Ghislaine Boddington

Meet Ghislaine Boddington

Ghislaine Boddington is a world leading expert in digital identity, virtual presence and immersion experiences. As a presenter, researcher, podcaster and curator she has shared her original perspective globally since the mid nineties, focussing on the evolution of liveness and virtual physical presence and exploring developments in our bodies, our senses and our identity, and how we can evolve intimacy, touch, empathy and trust in hybrid futures.

Her presentations, podcasts and consultancies anticipate difficult questions that researchers, creatives, technologists, policy makers and the wider public need to debate and consider as our living relationship with technology continues to evolve. She explores this from an interesting historical perspective, through to the recent past and takes us into the future with deep intuitive accuracy.

Forever interested in the use of the body as a digital interaction canvas, Ghislaine comes from a background in performing arts and dance and was connecting telepresence stages between performers around the world from the mid 1990s. In 2017 she was awarded the esteemed SAT IX Immersion Experience International Visionary Pioneer Award in recognition for her long term and inspirational reflections on the shifts that fast expanding body-led technologies make to our digital identity and to our future as human beings.

Today she continues to amalgamate her practise-based knowledge of telepresence, virtual worlds, robotics, motion capture, AR/MR, wearables, implants, sense and gesture tech to create future visions. Her ongoing aim is in creating a wider debate about both the positive and negative aspects of such evolutions on our living bodies, whilst finding solutions and forward-thinking approaches, specific to your needs.

She regularly inputs items and co-presents for BBC World Service and BBC Technology shows and podcasts, where she shares her insights on the merge of our physical selves and our data selves, biometric data ownership and the future of the ‘hyper-enhanced’ human. She is a member of the UK Government’s College of Experts for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports advising on the futures of creative industries and multi-verses.

A Reader in Digital Immersion at the University of Greenwich, Ghislaine is the co-founder and Creative Director of body>data>space, a collective of designers engaged in body responsive technologies, virtual physical networks, interactive interfaces and user centred experiences.

Ghislaine has keynoted in over 35 countries across creative industries, culture, policy, education and corporate sectors including Hyundai, BBC, Innovate UK, Nesta, Telefonica, FutureFest, Mobile World Congress, Cambridge University, ICA, Deutsche Bank, EU Forum Europe Digital, Here East/Plexal, DCMS, British Council, Imperial College and the National Theatre. “Through these projects, she has created moving and transformational links between thousands of people across the world” [Forbes]. She receives press / TV coverage of her ideas and her work (Independent, Financial Times, Forbes, Tech Trends, Guardian, Le Monde amongst others) and is regularly invited to input topical commentary for TV, radio and government reports, remaining at the forefront of the futurist debate.

A strong equity advocate, from 2017-2021 she was Spokesperson and lead mentor for Deutsche Bank’s ‘Women Entrepreneurs in Social Tech’ accelerator and for the last 10 years has been an active mentor and Trustee for Stemettes Futures.