Professor Simeon Yates BA BSc DipNatSci PhD

Full Bio:

Simeon is Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research Environment and Postgraduate Research. His research on the social, political and cultural impacts of digital media includes a long-standing focus on digital media and interpersonal interaction. More recently, he has worked on projects that address issues of digital inclusion and exclusion. He was recently seconded to the UK Government's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to act as research lead for the Digital Culture team. He remains the joint-chair of the DCMS Research Working Group on Digital Inclusion and Skills. His prior work covered topics such as the use of digital technologies in the workplace, digital media use during crises and ICT use by the security services. The majority of his research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), EU and industry. Simeon’s work has often been interdisciplinary and has predominantly involved creative and digital industry partners. He led on a major Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded interdisciplinary programme (Engineering for Life) while at Sheffield Hallam.

Simeon has been researching the impacts of the internet and digital media on language and culture since 1990. His PhD thesis (1993) is a large-scale linguistic comparison of speech, writing and online interaction. Subsequent published work has covered analyses of gender differences in computer-mediated communication (CMC), gender and computer gaming, email and letter writing and science in the mass media. Simeon has written text books on social research methods — in particular, linguistic and discourse analytic methods.

He was previously the Director of the Institute of Cultural Capital, a strategic collaboration between the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. He established the Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI) at Sheffield Hallam University, and has previously worked at the Open University and at the University of Leeds. As well as a background in social science, Simeon has an interest and training in science (geology).

Professor Ganna Pogrebna

Full Bio:

Ganna Pogrebna is Professor of Behavioral Business Analytics and Data Science at the University of Sydney. She also serves as a Lead of Behavioral Data Science strand at the Alan Turing Institute – the national centre for AI and Data Science in London (UK), where Ganna is a fellow working on hybrid modelling approaches between behavioral science and data science (e.g., anthropomorphic learning). Ganna published many articles in high-quality peer-refereed journals. Ganna studied Economics at the University of Missouri Kansas City (US) and the University of Innsbruck (Austria). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences. At different points of her career, Ganna worked at Columbia University in New York (USA), the University of Bonn (Germany), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany), the University of Innsbruck (Austria), the University of Warwick (UK), and the University of Birmingham (UK).

Blending behavioral science, AI, computer science, data analytics, engineering, and business model innovation, Ganna helps leaders in businesses, charities, and public sector to better understand why they make decisions they make and how they can optimize their behavior to achieve higher profit, better social and commercial outcomes, as well as flourish and bolster wellbeing of their teams. Her recent projects focus on the role of smart technological and social systems, human-computer and human-data interactions, as well as human-machine teaming in organizations and how these current and future technologies impact leadership and leaders' decision making.

Ganna published extensively in high-quality per-refereed journals including the Leadership Quarterly, Management Science, Economic Journal, Journal of Applied Econometrics as well as many others. Ganna’s work on risk analytics and modelling was recognized by the Leverhulme Research Fellowship award. In January 2020, she was also named as the winner of TechWomen100 – the prize awarded to leading female experts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the UK. She is also named as one of 20+ Inspiring Data Scientists by the AI Time Journal. Over the years, she led as well as contributed to a large number of projects, funded by UK Research and Innovation (including ESRC, EPSRC, and other governmental bodies in the UK), the Leverhulme Trust, as well as a number of private organizations; and won competitions for over a total of £15 million in research funding since 2013. She also co-authored a book for practitioners on cybersecurity: "Navigating New Cyber Risks".

Ganna runs the Data Driven blog on YouTube, cybersecurity blog CyberBitsEtc, as well as Inclusion AI blog. She is also an occasional contributor to the VOXEU blog, BBC blog, and the Alan Turing Institute blog. Her work is regularly covered by the traditional as well as social media. Ganna is one of the contributors to the Oxford Handbook of AI Ethics. She is also currently co-editing the Cambridge Handbook of Behavioral Data Science, which is due to be published in 2022.

Dr Adrian Weller

Full Bio:

Adrian Weller is Programme Director for AI at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK national institute for data science and AI, and is also a Turing AI Fellow leading work on trustworthy Machine Learning (ML). He is a Principal Research Fellow in ML at the University of Cambridge, and at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence where he is Programme Director for Trust and Society. His interests span AI, its commercial applications and helping to ensure beneficial outcomes for society. He serves on several boards including the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. He is co-director of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) programme on Human-centric Machine Learning, and a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global AI Council. Previously, Adrian held senior roles in finance.

Scott Lyle

Full Bio:

Scott Lyle is a digital innovation professional with a focus on developing digital health strategies that increase patient engagement, medical outcomes and improve business performance.

Spent the last 9-years in animal health with leading animal health companies, and 15-years in Silicon Valley in various roles creating strategic partnerships, building digital solutions, and developing new commercial.

Currently, Scott heads the Pet Insight Project at Kinship, the innovation and VC arm of Mars Petcare. The Pet Insight Project is a team of data scientists, veterinarians, and technologists conducting one of the largest study of dogs across the United States. Pet Insight Project uses AI to link imperceptible changes in behavior to changes in health.

As a ‘fun fact’, the Pet Insight Project received an Honorable Mention in the AI and Data category as part of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards.

Previously, Scott was the Global Leader of the Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI) at Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health), which he founded with executive leadership to increase the Company’s digital competitive advantage. The CDI developed new digital health concepts, cross-integrating mobile apps, web experiences, and sensor devices to improve medical outcomes.