THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGISTS
NEWS
WCIT Charity Sponsors First IT Professor at
Gresham College
A
world-renowned expert in software engineering and cybersecurity, Martyn Thomas CBE
is the very first IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology at Gresham
College, a position sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
An independent consultant systems engineer and non-executive director, Professor Thomas is
an internationally recognised expert in safety-critical or security-critical, software intensive
systems, software engineering, and cybersecurity.
Professor Thomas will deliver a series of lectures, the first one of which took place on the 20 th
October 2015.
Martyn said, “In my Gresham lectures I will explore the state of software today, how we got to where we are, and what we shall
need to do to shore up the foundations of a digital society that is increasingly built on sand. The lecture series is designed to
inform, to entertain, and to stimulate balanced discussions that lead to effective actions. In this I hope to make Gresham College
play a leading role in accelerating the transition of the craft of software development into a mature engineering profession.”
“It is an honour and a privilege to have been appointed as the first Livery Company Professor of Information Technology at
Gresham College and I would like to thank the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the Academic Board of
Gresham College for making it possible”
The first in the series of lectures was titled ‘Should We Trust Computers?’
Computers and software have transformed the world in 67 years and the pace of change is still accelerating. The achievements
have been extraordinary: we have the web, Google and GPS - but we also have viruses, spam and cybercrime. What can we
learn from past triumphs and disasters to help us decide about Big Data, driverless cars, artificial intelligence and life in silicon?
Might the future be built on sand, metaphorically as well as literally?
The lecture can be found on our dedicated WCIT Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZrHVXxIOCA
or transcripts and video can be found at www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/should-we-trust-computers
The next lecture will take place on the 12th January 2016, 6pm, around the corner from the WCIT Hall at the Museum of London,
titled ‘A Very Brief History of Computing 1948 – 2015’.
All members are very welcome to attend either in person or online!
Full listings - each at 6pm at the Museum of London:
9th February 2016 - How Can Software Be So Hard?
5th April 2016 - Computers, People and the Real World
3rd May 2016 - Cybersecurity
14th June 2016 - Big Data: The Broken Promise of Anonymisation
Full details can be found on the Gresham website at:
www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/professor-martynthomas-cbe
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