June has been a busy month for BCS, with fantastic Pride engagement across The Chartered Institute for IT, Sharon Moore MBE CITP FBCS and Rebecca George OBE FBCS becoming Chair and Vice Chair of council, and BCS leading the ethical use of AI at CogX 2022.
CogX
BCS partnered this year with CogX to offer our members access to their prestigious annual event. In the key debate on ‘Building trust in transformation’ BCS challenged conventional wisdom along with The Responsible AI Institute, PwC and Faculty AI. In a recent survey our members stated that; ‘Trust is what constraints us from exploring the potential of technology - if people don’t put their trust in technology, then it cannot reach its full potential.’. As the panel debate continued, we all agreed that it is vital for professionals and companies to draw on expertise from organisations without a commercial interest to establish AI principles, understand regulation and ethical considerations.
It became apparent during the conversation that the hype surrounding AI exceeds the reality. The recent global debate on Web 3.0 and Distributed Ledger use cases highlights the need to focus on the difference that technology makes. This challenge is important so that business and governments focus their resources and retain trust in technology’s potential to solve for mankind’s biggest challenges.
Pride 2022
This year - for the first time BCS delivered a full programme of events and content for Pride. BCS now has specialist member groups such as Pride, EMBRACE, Neurodiverse IT and Digital Divide who are all dedicated to the diverse nature of the information technology profession. Our message for Pride 2022 was - and will continue to be - that the Institute is your professional home, and we will support you in achieving everything you wish to in your IT career.
For you
Be part of something bigger, join BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
As Pride month has now drawn to a close, we continue our celebrations across the entirety of the season, with a BCS pride event to be held at our London Offices on Wednesday 31st August. The BCS London Office is a favourite professional meeting place for BCS members, and it is interesting to see leading professionals’ mentor the next generation around the coffee machine!
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Ms Sharon Moore MBE CITP FBCS on her elected position of Chair as council and Mrs Rachel Steenson FBCS on her elected position as Vice-Chair of council.
Thank you to all those who have worked behind the scenes with lawmakers to debate the consequences of EU Digital Markets and Services Act. BCS continues to play a key role by bringing together leading researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, and lawmakers. Do reach jenna.griffin@bcs.uk if you are interested in joining, learning from, or engaging with BCS.
It is fantastic to see the growing number of BCS Instagram and LinkedIn posts engage bright future tech professionals to support them with exploring the potential of technology as they grow professional careers.
Help us accomplish more together and make a pledge to join our networks such as BCS Pride to drive a more inclusive profession.
