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What is your role and what does it involve?

From 1 October I will be UCL’s first Professor of Education Futures. I work in the area of the ethics and philosophy of technology, AI, digital privacy, biometrics and intelligence, carrying out research and postgraduate teaching. I also advise many external organisations including the UN, EU, and OECD. I am also an elected member of UCL Council.

How long have you been at 911±¬ÁÏÍø and what was your previous role?

I have been at 911±¬ÁÏÍø since the IOE merger in 2014. Prior to that I re-joined the IOE in 2012, having worked at IOE previously as researcher to Geoff Whitty from 2006-2007.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

In 2022 I spent several months on secondment at the UK Government’s Office for AI, which culminated in developing the UK’s National AI Upskilling Policy while most of my civil service colleagues were ensconced in an aircraft hangar planning the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the infamous ‘Queue of Queues’. It was quite a surreal experience but I managed to turn a lot of disparate international policy documents into a fully-worked-through training and assessment masterplan for the UK. You don’t often get an opportunity like that.

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list

I am currently spending six months as Researcher-in-Residence at the University of Passau in Germany mapping visions of Artificial Intelligence, biometrics, and digital surveillance in Bavarian schools. This is the second stage of a project that we began just prior to the pandemic, which looked at the connections between regional poverty and poor quality telecommunications infrastructure in England and Germany. In the case of England, we made the unexpected discovery that contemporary broadband often maps along roads, internal waterways and coaching inn networks that sprung up to support the sheep farming industry in medieval times, after the shift from feudalism. At some stage we are planning to look into this in more detail, as it seems bizarre that high speed broadband access in 2024 should rely on what the local economy was doing 400 years ago.

What is your favourite album, film and novel?

In a former career I was a professionally trained soprano, and I love the compositions of Richard Strauss. However I am also partial to a bit of Rammstein, and the mobile ringtone that alarms everyone in meetings when I forget to put my phone on silent is ‘Engel’ from the album Sehnsucht.

My favourite film has to be Orlando with Tilda Swinton, on the basis of costumes and locations, as well as the divine acting. I must have watched it 20 times.

In terms of novels, it is Life: A User’s Manual by Georges Perec, which tells the highly complex story of residents of a Paris apartment block. It merits regular re-reading.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

Some IOE colleagues decide to go on a survival weekend to see who comes out on top. The trainer tells them to go down into the woods and catch a rabbit for supper.

First up: Postdocs. They don perfect camouflage and head torches, grab their fieldwork diaries, and crawl into the woods in perfect formation, meticulously documenting every step. Absolute silence for 5 minutes, followed by the muffled rustle of leaves and the gentle snap of a humane trap. They emerge with a small rabbit, blinking with surprise, carefully labelled and tagged.

Next up: Lecturers. They finish their marking, march into the woods in small groups, loudly discussing various contemporary theories on rabbit behaviour. For the next hour, the woods echo with the sound of scholarly debates, occasional claps, and laptops rebooting. Eventually, they emerge, carrying an absolutely massive rabbit that looks slightly dazed but unharmed.

Lastly, Principal Investigators. They wander into the forest, hands in pockets, discussing the finer points of research council funding. For the next few hours, the silence is only broken by the occasional beep of an email and snippets of research collaboration calls. They emerge with a thoroughly detailed proposal on "Innovative Techniques for Rabbit Capture," complete with a university-branded PowerPoint presentation and a 250-word abstract.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?" says the trainer, "I asked for a rabbit, not a research paper!"

So back they go. The next morning, the Principal Investigators reappear, slightly rumpled, holding a phenomenally sophisticated rabbit trap they designed, complete with diagrams, full data analysis, and a detailed user manual.

"Impressive work," says the trainer, "but where's the rabbit?

The Principal Investigator team leader smiles enigmatically and says, "With this, you'll catch all the rabbits you need."

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

• Lucy Diggs Slowe, the reforming university administrator who established the annual, and apparently hilarious, Howard University women-only dinner.
• Boudicca, not least to see who actually turned up.
• Bess of Hardwick, a shrewd Tudor businesswoman at a time when women couldn’t even officially own property.
• Charles II, who liked a party, reigned during a period of great change in London, and is said to have introduced champagne to England. Hopefully he would bring some.
• Jeremy Bentham. It would be rude not to invite him as he specifically asked to be wheeled out post-mortem for precisely this purpose.
• Henning Wehn, my current favourite comedian, who could lift the mood if things got too historically intense.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Try to look on the bright side, but if life gets too much, sing along to some Metal whilst doing dramatic gesticulations. Best done in the privacy of the home office.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I briefly used to be a presenter on Channel 4, presenting cookery and housekeeping tips.

What is your favourite place? Ìý

Currently Baden-Baden in Germany, the perfect mix of mild climate, geographical interest, arts and culture.