Speaker

Visionary Keynote Speaker Inspiring Global Audiences to Rethink the Future

Captivating audiences with a 360-degree perspective on sustainability, innovation, and the future’s most pressing questions.

Dr. Melissa Sterry is a globally sought-after keynote speaker, known for her compelling and thought-provoking presentations that challenge audiences to rethink the future. With over 100 speaking engagements across leading international conferences, seminars, annual general meetings, dinners, award ceremonies, product launches, executive briefings, festivals, she brings a wealth of knowledge that is as deep as it is broad. Her talks blend cutting-edge insights from industry and academia, offering a unique, 360-degree perspective on the future's challenges and opportunities.

Named one of the world’s Top 20 Speakers influencing sustainability at board-level in 2024 in a poll of several hundred corporate clients held by a leading speaker agency, Melissa is recognised for her ability to address complex and controversial topics with honesty, rigour, and inspiration. Her presentations are known to be not only informative but also motivational, sparking new ways of thinking and acting in the face of an uncertain future.

Represented Worldwide by Leading Agents

Trusted by top organisations and event planners, Dr. Sterry is represented by several leading international speaker agencies covering territories including Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania, and has delivered talks in cities including London, New York, Boston, Chicago, Ottawa, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Brussels, Luxembourg, Cluj-Napoca, Olso, Moscow, and Belgrade, among many others. Highly experienced and adept at engaging wide-ranging audiences as a keynote speaker, presenter, host, moderator, chair, lecturer, panellist, facilitator and workshop host, she has been practicing as a professional speaker for more than fifteen years.

Speaking Style and Impact

Melissa’s speaking style is renowned for its depth, clarity, and authenticity. Her ability to dissect complex, often controversial issues, while offering practical solutions and future-ready insights, makes her an in-demand speaker. She delivers talks that are not only provocative but also hopeful, motivating audiences to take actionable steps toward a sustainable and innovative future.

In a saturated speaking and futurism market, thanks to her high level technical expertise, repeatedly accurate predictions, and copious hands-on board-level experience of leading sustainable innovation, Melissa is known for being one of the few sustainability and futures speakers that’s able to walk her talk, deliver insider insights and seasoned advice, and who has a proven track record of putting her money where her mouth is.

Bridging Innovation and Media

In addition to her extensive credentials as a chartered design scientist, board-level sustainable innovation stategist, multi-award winning serial founder, internationally renown foresight and futures expert, and keynote speaker, Melissa has a long history of working across various media platforms. As a published author of over 60 articles, papers, and book chapters, and having been featured in over 450 global publications, she has solidified her role as a thought leader. She has worked in media formats including film, live radio, pre-recorded radio, television documentaries, and live broadcasts. Her role as a media ambassador and figurehead for campaigns and events has further extended her influence. Having previously led executive functions heading marketing, media, technology, public relations, brand affiliation, and sponsorship, she is equally adept at working across physical, virtual, and hybrid events and campaigns, in-house, out-of-house, and with teams at all scales.

Dr. Sterry has experience of working with diverse audio-visual and venue specifications, ranging from the simplest of set-ups to state-of-the-art immersive events, and from briefing executives under NDAs in boardrooms to simultaneously engaging with both live and remote audiences into the tens of thousands at hybrid physical-virtual events. She has further directed wide-ranging corporate events including seminar series, product launches, fashion shows, charity fundraisers, and more, giving her insider understanding of event production, marketing, and promotion. Her engagement is tailored to clients briefs and budgets, providing flexibiity and wide-ranging opportunities, both during, and prior and post event.

Melissa's leadership in media and communications, along with her experience in marketing, public relations, brand affiliation, and sponsorship, equips her to seamlessly engage across physical, virtual, and hybrid events. Whether leading in-house teams or collaborating with external partners, she is a versatile speaker, facilitator, and moderator for events of all sizes.

Specialist Expertise

Dr. Melissa Sterry’s primary fields of expertise are planetary and biofutures including biodesign, bioscience, bioengineering, biotechnology, and biourbansim; emerging material, information, and production systems and their applications in science, commerce, industry, and wider society; ecological design and urban and peri-urban resilience to hazards including wildfires, floods, storm systems and other natural, human, and hybrid events; transdisciplinary, complexity and systems theory and practice; circular design and economy, and regenerative design; sustainable innovation and enterprise in fields including design, technology, manufacturing, utilities, and the built environment; and environmental social governance, gender equality, and business ethics. Find her credentials here.

Find a few of her past clients below, and examples of topics she has presented here.

5x15

2Degrees Live conference

A20 Technologies

Accenture

ADAPTr BioSalon

Aegis Media Russia

American Intercontinental University 

Architecture Conference & Expo

Balfour Beatty

Bathroom Manufacturers Association

BioChanges at RCA

BioEngineering Congress

Canadian Institute of Planners

Central Saint Martins

Chartered Institute of Building

City of Greater Dandenong

Clerkenwell Design Week

Coventry University

CRG Exchange

Deloitte

Ecobuild conference

Edinburgh International Science Festival

European Centre for Ecotoxicology & Toxicology of Chemicals

Festival of the Future City

Fladgate

Forum for the Built Environment

Future Cities Catapult

Global Research & Innovations in Plastics Sustainability

Greengaged by the Design Council

Grosvenor

Hay Festival

Hershey's

Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia

InterACT Participatory Media Forum

Interface

International Conference of Bionic Engineering

Inventing the Future conference

Knowledge Transfer Network

London Aware

London Design Biennale

London Design Festival

Longitude Prize

Lux Expo

Lux magazine

Manchester International Festival

McKinsey

Media Ecology & Post Industrial Production conf.

Methven

Ministry of Defence

NESTA

New Engineering Foundation

NSG Group

Oslo Architecture Triennale

Professors Without Borders

Quantum Black

Ravensbourne

Re:Work Cities conference

Schneider Electric

Sci-Fi London Film Festival

Science Museum 

Sheppard Robson

Sherborne Girls

Smart City Futures conference

Space10

Startalk Live

SUEZ group

Sustainable Business in Practice conference

Sustainable Design Network Annual Seminar

TEDxLSE - London School of Economics

The Drum - 4 Minute Warning conference

The Future We Want conference

The Future of Housing conference

The Future We Choose launch

The Monument - Masterclasses

The Woman leadership conference

Tomorrow's Natural Business conference

Toyota Motors Europe

UK Aware expo

Unbox conference

Unilever

University College London

University College of Estate Management

University of the Arts London

University of Cambridge - Festival of Ideas

University of Greenwich

University of Oxford - Climate Forum

University of Plymouth

University of Salford

University of Warwick

V&A Museum

va-Q-tec

Vision London: The Future of the Built Environment

WILD: ReNaturing the City

Wilderness festival

Women's Social Leadership Awards

World Bank

World Congress on Sustainable Technologies

Write the Future conference

UBM