The Digital Forge Podcast

The Digital Forge
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Welcome to The Digital Forge Podcast - where expertise and ideas collide. Hosted by David Richards MBE, this is not another polite chat. It is raw, unscripted debate with the investors, technologists and industry leaders who are shaping the new industrial age. If you want platitudes, look elsewhere. If you want to know where technology and manufacturing are really headed, step into the Forge. Find out more at www.forgedforgrowth.com

  1. Aug 11

    She Proved Them Wrong. Then She Changed the System. Pam Liversidge, Part Two

    In Part One, Pam Liversidge proved that women belonged in engineering. In Part Two, she changes the institutions that once excluded them. In 1997, Pam became the first female President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in its 150-year history. She did not treat the position as a ceremonial prize. She used it to challenge an organisation she believed had become too academic, too elitist and too distant from the practical engineers who founded it. Her Moving Forward programme opened the institution to people from vocational and non-traditional routes and created a strategy that guided it for the next decade. But that was only one glass ceiling. In this episode of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE follows Pam through medical engineering, the creation of a new forum bringing engineers and clinicians together, her year as High Sheriff of South Yorkshire and the moment she became the first female Master Cutler in the Cutlers’ Company’s 387-year history. Pam reflects on the pressure of being the first woman, knowing that any mistake might be used against those who came after her. She also reveals how it felt to move from President of an international engineering institution to Mistress Cutler during Doug’s year in office, before the roles were reversed and he became her Consort. This is not simply a story about breaking glass ceilings. It is about what Pam did after breaking them. She widened access. Modernised institutions. Championed women through WISE. Helped young people see engineering as a career. And became such an important figure in Sheffield that the University named an engineering building after her. Looking back at the young woman who entered a lecture theatre as the only female engineering student among 120 men, Pam’s advice is strikingly simple: “Don’t worry so much.” Follow The Digital Forge on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube so you never miss an episode. Meet speakers like Pam at our live events and join the community at ForgedForGrowth.com. For more essays and commentary from David Richards MBE, subscribe to The Sunday Signal at TheSundaySignal.ai.

  2. Jul 28

    They Told Her Girls Don’t Do Engineering. Pam Liversidge Proved Them Wrong, Part One

    In 1967, Pam Liversidge walked into an engineering lecture at Aston University and found around 120 students. She was the only woman. For weeks, many of the men barely spoke to her. An Army recruiter had already dismissed her ambitions with five words: “Girls don’t do engineering.” Pam stayed. In Part One of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE traces her journey from a practical, working-class family in Shropshire to the factory floors and boardrooms of British industry. Pam talks candidly about the isolation of being the only woman on her course, the determination it took to complete her degree, and the reality of entering engineering at a time when women were rarely expected, welcomed or rewarded equally. At one company, a male colleague doing the same job was paid roughly twice her salary. The explanation was blunt: he had a family, while Pam’s husband worked. At another, she was told there would never be a woman manager in the business. Each time, she voted with her feet and moved forward. Her career took her through GKN, some of Sheffield’s toughest industrial workplaces, aerospace forging, compressor blades for Rolls-Royce engines, technical sales and the transformation of Britain’s electricity industry. Along the way, she learned that engineering is not only about machinery, materials and mathematics. It is about people. Pam also tells the other side of her first encounter with Doug Liversidge. She was late to his first management meeting because she was trying to keep a 1,000-ton press working. He greeted her by demanding to know who the hell she was. It was not an obvious beginning to a marriage and industrial partnership lasting more than four decades. Part One closes with Doug presenting Pam with another of his ambitious ideas and an offer she describes as impossible to refuse. In Part Two, that decision leads to entrepreneurship, medical technology, institutional reform and two historic firsts: President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Master Cutler of Sheffield. Follow The Digital Forge on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube so you never miss an episode. Meet speakers like Pam at our live events and join the community at ForgedForGrowth.com.

  3. Jul 14

    They Sacked Him at 57. Then Buckingham Palace Called. Doug Liversidge CBE, Part Two

    Doug Liversidge had transformed a struggling Sheffield engineering company into a £17 million business, taken it public and delivered a remarkable return for its shareholders. Then the company was sold. Three weeks later, he was told to leave. He was 57 years old and suddenly unemployed. That same evening, Buckingham Palace called. Prince Charles wanted to visit the factory within days. Doug agreed to return, put on what he calls his “marathon smile” and guide the Prince around the company that had consumed 17 years of his life, without revealing that he had just been forced out. It could have been the end of his career. Instead, it became another beginning. In Part Two of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE continues Doug’s extraordinary story. He explains how he and Pam moved from an awkward first meeting to a marriage and business partnership lasting more than four decades. He recalls turning around Thornton Precision Engineering, increasing the price of a Rolls-Royce component from £1.50 to £20, taking the business public, buying and selling technology companies, and navigating some of the hardest negotiations of his career. After losing his executive role, Doug reinvented himself again. He helped commercialise research at the University of Sheffield, created Fusion IP, chaired Surgical Innovations, backed medical technology and helped build the regional innovation infrastructure that Sheffield benefits from today. He also reflects on becoming Master Cutler, watching Pam later break a centuries-old glass ceiling as the first woman to hold the role, fighting to establish Longley Park Sixth Form College, leading Sheffield’s World Cup host-city bid, and writing the story he wanted to leave for his grandchildren. Part One was about how Doug Liversidge found his way into industry. Part Two is about what he did when success, dismissal and reinvention collided. Subscribe to The Digital Forge on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube for conversations with the founders, innovators and leaders who helped shape modern Britain.

  4. Jun 30

    He Left School at 15. They Told Him He Wasn’t Good Enough.

    Doug Liversidge CBE grew up on a Sheffield council estate, left school at 15, and was told he wasn’t good enough for the company’s graduate programme. It could have been the end of the story. Instead, it became the beginning. In this first episode of The Digital Forge, Doug reflects on growing up in post-war Sheffield, the teacher who changed his life, his early years at English Steel, winning a scholarship to the University of Sheffield, and the National Service that transformed a shy teenager into a confident leader. Along the way he shares remarkable stories of navigating the Libyan desert with nothing more than a compass and a watch, returning to Sheffield to build a career in Britain’s steel industry, and the lessons that shaped one of the city’s most influential industrial leaders. The episode closes with an unforgettable first meeting in 1979 with a young production engineer called Pam, a woman Doug initially believed wasn’t right for his team. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Subscribe to The Digital Forge on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube for conversations with the founders, innovators and leaders shaping the future of Britain.

  5. Jun 16

    Health Is the New Wealth. Richard Stubbs on the NHS, AI and Britain’s £278 Billion Opportunity

    Richard Stubbs believes Britain has been looking at health the wrong way. Not as an economic engine. Not as productivity infrastructure. Not as one of the great determinants of national prosperity. Too often, we treat the NHS as a cost to be managed rather than a platform for growth, prevention and human potential. In Part Two of this conversation with David Richards MBE, Richard argues that poor health is now one of Britain’s biggest economic problems. He explains why prevention, workplace wellbeing, AI, data and regional innovation could unlock enormous productivity gains, keep more people in work and help rebuild communities too often left behind. The conversation moves from the NHS to the workplace, from mental health to musculoskeletal disease, from Yorkshire’s life sciences strengths to the failure of Britain to commercialise its own research. Richard also speaks candidly about race, leadership and institutional power. He explains why diversity in healthcare innovation is not a slogan, but a matter of life and death, including the shocking example of pulse oximeters that did not work properly on darker skin. This is a conversation about the future of the NHS, but also about something bigger: whether Britain can build a healthier, fairer and more productive country. You can also meet speakers like Richard Stubbs live at The Digital Forge, where founders, investors, policymakers and industry leaders come together to explore the future of technology, innovation and regional growth. Find upcoming events and join the community at ForgedForGrowth.com. For more essays, analysis and commentary from David Richards MBE on AI, technology, work and society, subscribe to The Sunday Signal at thesundaysignal.ai.

  6. Jun 2

    From Orgreave to AI. Richard Stubbs on the NHS, Innovation and the Fight for Health Equity

    Richard Stubbs grew up in Maltby, in a mining family shaped by the strike, Orgreave and the long shadow of deindustrialisation. His father fought the state on land that would later become the Advanced Manufacturing Park. A generation later, Richard chaired the region’s economic board on that same ground. That journey sits at the heart of Part One of this conversation. In this episode of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE speaks to Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, about class, opportunity, the NHS, technology and the future of healthcare. Richard reflects on his mother’s journey from Jamaica to senior NHS leadership, his own path from Maltby to the BBC, and how live television gave him the urgency and resilience he later brought into the health service. Then the conversation moves to the big question: why is the NHS so good at invention, but so slow at adoption? Richard explains why healthcare innovation is not just a technology problem. It is a culture problem. A systems problem. An implementation problem. From fax machines and paper notes to pilots that never scale, he lays bare why the NHS can take years to adopt what already works. The episode then turns to AI, ambient voice technology, patient data, Palantir, clinical risk, trust and the future role of doctors. Richard argues that AI could transform productivity, triage and access, but only if the public trusts it and the system understands the risks of standing still. This is a conversation about the NHS at a breaking point, but also at a moment of extraordinary possibility. If Part One asks whether the NHS can change fast enough, Part Two asks something even bigger: whether health is now the foundation of Britain’s economic future. You can also meet speakers like Richard Stubbs live at The Digital Forge, where founders, investors, policymakers and industry leaders come together to explore the future of technology, innovation and regional growth. Find upcoming events and join the community at ForgedForGrowth.com. For more essays, analysis and commentary from David Richards MBE on AI, technology, work and society, subscribe to The Sunday Signal at thesundaysignal.ai

  7. Apr 21

    Stalked for Four Years. It Took Prison to Stop It. Naomi Timperley Part Two.

    Naomi Timperley built her career on visibility. Then it became a threat. In Part Two of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE sits down with Naomi to explore a stalking ordeal that lasted four years, escalated across multiple platforms, and exposed just how unprepared our systems are to deal with this kind of abuse. What began with two brief encounters spiralled into thousands of posts, relentless harassment and a campaign that affected not just Naomi, but multiple victims. Police involvement. Bail breaches. Years of delays. And eventually, a prison sentence. Naomi speaks with clarity and courage about what it actually felt like. The loss of trust. The impact on her health, her work and her family. The fear of simply showing up. And the reality that even after a conviction, the risk does not disappear. This is also a story about failure at scale. Social platforms that did nothing. Systems that moved too slowly. Laws that are still catching up with the way harm is now delivered. And yet, it is also a story about resilience. Naomi shares what she has learned, how she rebuilt her sense of control, and what others can do if they find themselves in the same position. Her message is practical, grounded and hard-won. If Part One was about building influence, Part Two is about what happens when that influence is turned against you. This is not an easy listen. But it is an important one.

  8. Apr 7

    From Holiday Rep to Most Influential Woman in UK Tech. Naomi Timperley, Part One

    Naomi Timperley did not come through the front door of the tech industry. She built her own way in. In Part One of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE sits down with Naomi to trace a journey that begins in army towns and travel agencies and ends at the very centre of the UK’s technology ecosystem. Born in Devon, raised across military communities, Naomi describes a childhood shaped by movement, resilience and learning differently. Undiagnosed ADHD meant school never quite fit, but what she lacked in conventional academics, she made up for in instinct, communication and sheer drive. From selling holidays to working as a rep in Bulgaria, to being bullied out of a tech recruitment role, Naomi’s early career was anything but smooth. Then came the pivot. A chance discovery of an American concept led her to launch Baby Loves Disco in the UK, scaling it to nine cities, landing national press before the first event, and turning down investment on Dragons’ Den. What followed was not a business career in the traditional sense, but something far more influential. Naomi helped build the networks, communities and programmes that underpin the North’s tech ecosystem today. From Enterprise Lab to Tech North Advocates, from mentoring founders to championing women in tech, she became one of the most recognisable voices in UK innovation. This is a story about confidence built the hard way. About backing yourself before anyone else does. And about creating opportunity where none existed. Part One ends at the point where everything changes. In Part Two, Naomi speaks about a stalking ordeal that would test her resilience, challenge the systems meant to protect her, and reshape how she thinks about visibility and power.

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About

Welcome to The Digital Forge Podcast - where expertise and ideas collide. Hosted by David Richards MBE, this is not another polite chat. It is raw, unscripted debate with the investors, technologists and industry leaders who are shaping the new industrial age. If you want platitudes, look elsewhere. If you want to know where technology and manufacturing are really headed, step into the Forge. Find out more at www.forgedforgrowth.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Digital Forge
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Digital Forge
  • Show Website
    The Digital Forge Podcast