Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Southampton, is one of three guest directors lined up for The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 to be held between 4-9 June.
Dame Wendy joins comedian, presenter and theoretical physics graduate Dara O’Brian and government Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, in being at the forefront of this year’s Festival. Recently named in the BBC Woman’s Hour ‘Power List’ of leading British women in public life, Dame Wendy was also named in Computer Weekly’s ‘Uktech50’ of top CIOs, industry executives, public servants and business leaders driving the role of technology in the UK economy. Earlier last year, she was also named as the second most influential women in UK IT, also awarded by Computer Weekly.
Over the course of the six-day event, Dame Wendy will lead three events devoted to her specialist area of Web Science. On Friday, 7 June, she will host the Cheltenham Cyber Security Conference at Cheltenham’s Parabola Arts Centre opening the event by offering an overview of the cyber security landscape.
On Saturday, 8 June, Dame Wendy will lead two sessions devoted to the future of the Web and its usage.
During ‘The Web and Us’ (12.45pm – Town Hall, Cheltenham) Dame Wendy will lead a discussion about how society is shaping the Web as the Web is shaping society, with neuroscientist Uta Frith, social scientist Aleks Krotoski and Artificial Intelligence expert and fellow University of Southampton Professor Nigel Shadbolt. The group will be joined on stage by Twitter chair Bill Thompson.
Later in the day, Dame Wendy will ask ‘Is the Web Changing Society?’ (4.30pm – Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham) sharing her thoughts on what the Web means for society and for us as individuals in terms of how we think and interact with one another.
“I’m delighted to be working with the Cheltenham Science Festival as a Guest Director,” says Dame Wendy. “What I love about the Festival is the appetite for science I see there; from children all the way through to senior citizens, the audiences, as well as the topics, are so diverse and people just love it.
“The thing that really surprises me is how much science is packed into the Festival,” she continues. “It seems that the interest in science is increasing across the board these days.”
For a full programme of activities linked to this The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 please visit: http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science