Webinar - Bridging the gaps in Edtech Innovation for SEND learners: Research, Lived Experience, Economics and Design
At EdTech Access, we believe no single stakeholder holds the full picture. Real inclusion happens when researchers, practitioners, founders, innovators, students, and the SEND community sit at the same table.
Join us for the first webinar in our new series.
Bridging the gaps in EdTech Innovation for SEND learners: Research, Lived Experience, Economics and Design
The Panel:
Dr Nicole Ponsford - Founder & CEO of the Global Equality Collective (GEC) and creator of Kaleidoscopic Data — a pioneering framework that helps schools move beyond surface metrics to better understand belonging, inclusion and lived experience through ethical, intersectional insight. Alongside the GEC, she is a Co-Head of Education at Microlink, supporting international work on assistive technology, accessibility and ethical AI in education.
Khadijah Ajala - Founder of Cicely, an early-stage startup exploring how lived experience and environmental data can help organisations better understand accessibility in the spaces people use every day. She is a student at UCL and her work focuses on participation, inclusion and finding practical ways to bring people’s experiences into how spaces and services are designed and improved.
Patrick McGrath - Educator, international speaker, podcaster and the driving force behind #enable - Paddy helps educators, learners and organisations achieve more than they thought possible. Previously VP, Education (EMEA) at Everway.
I Made Wikandana (Wikan) - is an accessibility and inclusive technology practitioner whose work focuses on innovating through accessible technology and exploring how technology can give disabled people greater independence and agency.
Blind since the age of 13, Wikan brings lived experience together with professional expertise in disability inclusion, accessibility, and emerging technology. He previously worked with UNICEF Indonesia on disability inclusion and is completing an MSc in Disability, Design and Innovation at UCL.
Host: Vishal Shah, founding Director of Edtech Access
Moderator: Fizah Saddique, Operations Associate at EdTech Access and MA Education, Gender and International Development, UCL
What would the conversation bring?
This conversation brings together voices who don't often share the same stage: researchers in SEND education, those living it every day, and those designing the tools for SEND learners.
This is for you if you're a researcher, educator, learner with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), parent/carer, EdTech founder or Assistive Tech founder; if you're looking to kick-start your career in EdTech or SENDTech; or if you believe inclusive design starts with inclusive conversations.
Register now and share with anyone who has an interest in this topic.