We hope you have enjoyed the show and the Q&A Panel Discussion. Below you can find out more information about the scientists who joined us…
YORK
Revd Dr Victoria Johnson
Victoria Johnson is Canon Precentor at York Minster overseeing worship in the Cathedral. Prior to ordination, Victoria worked as Cancer Research Scientist. She studied Biochemistry and Genetics at Leicester University, her PhD exploring the genetics of programmed cell death. She has directed two major science festivals in 2017 and 2019 and has served on ethics and environmental bodies. She is regularly asked to preach and teach on the relationship between science and faith. She is passionate about integrating science, the creative arts and theology and is currently creating STEM trails to guide children and families around York Minster.
Professor Stephen Smye, OBE, Hon FRCP
Professor Stephen Smye is a medical physicist with degrees from Cambridge University, Imperial College, and Leeds University. He is currently a Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds and was involved with the National Institute for Health Research in a number of senior leadership roles 2007 – 2021. He was Research and Innovation Director at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals from 2004 until retiring from the NHS in 2017. He was an active member of St Michael le Belfrey church in York until 2021 and is now a member of the York Minster Community. He has been involved in organising and delivering a previous “Scientists in Congregations” award, with Riding Lights Theatre Company and Tom McLeish.
Dr Tom Jackson
Dr Tom Jackson is a computer scientist with a 30 year research career in artificial intelligence. He was formerly the CEO of CYBULA, a York company specialising in the use artificial intelligence methods for a diverse range of medical and commercial applications, from bedside monitoring for clinical patients to nuclear reactor analysis. He has a degree in Electronics (Salford University) and a PhD in Computer Science (University of York). His
research interests lie in the field of neural networks and the development of computer based cognition. He is the author of a standard textbook on neural computing and has extensive publications in the area. He also has a life-long passion for theatre, arts and performance.
DURHAM
John Parker
John Parker first came to Durham in the early 1980s as a student. In 1994 he returned to work at Durham University and he joined Emmanuel Church, where he has been ever since. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics at Durham University and Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and he also serves on the eldership team at Emmanuel Church. John is a pure mathematician with interests in the geometry of spaces of negative curvature. He travels widely with his work, having collaborators on five continents, and tries to use this to help build the kingdom of God, most recently in Japan.
Professor Chris Done
Chris Done is a Professor of Astrophysics at Durham University, researching black holes. She did her PhD at Cambridge and then worked for NASA. She leads courses for people exploring faith at her local church, and appeared in the BBC Songs of Praise episode marking the International Year of Astronomy.
Revd Dr Lucas Mix
The Revd Dr Lucas Mix serves as project coordinator for “Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science.” He holds a PhD in biology from Harvard University and works with NASA on the search for life beyond Earth. His books include Life in Space: Astrobiology for Everyone and Thinking Fair: Rules for Reason in Science and Religion. A priest in the Episcopal Church (USA) he has served as an inner-city pastor and a college chaplain. He cares deeply about spreading the good news in a world where science is part of the vernacular.
Dr Tom Jackson
Dr Tom Jackson is a computer scientist with a 30 year research career in artificial intelligence. He was formerly the CEO of CYBULA, a York company specialising in the use artificial intelligence methods for a diverse range of medical and commercial applications, from bedside monitoring for clinical patients to nuclear reactor analysis. He has a degree in Electronics (Salford University) and a PhD in Computer Science (University of York). His
research interests lie in the field of neural networks and the development of computer based cognition. He is the author of a standard textbook on neural computing and has extensive publications in the area. He also has a life-long passion for theatre, arts and performance.
HULL
Professor Stephen Smye, OBE, Hon FRCP
Professor Stephen Smye is a medical physicist with degrees from Cambridge University, Imperial College, and Leeds University. He is currently a Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds and was involved with the National Institute for Health Research in a number of senior leadership roles 2007 – 2021. He was Research and Innovation Director at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals from 2004 until retiring from the NHS in 2017. He was an active member of St Michael le Belfrey church in York until 2021 and is now a member of the York Minster Community. He has been involved in organising and delivering a previous “Scientists in Congregations” award, with Riding Lights Theatre Company and Tom McLeish.
Revd Dr Tim Kelly
Revd Dr Tim Kelly is Priest in Charge of the Benefice of Walkington, Bishop Burton, Rowley and Skidby). Tim worked for over 25 years in the domain of safety-critical computer systems. In 2019 left his job as a Professor of Computer Science at the University of York to become a vicar in the Church of England. He has supervised research on various topics in Artificial Intelligence including Neural Networks, Bayesian Networks and Agent-Based Software Systems. He worked with the automotive and aerospace industry on assurance of autonomous systems (e.g. self-driving cars). His recent thesis explored the impact of the rise of algorithmic decision making in society on the mission of the church.
Graham Budd
Dr Tom Jackson
Dr Tom Jackson is a computer scientist with a 30 year research career in artificial intelligence. He was formerly the CEO of CYBULA, a York company specialising in the use artificial intelligence methods for a diverse range of medical and commercial applications, from bedside monitoring for clinical patients to nuclear reactor analysis. He has a degree in Electronics (Salford University) and a PhD in Computer Science (University of York). His
research interests lie in the field of neural networks and the development of computer based cognition. He is the author of a standard textbook on neural computing and has extensive publications in the area. He also has a life-long passion for theatre, arts and performance.
NOTTINGHAM
Dr Michael Burdett
Dr Michael Burdett is Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at the University of Nottingham and an associate of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford. Before becoming an academic he worked in the aerospace and robotics industries for several years working with a firm that had contracts with NASA and JPL. He has published and presented internationally on evolution, the technological society and Christian theology. He is a series editor for the Routledge Science and Religion series and his major works include Technology and the Rise of Transhumanism: Beyond Genetic Engineering, Eschatology and the Technological Future and Finding Ourselves After Darwin.
Professor Mike Clifford
Mike Clifford is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. His research interests are in combustion, biomass briquetting, cookstove design, and other appropriate technologies. He has published over 100 refereed conference and journal publications. He is a volunteer with the Christian relief and development charity, Tearfund and writes a regular column, “Across the Pond” for the American Scientific Affiliation’s journal, “God and Nature”.
Patricia Shaw LLB(Hons), LLM, FRSA
Patricia Shaw LLB(Hons), LLM, FRSA, is CEO of Beyond Reach Consulting Limited is based in the UK, but advises internationally on AI and data ethics, policy, governance, and Corporate Digital Responsibility. Patricia has 20 years’ experience as a lawyer in data, technology and regulatory/government affairs and is a qualified Solicitor in England and the Republic of Ireland. She has authored and edited works on law and regulation, policy, ethics, and AI. She is founder of the Homo Responsiblis Initiative (the responsible human initiative, is a Christian think/action tank working with the European Evangelical Alliance focused on the ethics of AI and the digital world), and an Advisor to AI and Faith (a US based cross spectrum organisation bringing faith perspectives to the debate on ethical development of AI). She is also an expert advisor to the UK’s Digital Catapult Machine Intelligence Garage, is on the IEEE’s CertificAId (previously known as ECPAIS) ethical certification panel, on IEEE’s P7003/P2247.4/P7010.1 standards programmes, is a ForHumanity Fellow working on Independent Audit of AI Systems and was until 2021 on the RSA’s online harms advisory panel.
Tim Moger
BRISTOL
Harold Thimbleby
Prof Harold Thimbleby is professor emeritus of computer science at Swansea University. He did his early research on human-computer interaction in the 1980s, and more recently worked on the problems and opportunities of digital in healthcare, where human-computer interaction helps people lead healthier lives or, sometimes, harms people by accident. He was one of the authors of Cybernauts Awake!, an early Church of England book on the impact of the internet. He recently published Fix IT: See and Solve the Problems of Digital Healthcare (OUP, 2021) which won the British Medical Association award for best book in general medicine — they recommended everyone in healthcare should read it. Harold is a popular speaker, having given over 700 talks and workshops around the world, covering all areas of computer science, science and religion, etc.
Dr Roger Tucker
Roger is a technology researcher turned entrepreneur, leaving HP Labs in 2002 to setup the Local Language Speech Technology Initiative producing speech technology for the developing world, and then going on to found Sonocent Ltd (now trading as Glean) in 2007 to produce software for note-taking in Higher Education, particularly for students with dyslexia. Over the years he has researched various aspects of speech and language technology & has recently published work on a unified framework for biological and technological evolution. He mentors Bristol University engineering students in entrepreneurship & is on the executive committee of Christians in Science.
Revd Canon Dr Mike Parsons
Mike’s first career was as an academic physicist in Oxford researching materials in extremely high magnetic fields and very low temperatures. After lecturing in Nottingham he read theology at Cambridge, was a curate in North London, and then a research fellow in Durham, working on a theology of computer technology and learning. This launched a lifelong involvement in the study of science and religion, mainly while also in a parish or as principal of a regional theological college. He is a past vice-president of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, and is at present writing on missiology, world views and the impossibility of not believing.
Christina Biggs
Christina Biggs is a research fellow at Swansea University, developing cheap production methods for producing green hydrogen. She is a long-term member of Christians in Science (www.cis.org.UK), leading the Bristol local group for ten years. For her PhD she carried out computer simulations of the motion of water in rock minerals. She is a member of the Bristol Clean Air Alliance and the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways, campaigning for the Bristol Clean Air Zone and for local rail improvements, such as reopening the railway line to Portishead. She attends Christ Church Clifton and All Saints Clifton.
WOOTTON WAWEN
Thomas Brown
Tom is a scientist finishing a PhD in Cancer biology and genetics, working out of the biodiscovery institute of the University of Nottingham. His professional work has spanned five universities in areas from osteoarthritis to cancer stem cells, resulting in various academic papers and textbook chapters.
Outside of research, he is in the senior leadership of a Church of England Church in Leicestershire, regularly leading and preaching. Additionally, for the past few years, he has had the joy of traveling around the country to schools, festivals, and cathedrals to speak to all ages about the relationship between science and faith.
Matthew Gardiner
Matthew Gardner is a healthcare scientist who has worked in phototherapy physics, diagnostic radiology and radiation safety physics applied to medical imaging & radiotherapy. He has contributed to educational projects as a lead editor for the latest curriculum review of the NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP), subject matter expert for technical qualifications in healthcare science and outreach lead at the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
He is currently a clinical scientist in the radiation physics team of a large west midlands hospital whilst also a co-director of The Faith Experiment, a programme delivering sessions on the interface of science and faith through the lens of healthcare science.
HERTFORD
Revd Martin King
Martin King first became involved in AI in the early 1980’s in the study of Natural Language processing and collaborating with a colleague authoring a book on Natural and Artificial Intelligence.
In the 1990’s he co-authored with the Edinburgh University Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute a paper on Knowledge Representation, “The Enterprise Ontology” which has been widely referenced. More recently, Martin has been an active member of the Just Algorithms Action Group engaged with the Ethics and Regulation of AI technology in commercial and public internet apps.
Professor Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson is Professor of Computer Technology at the University of Cambridge. He is interested in new technologies to enhance communication between computers and their users, and new applications to exploit these technologies. Early work involved the use of video and paper as part of the user interface leading to augmented reality. More recently he has investigated the inference of people’s mental states from facial expressions, vocal nuances, body posture and gesture, and other physiological signals, and also considered the expression of emotions by robots and cartoon avatars. This has involved considerations of what it means to be human in an age of increasingly human-like machines.
Chris Lawn
Chris Lawn is Emeritus Professor of Engineering in Queen Mary University of London. The first 29 years of his career were spent in research in the power industry, first in the Central Electricity Generating Board and PowerGen, and then in Rolls-Royce. He was appointed to a Chair at Queen Mary in 1995, where his research has concentrated on the interaction of gas turbine combustion with acoustics, although his current interest is in improving the gasification of solid waste. Chris was born and bred a Methodist and has worshipped at Hertford Methodist Church for the last 25 years.
David Elder
David Elder has worshiped at Hertford Baptist Church for the last 30 years. He witnesses to his faith as a neighbourhood street pastor. David has degrees in Chemistry, Analytical chemistry, a PhD in crystallography from Edinburgh university and is a visiting professor at King’s College, London. He worked for 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry and for the last 6 years as an independent pharmaceutical consultant. He has edited two books, 24 book chapters, 180 publications, 19 webinars and given 190 presentations. He is named on 9 patents. Whilst not an AI expert, he has awareness of the AI-led developments in his field.
TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Professor Stephen Keevil
Professor Stephen Keevil is Head of Medical Physics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, leading a department with around 200 staff who provide medical physics and clinical engineering support to one of the country’s largest NHS trusts. In 2021, he established the Trust’s Clinical Scientific Computing team as a centre of excellence for development, evaluation and deployment of clinical artificial intelligence. He is currently President of the British Institute of Radiology, the world’s oldest medical imaging society. He is also churchwarden of St James’ Church, Tunbridge Wells and has a long-standing interest in the interface between science and Christian faith.
Anthony Hammill
Anthony Hammill trained as a social scientist and worked as an economic adviser in government. He remains interested in how we can model and understand the workings of social life. He is now a minister in the Church of England and Associate Tutor in Christian Doctrine and Ethics at St Augustine’s College of Theology. At St Augustine’s he has taught about the relationship between science and ethics as part of the Science for Seminaries project. Anthony works for the Diocese of Rochester training new ordained ministers.
Professor Berry Billingsley
Berry is the Director of the LASAR Research Centre, Canterbury Christ Church University. Berry is committed to giving learners of all ages access to opportunities to ask and explore Big Questions, spaces where they can thrive in education communities and activities that help them to grow in their understanding of how science and religion relate. Berry’s interests include Epistemic Insight, young people’s engagement in science, artificial intelligence, Big Questions bridging science, religion and the wider humanities and also the communication of science and technology news in the media. Berry’s first career was with the BBC where she produced and presented television and radio programmes including BBC World Service’s ‘Science in Action’, BBC TV’s ‘Tomorrow’s World’ and BBC Education’s ‘Search out Science’.
Mr Finley Lawson
Finley Lawson is the Lead Research Fellow for Outreach and Schools’ Partnership, at the LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) Research Centre at Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent. His recently-submitted PhD examines the implication of scientific metaphysics for incarnational theology (Christ, Creation, and The World of Science: Beyond Paradox). He is interested in the dialogue between STEM, Religion, and the wider humanities, and how this can be fostered in school curricula and regularly works teachers to increase their confidence and expertise teaching at the interface of science and religion. Outside his role at LASAR he is a committee member and conference secretary for the Science and Religion Forum which aims to promote discussion between scientific understanding and religious thought on issues at the interface of science and religion.
CHRIST CHURCH WEST GREEN
Dr Jean Innes
Jean runs a technology strategy consultancy, Fourcite, enabling organisations to successfully apply data science and AI to real world problems. Prior to that she was a Director at Faculty, one of Europe’s most experienced deep technical machine learning consultancies, Director of Consumer Data at Rightmove, and also has experience in the public sector at HM Treasury. She is a Non-Executive Director at Housemark, a data and analytics provider to the social housing sector, and a technology adviser to the World Economic Forum’s Infrastructure Council.
GATESHEAD
Professor Chris Done
Chris Done is a Professor of Astrophysics at Durham University, researching black holes. She did her PhD at Cambridge and then worked for NASA. She leads courses for people exploring faith at her local church, and appeared in the BBC Songs of Praise episode marking the International Year of Astronomy.
John Parker
John Parker first came to Durham in the early 1980s as a student. In 1994 he returned to work at Durham University and he joined Emmanuel Church, where he has been ever since. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics at Durham University and Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and he also serves on the eldership team at Emmanuel Church. John is a pure mathematician with interests in the geometry of spaces of negative curvature. He travels widely with his work, having collaborators on five continents, and tries to use this to help build the kingdom of God, most recently in Japan.
Simon Morden
Simon Morden has degrees in geology and planetary geophysics, and is the author of fifteen science fiction and fantasy novels, the latest being The Flight of the Aphrodite (Gollancz 2022). He was awarded the Philip K Dick award in 2011 for the Petrovitch trilogy. His first non-fiction book, The Red Planet: a natural history of Mars, was published in 2021. His website is www.bookofmorden.co.uk
BEVERLEY
Revd Dr Tim Kelly
Revd Dr Tim Kelly is Priest in Charge of the Benefice of Walkington, Bishop Burton, Rowley and Skidby). Tim worked for over 25 years in the domain of safety-critical computer systems. In 2019 left his job as a Professor of Computer Science at the University of York to become a vicar in the Church of England. He has supervised research on various topics in Artificial Intelligence including Neural Networks, Bayesian Networks and Agent-Based Software Systems. He worked with the automotive and aerospace industry on assurance of autonomous systems (e.g. self-driving cars). His recent thesis explored the impact of the rise of algorithmic decision making in society on the mission of the church.
Professor Stephen Smye, OBE, Hon FRCP
Professor Stephen Smye is a medical physicist with degrees from Cambridge University, Imperial College, and Leeds University. He is currently a Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds and was involved with the National Institute for Health Research in a number of senior leadership roles 2007 – 2021. He was Research and Innovation Director at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals from 2004 until retiring from the NHS in 2017. He was an active member of St Michael le Belfrey church in York until 2021 and is now a member of the York Minster Community. He has been involved in organising and delivering a previous “Scientists in Congregations” award, with Riding Lights Theatre Company and Tom McLeish.
Dr Tom Jackson
Dr Tom Jackson is a computer scientist with a 30 year research career in artificial intelligence. He was formerly the CEO of CYBULA, a York company specialising in the use artificial intelligence methods for a diverse range of medical and commercial applications, from bedside monitoring for clinical patients to nuclear reactor analysis. He has a degree in Electronics (Salford University) and a PhD in Computer Science (University of York). His
research interests lie in the field of neural networks and the development of computer based cognition. He is the author of a standard textbook on neural computing and has extensive publications in the area. He also has a life-long passion for theatre, arts and performance.
WAKEFIELD
Dr Jonathan Foster
Dr Jonathan Foster is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Sheffield. In the lab, Jonathan spends his time playing with molecular lego, designing simple building blocks that stack together to form complex structures and materials with useful properties. He works with academic and industrial collaborators to explore his materials in biomedical sensing, green synthesis, water purification and solar cell applications. He is a member of All Saints Church Ecclesall in Sheffield, co-ordinates the Sheffield local group of Christians in Science and enjoys going into schools to give talks on the ‘origin of life’, ‘amazing bubbles’ and ‘chemistry cluedo’.
Dr Gavin Merrifield
Dr Gavin Merrifield is the General Secretary of Christians in Science and a Visiting Lecturer in Science and Theology at Nazarene Theological College. He is also the Director of Believing Science, an organisation working to use science to bring churches and their communities together for common good. He is a physicist by training, but worked in biomedical and biological research for ten years before moving into a career in public engagement of science and Christianity. Gavin is particularly interested in the impact of new technologies and discoveries on Christian belief and practice.
MANCHESTER
Professor David Watts
Professor David Watts* is an award-winning scientist at the University of Manchester, School of Medical Sciences, researching at the intersection of physics, chemistry and biology. He has personally supervised more than 70 PhD candidates from 20 nations. An orthodox Christian, he promotes constructive engagement between science and revealed theology, as complementary approaches to human flourishing and knowing the Mind of God. For recreation, he enjoys family life, music and mountain climbing.
Professor Andrew Basden
Professor (Emeritus) Andrew Basden worked in AI (Expert Systems) in industry in the 1980s, taught and researched Expert Systems at the University of Salford during the 1990s, devised philosophical frameworks for understanding AI, both its nature, its technology, its construction, its real-life application, and its relationship with society, from 2000 onwards, and now convenes an online Reith Lectures Discussion Group on AI that covers all these facets of AI with the help of philosophical and Christian perspectives.
Dr Gavin Merrifield
Dr Gavin Merrifield is the General Secretary of Christians in Science and a Visiting Lecturer in Science and Theology at Nazarene Theological College. He is also the Director of Believing Science, an organisation working to use science to bring churches and their communities together for common good. He is a physicist by training, but worked in biomedical and biological research for ten years before moving into a career in public engagement of science and Christianity. Gavin is particularly interested in the impact of new technologies and discoveries on Christian belief and practice.
MERSEYSIDE
Professor David Watts
Professor David Watts* is an award-winning scientist at the University of Manchester, School of Medical Sciences, researching at the intersection of physics, chemistry and biology. He has personally supervised more than 70 PhD candidates from 20 nations. An orthodox Christian, he promotes constructive engagement between science and revealed theology, as complementary approaches to human flourishing and knowing the Mind of God. For recreation, he enjoys family life, music and mountain climbing.
Professor Andrew Basden
Professor (Emeritus) Andrew Basden worked in AI (Expert Systems) in industry in the 1980s, taught and researched Expert Systems at the University of Salford during the 1990s, devised philosophical frameworks for understanding AI, both its nature, its technology, its construction, its real-life application, and its relationship with society, from 2000 onwards, and now convenes an online Reith Lectures Discussion Group on AI that covers all these facets of AI with the help of philosophical and Christian perspectives.
WREXHAM
Professor Andrew Basden
Professor (Emeritus) Andrew Basden worked in AI (Expert Systems) in industry in the 1980s, taught and researched Expert Systems at the University of Salford during the 1990s, devised philosophical frameworks for understanding AI, both its nature, its technology, its construction, its real-life application, and its relationship with society, from 2000 onwards, and now convenes an online Reith Lectures Discussion Group on AI that covers all these facets of AI with the help of philosophical and Christian perspectives.
Revd Marcus Pipe
Revd Marcus Pipe is the IT Director for UK and Europe at BGIS, a multinational Facilities Management organisation as well as being a non-stipendiary Deacon and Assistant Curate at St Giles’ and the Wrexham Mission Area. With more than 20 years experience as an IT professional, he is passionate about the benefits that technology can bring to organisations and society. He has a keen interest in data collection, modelling, visualisation and AI.
ST NEOT’S
Nigel Crook
Nigel Crook is Professor of AI and Robotics, Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange, and Founding Director of the Institute for Ethical AI and at Oxford Brookes University. He has a PhD in explainable intelligent machines and more than 35 years of experience as a lecturer and a researcher in AI. He is an expert reviewer for the European Commission and serves on several scientific committees for international conferences. His research interests include biologically inspired machine learning, social robotics and autonomous moral machines. He has recently published a book entitled ‘Rise of the Moral Machine: Exploring Virtue Through a Robot’s Eyes’.
Chris Shore
Chris Shore recently retired from a 35-year career in technology, latterly spending 22 years at Arm where he was responsible for evangelising the deployment of Machine Learning in internet-connected devices. He has spoken at over 100 conferences across the globe, covering every continent except Antarctica – opportunities there are limited but he remains hopeful! Chris holds a degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University, is a Chartered Engineer and member of the IET. He worships at his local parish church in Cambridge, where he is a churchwarden. He is married to Davina, a music teacher, with two sons who are now self-managing and self-financing, leaving Chris and Davina to get on with the real work of looking after two shelties.
GLOUCESTER
Reid Derby
Reid is an Engineer, Innovator and Technology Leader with over 30 years experience working in UK Government in Digital Communications, Big Data/AI, and Cybersecurity. Reid has been interested in AI and Machine Learning since starting to working in the field in the early 2010s. Reid is also interested in exploring issues of science and faith and what it means to be truly human when compared with AI technologies. Reid has a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, an MA in Biblical Studies from the University of Gloucestershire and an MSc in Software and Systems Security from the University of Oxford. Reid is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the IET, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Ian Todd
Ian was a biology academic and researcher for 40 years focussing on ecology and animal behaviour before retiring to develop his education business. He believes that science shows us how God ‘does things’ in the world and has organised a course on Faith in Conservation exploring the role of faith in wildlife conservation and ecology. He is a licensed lay minister in Gloucester and involved in a wide range of ministries including healing prayer, eco-church, small groups, Alpha and community engagement. He is married to Sarah and has lived in Gloucestershire for many years, enjoying the rich countryside and wildlife of our region. He is also a fan of Sci Fi films which often explore big issues of life and faith in interesting ways.
Revd Canon Dr Mike Parsons
Mike’s first career was as an academic physicist in Oxford researching materials in extremely high magnetic fields and very low temperatures. After lecturing in Nottingham he read theology at Cambridge, was a curate in North London, and then a research fellow in Durham, working on a theology of computer technology and learning. This launched a lifelong involvement in the study of science and religion, mainly while also in a parish or as principal of a regional theological college. He is a past vice-president of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, and is at present writing on missiology, world views and the impossibility of not believing.
MALVERN
Richard Hasnip
Richard read English at St Andrews University and Shakespeare and Theatre at the Shakespeare Institute. He has written for Searchlight Theatre Company, Freedom Theatre Company, Atticladder and Heady Conduct. He writes regularly for Saltmine Theatre Company. His plays for them include Three Witnesses, Darkness Falls, and The Soul in the Machine and their current productions: adaptations of Rob Lacey’s The Liberator and Bob Hartman’s The Rhyming Bible. Richard is the author of The Mystery and The Passion: Towards a Holy Theatre (Authentic Media, 2009) and currently leads the B.A. programme in Applied Theology and Performing Arts at Regents Theological College.
Dr Richard Allsopp
Richard is a physicist with a background in solid state physics and over 20 years’ experience in software development for the analysis and interpretation of still and video imagery, on
behalf of government departments and commercial customers. His work has included the application of artificial intelligence techniques to image interpretation for autonomous land
vehicle navigation, traffic monitoring and the analysis of screened baggage images. Techniques used included motion-based image segmentation and the application of artificial neural networks to the classification of visual texture.
Nigel Crook
Nigel Crook is Professor of AI and Robotics, Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange, and Founding Director of the Institute for Ethical AI and at Oxford Brookes University. He has a PhD in explainable intelligent machines and more than 35 years of experience as a lecturer and a researcher in AI. He is an expert reviewer for the European Commission and serves on several scientific committees for international conferences. His research interests include biologically inspired machine learning, social robotics and autonomous moral machines. He has recently published a book entitled ‘Rise of the Moral Machine: Exploring Virtue Through a Robot’s Eyes’.
Dr Phil Hasnip
Phil is an EPSRC Research Software Engineer Fellow at the University of York, where he chairs the University’s Data Science, AI & Machine Learning Working Group, and teaches undergraduate Physics students how to create and train machine learning models to solve research problems. Phil is also Chair of the UK Car-Parrinello High End Computing Consortium, a collaboration between 24 UK science and engineering departments to develop and apply advanced computer software to predict and explain many materials properties. Recent work includes combining state-of-the-art quantum mechanics and machine learning to discover and design new materials, in order to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Stefan Janusz
Stefan completed a PhD in nanotechnology at Sheffield University in 2008, and worked for several years as a science and technology writer and communicator at the boundaries of academia and public engagement for organisations including the Medical Research Council, Imperial College London and Queen Mary, University of London, the Royal Society, and the Open Data Institute. He joined the Civil Service in 2016 and from late 2017/early 2018 was involved in setting up the UK Government Office for AI, where he still works in its new home in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. His role in the team has included establishing pilot data trusts to encourage safe, fair and ethical access to data; leading engagement on implementation of the UK’s National AI Strategy; and attempting to drive a more informed public narrative and discourse around AI and data technologies.
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