An interview with Laura Caprioli, Growth Programme & Stakeholder Manager – Business Events, MeetEngland, ahead of IMEX Frankfurt 2026
The MeetEngland Impact Network reflects a real shift in how international associations choose host cities. The conversation often starts with venues, accessibility, and hotel inventory. But that shift is well underway. Planners now want to know who they will meet in the host city, which research clusters will be at their delegates’ fingertips, and what happens to the conversation after the closing keynote.
England has been quietly building for this moment for decades. With the launch of the MeetEngland Impact Network, that work now sits under one national umbrella.
I spoke with Laura Caprioli, Growth Programme & Stakeholder Manager – Business Events, MeetEngland ahead of IMEX Frankfurt to understand what the network actually does, why ambassador culture matters, and how three English cities are turning conferences into long-term sector growth.
What is the MeetEngland Impact Network?
The MeetEngland Impact Network is a national initiative connecting academics, industry leaders, and ambassadors to help bring world-leading conferences and business events to England.
The idea behind it is simple but overdue. England has around 2,500 ambassadors working across 13 official ambassador programmes and networks. Cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Birmingham have each been building their own ambassador relationships for years. Some programmes are more than two decades old.
What the network does is join the dots. It tells one national story while each city keeps its own.
What does a conference ambassador actually do?
This is the question that comes up most often, and the definition matters.
A conference ambassador is usually an academic, researcher, clinician, or industry leader who helps connect an international conference or association with their city. They are often members of the international association themselves. They use their expertise, credibility, and professional network to advocate for hosting the event in their destination.
What they do not do is run the event. Ambassadors are not professional event organisers. They are not expected to manage logistics or deliver the conference. That is what the convention bureau and PCOs are there for.
Together, they make the bid work. Local expertise opens doors. Destination support carries the bid through.
England’s strengths, in plain terms
Across our conversation, four strengths came through clearly. These are the ones I would highlight to any association considering England.
The highest concentration of world-leading academic institutions. Beyond Oxford and Cambridge, England has globally recognised universities, research centres, and innovation clusters spread across the country. Most international research papers in fields like life sciences, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and creative industries come out of England.
A collaborative mindset. Cities work with their ambassadors not just to win conferences, but to create long-term value. They share case studies, refer events to each other, and tell joint stories rather than competing for every bid.
A geographic position that works both ways. England sits between continental Europe and North America with strong direct connectivity. For associations with global memberships, that matter.
City, country, and coast in the same trip. England has ten national parks, thousands of miles of coastline, and cities full of character within an hour of natural landscapes. For incentive components and pre- or post-event programmes, the variety is very unique.
Three cities, three legacies
The Roll of Honour 2026 recognises ambassadors whose work has delivered measurable impact. Three examples stood out in our conversation.
Manchester: bringing the European College of Sport Science home
Professor Tim Cable directs the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University. He led Manchester’s successful bid to host the European College of Sport Science annual conference in 2027.
Tim attended the conference for years as a delegate before deciding he wanted to bring it to Manchester. He worked closely with Marketing Manchester to build the bid, drawing on the city’s strength in sport science, health, and business research.
Since winning the bid, he has been appointed as a panellist for the UK Research Excellence Framework 2029. The conference is no longer just an event in the diary. It is a platform for the city’s wider sector strategy.
Sheffield: building a national centre out of a conference
Sheffield’s collaboration between Marketing Sheffield and local academics helped establish the Child Health Technology Conference, now a globally recognised event in its field.
The conference brings hundreds of delegates and speakers from dozens of countries. But the impact extends well beyond the event week. The conference has positioned Sheffield at the forefront of innovation in child health technology and is now supporting the development of a National Centre for Child Health Technology in England.
This is the kind of legacy outcome the network is built to support. A conference acting as a catalyst for permanent infrastructure.
Liverpool: physics on a global stage
Professor Carsten Welsch leads the QUASAR Group in the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool. Over the past few years, he has brought major scientific conferences to the city, including the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference in 2022 and, most recently, the 14th International Beam Instrumentation Conference in 2025.
The 2025 edition was the largest European edition of the conference, with more than 300 leading experts from around the world. It was jointly hosted by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the John Adams Institute, and the Cockcroft Institute.
For Carsten, the legacy was about more than putting Liverpool on the map. It was about strengthening international collaboration in beam diagnostics and accelerator physics, with research outputs that benefit the global sector. The conference shone a spotlight on the institutes that made it happen, and the city that hosted them.
What good collaboration actually looks like
Across the three case studies, the pattern is the same. The ambassador brings the sector expertise and the international connection. The convention bureau coordinates the wider stakeholders. Universities, hospitals, and research centres contribute speakers, site visits, and collaborative projects.
The result is a conference that feels embedded in the destination. The kind of event that leaves a legacy you can still point to years later.
What success looks like for the MeetEngland Impact Network
I asked Laura what success means in three to five years.
More conferences secured in the country, yes. But also stronger collaboration between cities, greater international visibility for English expertise, and more evidence of long-term impact from events hosted in England. MeetEngland plans to develop more case studies and tell more stories, because the work is already happening. The visibility just needs to catch up.
Meet Laura at IMEX Frankfurt
If you are at IMEX Frankfurt next week, find Laura at the MeetEngland stand. She is one of the most knowledgeable and connected people you can talk to about academic ambassador programmes, England as a business events destination, and how to build a bid that lasts longer than the conference itself.
I will be stopping by during the show. Come and say hello.
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