants; when people are in a virtual world, they're less likely to be checking emails or whatsapp and keeping attention is the key task. 

Equally, these innovative approaches also deliver more memorable, shared experience, which is so hard to achieve with just conventional streaming. At the University of Salford, we’ve experimented with these tools to design a digital twin of our campus to offer these possibilities  and I think we’ll continue to see a lot more of this approach in the future.

What are some innovative formats or approaches that conferences could adopt to encourage more interaction and participation from attendees, moving beyond traditional presentations?

A lot of events need to focus a lot more on leveraging the passion and commitment of their attendees. Over the last 20 years, many events have moved from being very anxious about audiences sharing content in case it jeopardises their economic base, but, today, many encourage it and actually design features into their programme with the aspiration that they are shared and go viral. One of the greatest early examples of this was the esports League of Legends final in China, which used augmented reality in the stadium, requiring audience members to use their phones to see a dragon flying around. We’ll see a lot more of that in the future and what’s great about it is that people feel they have been part of the production, its legacy, and can make personal memories in really remarkable ways. 

Can you tell us about the conferences and events in Manchester that you’ve been involved in? What impacts did they make?

Over the last 10 years, I’ve been really proud to work with Greater Manchester on some of its biggest events. Early on, I was part of the team who worked on the European City of Science in 2016 which brought a huge legacy to collaboration across the city region. One of the big conferences to come out of that is the Business of Science Conference and Salford University is proud to have been its founding and ongoing headline partner since its inception in 2016.

I’ve also led my university’s partnership with Manchester Science Festival over the last 10 years and we’re very proud to have been its Principal Educational Partner over that period. Coming up, I’ve been proud to work with others in the MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub to land the BEYOND Conference, which took place in 2024. That was really a great collaboration across the region, especially with Salford City Council’s leadership. We are delighted to be bringing it back again for 2025, from 24-26 November. Also recently, I’ve been delighted to support events like the Future of Media Manchester Conference, New Scientist Live, the KitPlus Show, Digital City Festival, and various research council festivals like Being Human or our University’s own TEDx event.

The impact of these events are also incredibly varied. I like to think that their biggest impacts are found in the memories of those who participated and those individual impacts are among the greatest I think. Equally, the institutional collaborations which have followed from them, the trust that’s built, the shared experiences, and the confidence they bring to the region, are such big parts of the value they generate, before you get into the economic returns. Events should always be in the business of making memories and what’s great about working with festivals is their capacity to give people experiences that become core moments in their lives. 

What would be your key message to potential conference ambassadors considering bringing their events to Manchester?

Know that you have people around you who will want to help you be successful, even those whom you might think are competitors. Greater Manchester is an incredibly collaborative place and it is always worthwhile expanding the scope of your potential support to land something big, as it will bring additional resources and capacity.

Professor Miah is a dynamic and engaging speaker and is open to opportunities to contribute his expertise to conferences and events. Find out more at https://andymiah.net/