Summit Photo programme
Find out more about the line-up of speakers at Summit Photo.
Please note this programme is provisional and may be subject to change.
Friday 17 July – Humanitarian
10.00am – Doors open
11.00am – Anne Nwakalor, Savannah Dodd, and Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo
Panel discussion: ethics in photography
12.45pm – Giles Duley
Resilience: focusing on what you can control
In this inspiring talk, photographer and humanitarian Giles Duley shares the principles that have guided him through profound personal and professional challenges: focus on what you can control, stay true to your purpose, and approach everything with love. Through powerful stories from his life and work, he reveals why resilience is not just survival – it is life’s greatest gift.
1.45pm – Lunchtime lecture with Jermaine Francis and Deborah Ireland
Two photographs, a forgotten history
This is the story of two photo-graphs taken three years apart
by different photographers, using different processes, and divided by a continent. Yet both stand as testament to the same forgotten history.
This is a history which can be unclear and open to misinterpretation. The abolition of the slave trade in 1807, followed by full emancipation in 1838, should have meant that the scenes clearly captured in these photos dating from 1860 and 1863 did not exist.
By researching the photographers, their process and intent, it is possible to unravel an account which we forget at our peril.
2.45pm – Chris Rainier and Olivia McKendrick
Cultures on the edge: at the crossroads of culture and conservation
Chris and Olivia will present on why culture matters and the crucial importance of indigenous understanding and traditions, drawing on portraits taken by Chris over a 40 year period including as a photographer and National Geographic Fellow.
They will explore the link between culture and conservation, the threats to indigenous cultures, languages and landscapes and the growing power and energy of their revitalisation.
Finally, they will touch on the work that their charity, The Cultural Sanctuaries Foundation, is doing together with indigenous communities around the world Theirs is a passion project – for cultural and linguistic diversity, for indigenous guardianship of land and for extra places around the fireplace discussion of what it means to be human in and how
to face the challenges of the 21st century.
3.45pm – Long form documentary – Roundtable with Earth Photo 2025 Awardee Lorenzo Poli chaired by Photoworks
4.30pm – Pooran Desai
Reimagine – the neuroscience of creating the future
We can't separate the way we understand reality from the way our brains work. Imagination needs to lead and thinking needs to inform.
The left half of our brain sees the world as separate parts and divides us from each other and the rest of the universe. It controls, cannot see the bigger picture and is quick to anger. The right half sees the world as massively interconnected, ultimately indivisible, and understands context and nuance. It is collaborative and responds with awe.
With a background in neuroscience, sustainability and technology, Pooran has been working with photographers and artists in Brighton and Hove, exploring a methodology he describes as 'imagination-led, science-informed, technology-enabled' to enable us to rise to the urgent challenges we face today.
6.00pm – Ciril Jazbec
Dreaming Beyond the Ice
For more than a decade, National Geographic photographer and filmmaker Ciril Jazbec has documented communities whose lives are being transformed by a changing climate.
In this visually rich presentation, he shares work from Between Ice and Light in Greenland and Dream to Heal Glaciers across the Himalayas, Andes and Alps, exploring both the human cost of environmental change and the remarkable solutions emerging in response.
Through award-winning photography and films, Ciril offers a hopeful perspective on one of the defining challenges of our time, showing how resilience, innovation and human connection can shape the future.
7.30pm – Shahidul Alam
Vocabularies of resistance
Drawing on a rich range of practices, the talk traces Shahidul Alam’s career, throughout which photography has been a means of critical engagement, alongside the organisations he founded – Drik Picture Library, Pathshala, Chobi Mela, and Majority World.
From works such as Kalpana’s Warriors, to the powerful presence on the Flotilla, and the performative public showing of Crossfire, the talk highlights how creative collaboration, actions and practice can intervene in urgent political realities.
Together, these examples illuminate how different approaches to art production, shape the political force of creative work.
8.30pm – Bar
9.30pm – Doors close
Saturday 18 July – Environment
10.00am – Doors open
11.00am – Selene Magnolia Gatti
Long shadow: life under the veiled grasp of factory farming in Europe
12.00pm (noon) – Special Collections talk
Hidden Narratives – RGS/Italian Cultural Institute/Photoworks Residency with Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj
Earlier this year, the Royal Geographical Society, in partnership with Photoworks and the Italian Cultural Institute in London, launched an open call for photographers with a focus on archives and archival research.
The winning artist, Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj, will present the outcome of the residency, with resonance to the themes of hidden narratives, loss and human impact based on engagement with material in the Society’s historic Collections.
12.00pm (noon) – Book signing with Claire Thomas
A chance to meet Claire Thomas, discover her amazing new book Altai: Hunters and Herders of Mongolia, speak to her about her working practice, buy and have Claire sign your very own copy.
12.45pm – Gideon Mendel
Out of Ash
Gideon Mendel will discuss his immersive video practice and showcase his new three channel film, ASH, (21m,10s, 2026) created with footage from the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, 2025.
Best known as a photographer, in recent years Mendel has been developing a uniquely personal filmic language to address the key environmental challenges of our times, to contemplate the urgency of climate engagement and consider our capacities for change and action.
Mendel will discuss his process and practice, which move beyond conventional documentary approaches and reflect on the research and methods that inform his works.
1.45pm – Discover lumen printing in a lunchtime – RPS workshop with Elizabeth Woodger
A beginner-friendly, eco-conscious technique that uses light-sensitive paper and plants to create vivid, one-of-a-kind photograms, no darkroom required. Places are limited to 20 people – first-come first-served.
2.45pm – Aaron Gekoski
Conflict zones: imagery from the frontline of conservation
Across the globe, animals are being hunted, traded, consumed, and exploited - pushed to the brink of extinction by human hands. For nearly two decades, renowned photojournalist Aaron Gekoski has been on the frontlines of this crisis, documenting the stark realities of human-animal conflict in some of the planet’s most unforgiving environments.
In this powerful presentation, Aaron shares stories from the trenches: from Cambodia’s dog-drowning facilities and West Africa’s voodoo markets to brutal wildlife tourism sites and the murky underworld of the exotic pet trade.
Blending firsthand accounts with hard-hitting imagery, Aaron challenges audiences to reflect on our often troubled relationship with wildlife, and reveals how powerful visuals can spark real, lasting change.
3.45pm – Resistance through photography – Roundtable with Shahidul Alam and Savannah Dodd, chaired by Photoworks
4.30pm – Mandy Barker
Our plastic ocean
A visual journey from the international award-winning photographic artist, whose work involving marine plastic debris over the past 16 years has received global recognition.
Mandy speaks about her inspiration, collaboration with scientists, expeditions and global engagement on all platforms. She will be wearing clothes recovered from the sea for her talk, in support of her recent project.
6.00pm – Areeba Hamid
How Greenpeace creates change
On a fortuitous day in 1971 a few activists from Vancouver, Canada sailed to Amchitka, Alaska, to protest U.S. nuclear testing – they had a small boat and a mighty weapon – a camera. Not just telling but showing what was happening far away from the public eye created outrage that led to the banning of nuclear testing at sea.
Since then, telling compelling stories using images has remained at the heart of how Greenpeace creates change.
7.30pm – James Balog
When mountains move: an odyssey to a new vision of planetary change
For 45 years, James Balog has broken new artistic ground on some of the most important environmental issues of our era, from climate change, receding glaciers, and wildfire to endangered wildlife, the world’s great trees, and deforestation.
In this captivating presentation, James will share his adventures and historic insights – and inspire hope for the environmental future.
8.30pm – Bar
9.30pm – Doors close
Sunday 19 July
10.00am – Doors open
11.00am – Lorenzo Poli
Through the Earth-Body: From the Glacial North to the Geoglyphs of the Anthropocene
From the glacial silence of the North, across the Amazon and into Latin America’s extractive territories, Lorenzo Poli unfolds a personal journey into the living body of the Earth.
The talk culminates in Geoglyphs of the Anthropocene, a long-term transdisciplinary investigation across South America’s mining territories. Here, sites of extraction are revealed as the geoglyphs of our time. From this descent into the Earth emerges an opening towards humanity’s reconciliation with Nature.
12.00pm (noon) – Special Collections talk: Hidden Narratives - RGS/Italian Cultural Institute/Photoworks Residency with Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj
Earlier this year, the Royal Geographical Society, in partnership with Photoworks and the Italian Cultural Institute in London, launched an open call for photographers with a focus on archives and archival research.
The winning artist, Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj, will present the outcome of the residency, with resonance to the themes of hidden narratives, loss and human impact based on engagement with material in the Society’s historic Collections.
1.00pm – Rhiannon Adam
Rhiannon Adam speaks to her project Rhi-Entry, which touches on a plan for a first civilian lunar orbital mission, dearMoon, and her body of work reflecting on the complex racial dynamics of post-Apartheid South Africa.
2.00pm – Affecting change – Roundtable with James Balog, Mandy Barker, Sue Flood, and Ian Dawson
3.00pm – Simon Townsley
Permission to See: Trust, Access and the Global Drugs Crisis
Since 2018 Simon has been working with the Telegraph Media Group Global Health Security Team covering some of the most important environmental and health issues of our moment. Here he speaks to his work covering the effects of the global drugs epidemic.
Simon Townsley is an acclaimed international photojournalist and three times recipient of the British Press Photographer of the Year Award. Simon is known for his ability to connect with people and convey their story with dignity, even in extreme contexts.
4.15pm – Bertie Gregory
Searching for the world’s largest whale gathering
Bertie Gregory, National Geographic Explorer and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, delivers a rare blend of strategic insight and cinematic storytelling drawn from a decade-long quest to document one of the greatest wildlife events on Earth.
Tasked with locating the world’s largest gathering of fin whales across vast, unpredictable oceans, Bertie and his team faced years of uncertainty, shifting conditions, and incomplete data. Through breathtaking footage and behind-the-scenes insight, he reveals how passion, persistence, and collaboration ultimately led to a breakthrough.
Equal parts informative and awe-inspiring, this talk draws clear parallels to today’s world closer to home, showing how meaningful milestones often require long-term thinking, resilience, and the willingness to pivot along the way.
Please note: Bertie Gregory's talk will be in-person only.
