BCS Insights 2021: Meet the speakers
You’re in esteemed company at BCS Insights 2021 – debate and share perspectives with tech luminaries from across the spheres of education and enterprise.
Vinton Cerf DistFBCS
Vinton Cerf is often called one of the fathers of the internet, having developed TCP/IP, the underlying infrastructure of the internet, with Bob Kahn. He has received honorary degrees and awards that include the National Medal of Technology, the Turing Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Marconi Prize and membership in the National Academy of Engineering. He is a BCS Distinguished Fellow.
Dame Wendy Hall DistFBCS
Dame Wendy Hall, DBE, FRS, FREng is Regius Professor of Computer Science, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Engagement) and an Executive Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton. Dame Wendy was co-chair of the UK Government’s AI Review (October 2017), and is the first Skills Champion for AI in the UK.
John Higgins CBE FBCS
John was inaugurated as BCS President in March. He was director general of TechUK's predecessor Intellect and then DigitalEurope. John chairs the Global Digital Foundation, a think tank, and is a senior advisor to Burson, Cohn & Wolfe and the EU’s Intelligent Cities Challenge. He was appointed CBE in 2005 for services to the IT industry.
Chris Adams
Chris Adams is an environmentally-focused tech generalist, spending the last 15 years working in tech start-ups, blue chip companies and government, as a user researcher, product manager, developer, sysadmin and UX-er. He is an organiser of ClimateAction.tech, a community for technology professionals taking climate action, and a director of the Green Web Foundation.
Amanda Brock
Amanda is CEO of OpenUK, the UK body for open source software, open hardware and data; European Representative of the world’s biggest defensive patent pool, the Open Invention Network; OASIS Open Projects' Advisory Council Member; Advisory Board Member KDE; Charity Trustee Creative Crieff; and a member of various commercial and start up advisory boards including Mimoto.
Gary Spracklen
Gary is headteacher at The Prince of Wales School, Dorchester; a former Digital Educator of the Year; and a member of the Government’s Department for Education ETAG (Educational Technology Action Group). Named on the #Edtech50 'People of 2020' list by the Education Foundation, Gary was also named a BBC News 'Lockdown Community Hero' for his work supporting the #InspiredToLearn community with daily live broadcasts.
Paul Fletcher FBCS
Paul joined BCS as Group Chief Executive in 2014 after 10 years in director roles at RM education and senior management consultancy positions at A.T. Kearney and KPMG. A Harvard Business School AMP graduate, Paul is passionate about the transformational impact that technology can have on education and improving the life chances of everyone in our society.
Liz Ashall-Payne
Liz is CEO of ORCHA, the world’s leading provider of digital health accreditation ad distribution services. She co-founded ORCHA in 2015 attracting investment from Sir Terry Leahy and Bill Currie. A trained speech and language therapist, for almost 20 years Liz led NHS transformation programmes, helping to unlock the power of digital across the UK and Europe.
Brian Runciman MBCS
Brian is BCS Head of Content and Insight. He has been a technology writer for over 20 years with a particular interest in the effects of computing on society. He began editing ITNOW in 2005 and has been involved in research for BCS on diversity, cybersecurity, AI, ethics and digital leadership. He has also published debate and interview videos, podcasts, webinar series and editorial reports for the Institute.
Dr Saima Rana
Dr Rana is CEO/Principal of GEMS World Academy - Dubai, Chief Education Ambassador for the Varkey Foundation and Founding Trustee of The Shahnaz Foundation. With a PhD in Education, Dr Rana has also devoted herself to a variety of charitable educational projects, with a particular passion for building schools for poor children across the globe.
Cat Scutt
A former English teacher, Cat now focuses on supporting teacher development through collaboration and through engagement with research and evidence. She leads on the Chartered College of Teaching’s work around development and certification, including the Chartered Teacher programme and their research activities and publications, including their award-winning peer-reviewed journal, Impact.
Jim Knight
Jim is a director of Suklaa Ltd, providing advice services to UK and international clients working in technology for education and learning. He worked for many years as the Chief Education and External Officer at Tes Global Ltd and co-founded Tes Institute in 2014, now the fifth largest qualifier of teachers in England. As a UK government minister and MP, Jim’s portfolios included rural affairs, schools, digital and employment.
Dr Chen Mao Davies
Dr Chen Mao Davies holds a PhD in Computer Graphics and spent 10 years creating Oscar and BAFTA award-winning visual effects for blockbuster films including Gravity and Blade Runner 2049. In 2018, Chen founded LatchAid, a FemTech start-up supporting women's breastfeeding and motherhood journey. Chen is a winner of the prestigious Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award recognised as the Top 40 Female Innovators in the UK.
Niel McLean
Niel is Head of Education at BCS. Initially a teacher and local authority adviser, he developed the first National Curriculum for IT, led government IT programmes for schools, and advised governments internationally. He chairs the Learning Foundation, is a fellow of the RSA, and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by Naace, the national educational technology association.
Dr Tony Roberts
Tony is a Digital Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies where he researches the use of mobile and internet technologies in low-income countries. After lecturing in New Technology and Education at the University of East London, Tony founded and directed the charity Computer Aid International, providing over 250,000 computers to schools and non-profits in more than 100 countries.
Jackie Weaver
Jackie is Chief Officer at Cheshire Association of Local Councils (ChALC). She’s a passionate supporter and promoter of town and parish councils with a particular interest in making local democracy accessible for everyone. Jackie is committed to improving standards in public life so that we can all have greater confidence in those we elect.
Rashik Parmar MBE FBCS
Rashik is the IBM Fellow and Vice President responsible for creating and driving IBM’s European technical strategy. Some of his work is summarised in the HBR article, “New Patterns for Innovation”, which he co-authored in 2014. Rashik was appointed to the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Board and is also an active member of the BCS Employer and Organisations Board.
John Booth
John runs his own green IT consultancy, Carbon3IT Ltd, supporting organisations in adopting data centre standards. He’s also chair of the Data Centre Alliance’s (DCA) Energy Efficiency & Sustainability steering group, vice chair of the BCS Green IT specialist group, a lead auditor for ISO50001 (2011/2018) and ISO22301, and Technical Director of the National Data Centre Academy.
