Dr Helen Charman - Director of Learning, National Programmes and Young V&A, V&A - 2024 Museum of the Year & 2024 Family Friendly Museum Award winner

Dr Helen Charman FRSA, MA, Dip is Director of Learning, National Programmes and Young V&A at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London where she has worked since 2018. A creative and cultural learning professional for 30 years, Helen’s professional portfolio encompasses educational and leadership roles across schools, universities, galleries, museums, festivals, local authorities and charities, both in the UK and overseas. At the V&A she led the transformation of the former V&A Museum of Childhood into Young V&A, ‘the world’s most joyful museum’ co-designed with and for children. Young V&A was recently awarded the accolade of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, the biggest museum prize internationally and a clarion call for the vital importance of creativity and play in young lives.

Helen’s previous roles include Head of Learning and Access at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Senior Curator: Education, Tate Modern; Education Officer, Cultural Co-operation and Arts Development Officer, London Borough of Harrow. She sits on UK advisory boards for The Arts Council England’s Durham Commission and the Cultural Learning Alliance, and is a Trustee of Chelsea Physic Garden. She is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group: Children’s Health & Wellbeing and through which she has contributed to policy recommendations relating to the role of play in childhood, alongside multiple contributions to publication and conferences on the topic of creative and cultural education. A recent international remit included contributing to the UNESCO Framework on Culture and Arts Education through the lens of co-design with and for young people. Helen holds MA degrees from Oxford University (English Literature) and University of London (History of Art) and a Doctorate in Museum Education (University of London).

She has a keen interest in development education alongside cultural learning and has volunteered on several overseas literacy projects; is a committed humanist who volunteers as a bereavement buddy at St Christopher’s Hospice; and an enthusiastic cyclist, especially of the camino routes across Spain.

Sophie Brendel - Strategic Consultant; former Director of Audiences, Commercial & Digital, V&A

With over 25 years’ experience in culture, media and tourism, Sophie Brendel is a leading strategist who specialises in transformational change.

Over the past 25 years, Sophie has held senior leadership roles in globally-renowned brands anchored in purpose, from the BBC to Thomson Reuters, and most recently, at the V&A, where she was the Director of Audiences, Commercial & Digital until summer 2024.

Sophie specialises in helping the companies she works with define their purpose, narrative, brand, audience, digital and commercial strategies. Sophie transformed the V&A’s approach to these areas over a seven year period, and worked at the nexus of the V&A’s organisational strategy as the V&A hit record visitor numbers, weathered the pandemic, and rapidly transformed into a museum group with six museums each designed for dedicated audiences.

Highly experienced in capital projects and placemaking, Sophie has delivered numerous launches and openings. Highlights include the V&A Exhibition Road Quarter in South Kensington; the V&A Gallery at Design Society in Shenzhen, China in 2017; V&A Dundee in 2019; Young V&A in 2023; and V&A East, opening in 2025/26 as part of East Bank on London’s Olympic Park.

Prior to the V&A, Sophie worked in a number of senior roles at the BBC and Thomson Reuters in the UK and USA. As Head of Digital Communications at the BBC, she led activity across the BBC’s digital, social media, technology and innovation areas. Highlights included 2015’s nationwide Make it Digital and micro:bit initiatives, BBC iPlayer, and the London 2012 Olympics.

Sophie lives in Somerset. Alongside founding Sophie Brendel Consulting, she is also the MD of Thornfalcon Winery & Press- a new, entrepreneurial drinks and hospitality experience in South West Somerset- and sits on a number of Boards and Advisory Groups, including the Bristol Old Vic, the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, and the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration