30+
Years Experience
1200+
Organisations Advised
19
Countries
1
Mission
For more than three decades, Kirra Pendergast has been helping organisations understand the human impact of emerging technology.
INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER
The most important questions are no longer technical.
They are human.
Kirra Pendergast is one of the world's leading authorities on online safety, risk and human behaviour in the age of artificial intelligence.
Drawing on more than thirty years that began in internet infrastructure and security, she helps school leaders, boards, governments, and organisations lead with clarity when technology and harm collide. She advises the Australian Government's Age Assurance Technology Trial, works across Sydney, Florence, London, New York, and Washington, and is the co-author, with Maggie Dent, of Digital Freedom (Macmillan Australia, 2026).
Based in Florence, with offices in London, Washington, New York and Sydney, Kirra brings a genuinely global perspective to the challenges organisations now face under fast-moving AI regulation, online safety legislation, children's privacy and digital risk obligations.
She has carried her thinking into the rooms where the rules for the next decade are being written, and she translates what happens there into decisions leaders can act on.
Her counsel is grounded in the real world, in what actually happens when an incident hits and a school, a board or a government has to respond.
Thirty years of turning online risk into duty of care. Trusted by schools, businesses and governments across nineteen continents.
WHAT KIRRA BRINGS TO YOUR STAGE
Her keynotes trace the forces shaping our digital future, and what they mean for the organisations, families and communities who have to live with them. She does not deal in fear. She deals in clarity.
Drawing on more than three decades at the frontline, Kirra takes the hardest, most tangled issues of the moment and makes them plain, giving every audience something it can understand in the room and act on the moment it leaves.
People walk away with something rare in a world that will not sit still: a clear head about what is coming next, and the confidence to know what to do now.
"Kirra has a rare ability to translate the most complex digital safety issues into actionable insight. Her keynote left our leadership team genuinely changed in how they think about human online risk."
Chief Risk Officer — Global Financial Institution, London
KEYNOTE TOPICS
Talks that cut through the noise.
AI & THE HUMAN EQUATION
What artificial intelligence actually means for the organisations, families and individuals navigating it — beyond the hype and the fear. Practical, grounded, and relevant to everyone in the room regardless of their technical background.
RAISING CHILDREN IN THE DIGITAL AGE
A keynote for parent communities, school faculties and family-focused organisations. Practical, evidence-based and deeply human — covering gaming, social media, AI, screen time, and how to have the conversations that matter.
ONLINE SAFETY IN 2026 AND BEYOND
From sexual extortion and cyberbullying to algorithm-driven radicalisation and AI-generated content — the landscape has changed dramatically. What leaders and organisations need to know, and what they can actually do about it.
THE FUTURE OF SAFETY GOVERNANCE
For boards, regulators and senior leadership. How digital safety is evolving as a governance and compliance issue — and what forward-thinking organisations are already doing differently. Includes the EU AI Act and European legislative context.
DIGITAL RISK & TRUST
The organisations that will win in the next decade are the ones that understand the relationship between digital risk and public trust. Kirra shows audiences how to see risk clearly and act on it with confidence.
CUSTOM & BESPOKE TOPICS
Kirra works with event organisers to develop tailored keynotes for specific industries, audiences or strategic contexts. If your challenge is real and urgent, there is a talk that meets it exactly where it needs to be met.
