Insights 2019 - programme

Thought-leaders from across business and education will be sharing their views and sparking the debate.

10.00: Welcome

Chair: Brian Runciman, Head of Content, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

10.05: The understanding and the trust: BCS, the place for debate

Adam Thilthorpe sets the scene for the day: A lot of the issues are about ethics, but this is no abstruse discussion, it is about the real world.

UK IT is short of people, and we pay lip service to inclusivity - marrying the two concepts will give enormous benefits as there’s a huge pool of talent being wasted.

Likewise, AI is much discussed and much misunderstood, we need to trust it to benefit from it. And we need skilled IT professionals with ethical awareness to make it fly for the UK.

Speaker: Adam Thilthorpe, Director of External Affairs, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Session 1: Prejudice and bias are holding IT back

10.15: What issues do BAME people face in IT?

Speaker: Vinous Ali, Head of Policy, techUK

10.30: Perseverance and positivity! My personal mission to improve the world

The way computer technology has transformed the opportunities to engage in more life experiences for people with disabilities, and value of the equality of access it can facilitate.

Speaker: Martyn Sibley, Disability campaigner

10.45: I, Human

Looking beyond disabilities and at the person and what they can contribute.

Speaker: Léonie Watson, Director, TetraLogical

11.00: Break

11.15: IT and gender

Working in IT as a highly qualified and successful woman - what works, what doesn't…

Speaker: Dame Wendy Hall, Executive Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton

11.25: Two perspectives on age in IT

Michael will discuss the experience of being an older person in IT. It's not just about legacy systems, but that with humility and some careful strategies older workers can have a successful later career. Included are tips on mentoring, how to present a CV, the role of part-time work, multiple roles and more.

Speaker: Michael Grant, BCS President and Associate Director at Harvey Nash
Speaker: Ben Towers

11.45: Debate - Fixing the skills gap with better inclusivity - how?

What needs to be done? Brian will Chair a discussion with Vinous Ali, Martyn Sibley, Léonie Watson and Michael Grant on transparency over pay and grades; #itstartswithme; outside help for monocultured organisations; combatting 'who speaks loudest wins’ and the ‘highest paid person in the room’ syndrome; and presenteeism.

12.25: Lunch and networking

Session 2: AI - the more we understand the less we fear

13.25: PM introduction

13.30: Can we trust AI?

A constructive, but not naïve, look at whether we can trust AI. Luciano will also look at lessons to be drawn from Google's ill-fated attempt to set up an AI ethics group - which he was part of. What are the dangers of this group's implosion? What are the implications and what can we learn?

Speaker: Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information, University of Oxford

13.50: Nowhere to hide: does AI have a privacy problem?

Speaker: Ivana Bartoletti, Head Of Privacy and Data Protection, Gemserv

14.05: AI in UK IT

What role will AI play in the UK's future? How can we make it the place to be for AI?

Speaker: Sana Khareghani, Deputy Director, Head of the Office for AI

14.20: Successful applications of AI - how to get it right

Master Inventor and CTO for IBM Global Business Services, James has over 20 years’ experience in machine learning and cognitive systems. James will be sharing his views on whether AI is where we think it is? Prior to joining IBM, James worked as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) consultant with Data Sciences (Data Sciences was taken over by IBM in 1996). Managing a number of AI projects for both military and commercial clients.

Speaker: James Luke, CTO for IBM Global Business Services

14.35: Break

14.50: Debate - AI in the real world is not trusted, what needs doing? How can we change the narrative?

Brian will chair a discussion with Luciano Floridi, Ivana Bartoletti, Sana Khareghani and James Luke covering moving public perception away from Terminator; being constructive in portraying the benefits of AI; balancing expectation with the realism of current AI capability with public trust in mind and more.

15.30: Debate - Skills for a digital workforce

Our resident expert Adam Thilthorpe, Director of External Affairs, hosts a panel of leading employers bringing together real experiences and views to explore the nature of change in the world of IT and how businesses are planning for the implications on their workforce today.

The discussion will be taken in context of the current direction of UK skills policy, including employer-led apprenticeships and technical education which are central to the government’s agenda to address skills gaps and support economic growth.

Panellists include:

16.10: Conclusion

16.15: Drinks and networking