When you follow the cables, behind every piece of tech is a person, consumer and creator, and we should never lose sight of this.

Lianne is an award-winning cyber anthropologist and security transformation leader with experience in the retail, healthcare, finance, private and non-profit sectors.

Driving Security Operations Maturity and Resilient Security Functions

I specialise in providing strategic and technical consultancy to help organisations build and evolve their security operation functions into mature, resilient, and forward-thinking teams. From guiding the establishment of new security functions to elevating existing ones, I partner with organisations to ensure their SecOps department is not just operational but transformational.

Previously, as Head of SecOps for Europe's largest greenfield technology transformation, I built a cutting-edge security team from scratch to safeguard a modern retail organisation. My leadership empowered the team to set new benchmarks in industry best practices through innovation and collaboration.

As an international keynote speaker for both technical and academic audiences, I share insights at the intersection of cybersecurity, technology, and anthropology. Drawing on my practical experience as a security-focused software developer and my continued work as a practicing anthropologist, I bring a unique perspective that combines deep technical expertise with a focus on human-centered design and cultural understanding.

Currently, I’m pursuing an MSc in AI and Data Science, deepening my understanding of emerging technologies and their societal implications. My work focuses on AI safety and alignment, striving to ensure AI systems respect human rights, promote equity, and are resilient against adversarial risks.

Committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in tech, I’ve advised community initiatives, authored publications, host award-winning podcasts, and earned accolades including Security Specialist of the Year, Security Leader of the Year and Cybersecurity Personality of the Year.

Beyond cybersecurity, I co-founded Liria Digital Health, a health-tech startup focused on improving outcomes for underrepresented health conditions within marginalised communities.

You can listen to me talk about my human-centric approach every Thursday on my award-winning technology podcast Compromising Positions, in which I interview non-cybersecurity people from the world of anthropology, psychology and behavioural science about cybersecurity culture.


Publications include:

* The Times
* Raconteur
* Computing.com
* The Yorkshire Post
* Security Magazine
* IT Pro
* EmTech Anthropology Careers at the Frontier (Book)

Recent awards and honours include:

* Podcast Newcomer - 2024 European Cybersecurity Blogger Awards
* Cybersecurity Personality of the Year 2023 - The Real Cyber Awards
* Security Woman of the Year - Computing Security Excellence Awards 2023 (Highly Commended)
* 40 Under 40 in Cybersecurity - Cybersecurity Magazine
* Security Leader of The Year 2021 - Women in Tech Excellence
* Woman of the Year 2021 - Women in Tech Excellence
* Security Specialist of the Year 2021 - Computing.com

Jeff Watkins is the Chief Technology Officer at CreateFuture, the award-winning digital consultancy formed from the 2024 union of CreateFuture and xDesign, where he previously served as Chief Product & Technology Officer. In this dual-hat role, he steered multi-disciplinary teams across AI strategy, product engineering and cloud, turning bold ideas into secure, human-centred digital experiences for big-name brands.

Jeff has founded multiple cybersecurity teams and now champions “secure-by-design” practices for generative-AI solutions, weaving threat modelling and ethics into every project. He holds an MSc in Cybersecurity, is midway through a second Master’s in Artificial Intelligence, and leads CreateFuture’s AI Enablement practice, helping clients move from hype to production-grade AI safely and at pace.

He’s a self-confessed “lifetime technologist”, having written his first lines of code at the age of six! A veteran chief engineer, architect, and former tech lead at AND Digital and BJSS, Jeff draws on over 25 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and retail to translate complex problems into breakthrough, user-loved products used by millions globally.

On the international circuit, Jeff is a sought-after keynote speaker, headlining Webinale (Berlin), AppDevCon (Amsterdam), the International JavaScript Conference (London), and Edinburgh Napier’s PlusEquals5 summit. Audiences value his frank, story-driven take on where AI and cybersecurity collide with culture.

He co-hosts the multi-award-winning “Compromising Positions” podcast, grilling psychologists, anthropologists and UX gurus for outsider perspectives on security. Jeff’s thought-leadership has appeared in Wired, Forbes, Raconteur, IT Pro, Business Cloud and Information Age, and he’s a regular voice for the wider industry press.

Whether mentoring the next generation of tech leaders, coding proofs-of-concept or demystifying CyberSecurity and AI on stage, Jeff’s mission is constant: build technology that elevates people, not the other way around.