Andy Conroy
Career highlights
I have over forty years of experience in public service. I started his career on BBC radio and was later responsible for the BBC’s website. More recently, I led a world-renowned research and development team looking at the future of media online.
I am a published author with numerous awards for my work.
Welcome to Barnes2050, a place-based futures project asking, how do we make sure Barnes, the place and its people, are thriving and climate-ready by 2050?
This project draws on experiences that have shaped my thinking over decades — local journalism, the internet, innovation, and climate awareness.
Local journalism
I am a storyteller. It’s in my blood. There is a rich bardic tradition tied to the Conroys in medieval Ireland. ‘The poet endures’, according to one family motto.
Maybe that explains the twenty years I spent in local journalism with the BBC - first on radio, then TV, then online. I worked in Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, and Birmingham: complex cities that changed the world but which are still working out their role in the present.
I began as a studio assistant and became a reporter, producer, and then editor. BBC impartiality kept me from taking sides. But after years of hosting phone-ins, reporting on town centre regeneration, housing, football, weather, you begin to understand: you’re rooted in your patch. You’re on the side of the place.
That job became more than employment. It became an orientation to the world — one I’ve never shaken. Visiting Liverpool in 2024 to watch Fulham play at Anfield, BBC Radio Merseyside and the Anfield Wrap provided the soundtrack. Scouse. Not for me. But magnificent.
Over time, I came to see storytelling not just as a craft, but as a civic force. It shapes belonging, binds communities, and amplifies overlooked voices. The deeper my belief in storytelling grew, the more it aligned with a broader principle: localism. The idea that power, decisions, and resources should sit closer to the communities they serve.
The internet
In the late 1990s, I moved into digital media. It was more than a career decision. It was about the freedom the internet offered. A space less defined by convention, more open to experimentation.
It was slow, clunky, and overwhelmingly American. But it was also liberating. Online, the question was no longer ‘What’s allowed?’ but ‘What’s possible?’
Within ten years, I had a senior role at the BBC, helping shape bbc.co.uk, one of the UK’s most visited websites. The job drew me into national debates on identity, free expression, streaming, and the darker corners of digital culture.
And yet, I’ve never stopped believing in the promise of the internet: not just as a platform, but as a tool for shifting power. From broadcaster to participant. From institution to individual. When used well, it’s an extraordinary force for public good.
Innovation
The next thread had been quietly present all along, woven through the background of my working life.
I’ve spent much of my career helping organisations navigate change. New buildings, new services, new skills, new ways of working.
By 2015 I was leading a team of forward-thinking professionals at the BBC: research engineers, analysts, designers, producers and the like. Their role was to explore emerging technologies to ensure the BBC stayed relevant. Everything they considered involved change.
BBC Research and Development had a global reach. Their technical standards helped billions of people worldwide. A tweak here or there could have profound positive consequences on a range of issues from literacy to social inclusion.
I began to understand the different kinds of innovation — incremental improvements that refine, and transformational leaps that redefine. Many of the changes I’d witnessed over the years fell into place.
Innovation wasn’t about sudden flashes of brilliance by a lone genius. It was about patience measured in years to deliver change at scale. It required navigating resistance, especially from institutions wary of change. Progress meant building coalitions, learning through experimentation, and staying the course even when the benefits weren’t immediately visible.
Climate awareness
I came to climate change late. In 2015, to be precise. Of course it was affecting me. But like many and despite working in news, and despite reading a newspaper every morning, I remained a passive observer.
What changed?
BBC Research and Development had a team investigating the environmental impact of the media industry. Their findings floored me. I took a course in carbon literacy. Within a year, the entire department — over 200 colleagues — had done the same.
This was just the start.
Changes were happening in my personal life, too. At work they were planned. At home, less so. I cut back on meat in my diet. I bought an e-bike.
In my senior role, I was often invited to open events and set the scene for the challenges ahead. I began outlining a list of generational challenges. Climate change topped that list then. And still does.
Taken together, those experiences led me here.
Barnes2050
Barnes in south-west London has been my home for more than twenty years, and it is now the focus of my latest project: Barnes2050.
This place-based futures initiative explores how Barnes - place and people - can thrive in a climate-ready future. It brings together much of what I have learned over the years: the importance of localism, the possibilities of digital innovation and the urgency of climate action.
You can find my full resume on this LinkedIn profile and follow my work at Barnes2050.com.