The Panel | HackaCon

_[LinkedIn]	Dr Georgina Brown is Senior Lecturer in Forensic Speech Science at Lancaster University. She specialises in the (mis)use of speech science and technology for forensic, security and intelligence purposes. Much of her work has centred on the extent to which we can classify and identify individuals from voice recordings. As a natural step forward from this, she has been looking at the risks and opportunities that come with AI-generated voices, including how easily expert voice analysts can detect them – or not.
Dr Justin Lo is Lecturer in Security & Protection Science at Lancaster University. His research focuses on speech production and phonetic variation, including work on coarticulation, speaker individuality, and cross-linguistic differences in speech patterns. His publications explore how subtle acoustic and articulatory features vary across speakers and languages, and what this means for analysing real-world speech data. At HackaCon, he brings expertise in the fine detail of speech, where small differences can carry big meaning.		_[LinkedIn]
_[LinkedIn]	Dr Lena Podoletz is a Lecturer in Security & Protection Science at Lancaster University. She researches AI, society, and digital technologies, with a focus on how automated systems shape human behaviour and decision-making. Her work explores emotional AI, smart technologies as “invisible witnesses”, and the social impacts of algorithmic systems, including in policing, welfare, and online. Her publications examine both the capabilities and risks of these technologies. At HackaCon, she brings expertise in how AI interprets, and misinterprets, human signals.
Dr Claire Hardaker is Professor of Forensic Linguistics at Lancaster University and co-creator of HackaCon. Her research focuses on online interaction, deception, and manipulation, including high-profile work on online communication. Her publications examine how language is used strategically in online environments, particularly in contexts involving deception and identity. At HackaCon, she brings expertise in authorship analysis, including how convincingly communications can be faked.		_{[LinkedIn \| Scholar]}
_[Scholar]	Professor Beatrice Szczepek Reed is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University. Her research focuses on conversation analysis, prosody, and the fine-grained sound patterns that underpin human interaction, including turn-taking and alignment in talk. Her work (e.g., Prosodic orientation in English conversation and Analysing conversation: An introduction to prosody) explores how meaning is shaped moment-by-moment in speech. At HackaCon, she brings expertise in what makes conversation sound natural – and when it doesn’t.