Speakers
Event speakers are presented here in alphabetical order.
Photography – Nick Harrison
Dr Gordon Fletcher – Associate Dean: Research and Innovation, University of Salford
Gordon Fletcher is Associate Dean: Research and Innovation at Salford Business School. After originally coming to Salford to teach Java programming to reluctant students, Gordon has increasingly focused attention on the application of technology in organisational and social contexts in teaching as well as research. He has recently finalised editing the 3rd edition of Digital and Social Media Marketing and is currently working on the 2nd edition of Strategic Digital Transformation (both with Routledge), both now heavily incorporate significant levels of practical AI use. More relevant to the proceedings, Gordon is currently chairing Salford’s institutional working group tasked with defining policy around the ethical use of AI within a research context.
Dustin Hosseini – Doctoral Student, University of Strathclyde
Dustin has held different roles in higher education spanning teaching English for academic purposes to work in learning development and most recently work involving the development of academics’ pedagogic literacies through coaching and mentoring to develop courses for blended and online delivery. Dustin also studies a doctorate in education part-time. His research interests include academic, digital and critical media literacies, critical pedagogy and decolonizing education within the context of tertiary education. Dustin has experimented with generative AI within the contexts of learning/teaching/assessment and strives to provide fellow educators with sound knowledge and (good) practices while alerting them to possible systemic and ethical issues that generative AI (re)produces. He values collaboration and this is one reason he will attend, thanks to a colleague at Surrey.
Elly Selby (MArch, AFHEA) – Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate, UCL
Elly Selby is an interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and practitioner. As an Associate Lecturer at UCL’s Institute of Education, she contributes to the Engineering & Education MSc program, and teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture in the Architecture and Interdisciplinary Studies BSc and Urban Design MArch programmes. Elly is completing her PhD in Architecture and Digital Theory at the Bartlett, where her research delves into the evolution of authorship within the realm of architecture, specifically examining the impact of digital computation, with a particular interest in generative AI. Prior to joining UCL, Elly earned a Master of Architecture degree and a BA in Architectural Studies from the University of Toronto and gained practical experience as an Intern Architect in Toronto, Canada, and Verona, Italy. With fellow University of Toronto alumni and faculty, Elly formed GAMBJTS, an architecture and design collective, to propose solutions to issues of urban resiliency. Her professional engagements centred on projects related to affordable housing and community spaces, reflecting her commitment to addressing societal needs through architectural practice and research.
Dr Christina Silver (FAcSS, SFHEA) – Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey
Christina Silver PhD is Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey, where she is Director of the CAQDAS Networking Project. She is also co-founder and director of Qualitative Data Analysis Services, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS). She is author of many publications about the use of digital tools for qualitative analysis, including Using Software in Qualitative Research: A Step by Step Guide (with Ann Lewins) and Qualitative Analysis with ATLAS.ti/MAXQDA/NVivo: The Five-Level QDA Method (with Nick Woolf).
Professor James Thomas – Professor Social Research and Policy, UCL
James Thomas is based at the EPPI Centre and his research is centred on improving policy and decision-making through more creative use and appreciation of existing knowledge. It covers substantive disciplinary fields – such as health promotion, public health and education – and also the development of tools and methods that support this work conducted both within UCL and in the wider community. He has written extensively on research synthesis, including meta-analysis and methods for combining qualitative and quantitative research in ‘mixed method’ reviews; and also designed EPPI-Reviewer, software which manages data through all stages of a systematic review.
Prof Jeremy Watson (CBE FREng FIET) – Professor of Engineering Systems, University College London
Past-President (2016–17) of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Jeremy Watson CBE FREng is Professor of Engineering Systems at UCL. He was DLUHC Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) between 2009-12, and Chief Scientist and Engineer at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) until 2021. Jeremy has senior industrial experience as BOC (Edwards) plc Technology Director, and Global Research Director at Arup. He was appointed to the UK Committee on Research Integrity in 2022, advising UKRI leadership, and is the UKCORI lead for the impact of AI in Research Integrity.
A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Jeremy was a Trustee and also inaugural Chair of the National Engineering Policy Committee.
Jeremy is Director and PI of the seven-year £24m PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity funded by EPSRC. PETRAS comprises 24 universities and has 120+ industrial and government user partners.
Organisers
The workshop has been organised by the Advanced Research Computing Centre, UCL as part of the AIUK Fringe 2024 events series.
Lead Organiser: Samantha Ahern
Samantha Ahern is a Senior Digital Research Trainer (ISD) and Education co-lead and for Advanced Research Computing (ARC), UCL. Samantha leads the ARC research theme: Transforming Research Communities, is a STEM Ambassador, Fellow of the University of London Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE), a member of the Society of Research Software Engineers EDIA Working Group, a Carpentries Instructor and Trainer and Co-Chair of the Software Carpentry Lesson Programme Governance Committee. Samantha is a co-author of the Learning Technologists’ Anti-Racism Tool, recently contributed to the CODE Navigating the Future project and has previously published papers focusing on learning analytics and student wellbeing.