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05/05/10
Transforming BCS Elizabeth Sparrow, President of the BCS
Today's economy is built on knowledge; it's on our ability to process,
share and manage information that our society thrives or dies. BCS
is committed to increasing public confidence in IT and helping people
become more active participants in the information society. The projects
pursued by Elizabeth
Sparrow throughout her tenure as president aim to fulfil the BCS
mission to enable the information society. In this presentation she
looked at the ongoing developments in the BCS transformation programme,
especially its public engagement projects. A Powerpoint
version of this presentation is available.21/04/10
BCS Academy of Computing; not another Learned Society? Dr Bill Mitchell, BCS Academy of Computing
The HE sector is in a financial mess and the research base is under
constant financial pressure. Professional IT practitioners no longer
feel research journals are accessible and are disconnecting with HE.
Student applications for CS are falling because schools are being
forced to teach IT skills from the 1980's. The BCS Academy of Computing
has been set up in partnership with CPHC (Council for Professors and
Heads of Computing) and UKCRC (UK Computing Research Committee) to
address these issues. In this talk, Bill Mitchell explained what the
Academy is trying to achieve and how it will go about it.10/03/10
The European Space Agency Mission: Herschel Prof Seb Oliver, Department of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Sussex
On May 14th 2009 the European
Space Agency successfully launched two astronomical telescope
missions, Herschel and Planck, on an Ariane rocket. With a 3.5m diameter
mirror, Herschel is the largest ever astronomical space telescope;
its objective is to explore hidden star formation in the Universe.
Seb
Oliver introduced the Herschel mission and its scientific objectives,
focussing on the largest project which is led by the University of
Sussex. He showed the very first results of the mission, detecting
galaxies 10 billion years in the past.10/02/10
Do You Want a Robot Lover? Dr Blay Whitby, Department of Informatics, University
of Sussex
Robotic carers and artificial companions are very much in the news.
In January 2007 Bill Gates predicted 'a robot in every home'. In Japan
robots are seen as potential carers for the elderly. Many researchers
are looking to make their products display emotion and respond to
emotional displays by users. At least one writer has predicted marriage
to robots becoming accepted by 2050. We need to look at the implications
of these developments – both technical and social. Is this an
acceptable development? Blay
Whitby pondered many difficult questions, such as what is likely
to be technically feasible and just what should we allow? |
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Time and Place
Unless otherwise stated, we meet at the Chichester
1 Lecture Theatre, University of Sussex. Drinks and light refreshments
are available from 7:00pm, and our presentations start at 7:30pm.Events Diary
Choose a year to see a synopsis of our past or future events. You will also
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