24 June 2026
Cheltenham Town Hall
24 June 2026 Cheltenham Town Hall
Thank you for coming to our inaugural Gala and see you again in June 2027
Thoughtfully crafted to elevate what matters most.
Dress code: business lounge / cocktail attire, though evening dresses are welcome - sparkle and flair are encouraged!
What to Expect - The Hazel Awards
Scroll down for information about our speakers and performers
18:00 Doors open
Drinks and canape reception in Drawing Room
19:00 All seated in Main Hall
Housekeeping & Founder’s Welcome
Fistral Training and Consultancy Hazel Vote - Pauline Donachy
Get with the Program Raffle - Jeni Trice
19:15 Motionhouse performance* Doors will be closed and no admissions during the performance 19:15-19:30
Special Guest Speaker: Helen Sharman
The Hazels Founder - Jan Morgan Kaufman
Guest Speaker: Stella Ngozi Mbubaegbu CBE
19:50 Starter
Guest Speaker: Matilda Gosling
Guest Speaker: Dr Sam Adlen
20:30 Main course
King’s Toast
Get with the Program - Jeni Trice
TechSheCan - Dr Claire Thorne
Award for Technical & Creative Mastery
Award for Sustainability & Infrastructure
Award for Community Impact & Education
Award for Leadership & Collaboration
21:40 Dessert
Award for Space Mentor of the Year with ORBITEER
Award for Security, Legal & Risk
Award for Space Employer/Team of the Year
The Seren Award for Unsung Hero of the Year
The Hazel Award for Inspirational Woman of the Year with Fistral
22:10 Stay seated for a surprise!
Founder’s Thanks
Cash bars remain open
23:45 Carriages
Dress code: business lounge / cocktail attire, though evening dresses are welcome - sparkle and flair is encouraged!
Speakers, Performers and Presenters
Our Special Guest
HELEN SHARMAN CMG OBE
The First British Astronaut
We are delighted that Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut, has accepted our invitation to attend The Hazels Awards on 24 June 2026 at Cheltenham Town Hall.
Helen didn’t think she would be selected from the 13,000 applicants but she was exactly the right choice - calm, practical, friendly, professional, a team player. She flew into space in May 1991, aged 27, when she spent 8 days orbiting the Earth, living and working on board the Mir Space Station.
Her tasks included medical, agricultural and chemical experiments, materials testing, and Earth observation work.
Helen is now a leading inspirational speaker and science communicator, sharing her insights with audiences of all ages, bringing her material up to date for today and looking forward to the future of space exploration.
Written exclusively for The Hazels by Diana Boulter, Helen Sharman’s manager.
Image copyright @ Helen Sharman 1991
Performance by Motionhouse
The Hazels - The UK Space Skills Awards are delighted and excited to announce the World Class Dance-Circus Company, Motionhouse, will be performing on the night. Can’t wait to see what they have planned for us.
Founded in 1988 by Louise Richards MBE and Kevin Finnan MBE, Motionhouse creates world class dance-circus productions that tour extensively to rave reviews across the globe. From full-length productions for theatre touring to flexible work for the outdoors and large-scale performance events, its sell-out productions integrate athletic physicality, powerful narrative, incredible digital imagery and emotive sound scores.
Our Guest Speakers
Matilda Gosling
Matilda Gosling is a social scientist and independent researcher with more than 25 years’ experience. Her work covers social psychology and analysis of belief systems, as well as education, skills and adolescent development. She is the author of two non-fiction books, both published with Swift Press; her third will be published by Head of Zeus (Bloomsbury) in early 2027.
Before moving into independent research and writing, Matilda co-founded and ran an international research consultancy. She has worked for governments, charities, foundations and private-sector organisations internationally, and has overseen field research in more than 60 countries across Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. Matilda has degrees from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
An experienced speaker, she has delivered talks at the House of Commons, Royal Society of Arts and Battle of Ideas, and for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Harvard University and Brookings Institution among many others.
Stella Mbubaegbu CBE
Stella Ngozi Mbubaegbu CBE is Co-Founder of the Black Leadership Group (BLG) UK, where she convenes senior leaders across education, public service and policy sectors to examine leadership responsibility, organisational design and equity within complex institutional systems.
Her work explores how governance, leadership culture and organisational structures shape opportunity, dignity and human capability, particularly in environments experiencing rapid technological and social change.
Stella is the Founder of the Ethical AI & Leadership Studio, where she has developed Structural Intelligence for Human Flourishing: Diagnosing constraint. Designing conditions. Enforcing thresholds - a leadership lens supporting organisations to recognise where systems unintentionally create constraint, silence or diminish opportunity, and how leaders can redesign those systems responsibly within AI-enabled and high-stakes environments.
She speaks internationally on ethical leadership, governance, anti-racist upstander leadership and the human consequences of emerging technologies. Stella’s work bridges leadership psychology, organisational ethics and responsible technology development, with a particular focus on how institutions can remain morally present and human-centred in the age of intelligent systems.
Dr Sam Adlen
Dr Sam Adlen is co-CEO of Space Solar, delivering an era defining new solar energy source from space. Following a PhD working on a NASA Mars mission, Sam held senior space sector strategy roles in Leonardo, was Lead Technologist for Space at the UK’s Innovation Agency and was Chief Strategy Officer at the Satellite Applications Catapult. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Satellite Finance Network, Co-founder of the UK Space In Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing working group and Spatial Finance Initiative and co-chair of the Space Energy Initiative.
Our Host for the evening is
Ms Donna Marie Herdsman
Donna Herdsman is a highly decorated executive and DEI leader who has received several prestigious accolades for her work in business transformation and mentoring. Donna’s career includes senior leadership roles at major firms like IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and most recently Korn Ferry , supporting clients in the public and private sectors. She has a long-standing history of judging major industry awards, including serving over 13 years as a judge for The Black British Business Awards and 5 years at #Tech100womenawards. Donna has received many awards herself including:
The Top 10 Inspirational Leader (2024)
The Lifetime Achievement Award (2024)
Honoured at The Baton Awards for her nearly 40 years of dedication to excellence and community impact.
Recognised by the Ethnicity Awards for her leadership and support of others. Top 50 Trailblazer for Gender and Race Equality (2021)
Named by WeAreTheCity for her work with the TechUP Women program (retraining over 100 women for roles in technology)
The First Woman Mentor of the Year (2017): A CBI-sponsored award recognising her significant contributions to professional mentoring.
Empower/FT/Yahoo Senior BAME 100: Included twice (2016 and 2019) on this list of leading ethnic minority executives in the UK, US, and Ireland.
We are delighted that Donna has agreed to host the Hazels - the UK Space Skills Awards Gala Ceremony.
Our Strategic Partners
Tess Butler DSET | Hugo Nunes - Orbiteer | Pauline Donachy - Fistral Training | Jeni Trice - Get with the Program
Representatives from the devolved Governments and of course our wonderful nominees and winners