The Gem of all Mechanisms

Sep 16 2024 53 ep. 29 mins 13
The Gem of all Mechanisms Podcast artwork

The Gem of all Mechanisms podcast is an interview series, where we talk to people in the know from many different disciplines: academics, computer scientists, policy makers, philosophers and more about the complexities of 21st century tech and how it affects us all.

It is produced by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. BCS is on a mission to ensure everyone’s experience with technology is positive. We support the people who work in the industry and aim to make IT good for society. Our members shape policy, influence change and raise standards to realise the potential of technology.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  Education  Society & Culture  Technology
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Service resilience for CIOs

Sep 16 2024 20 mins  
In this special edition, four service resilience experts review BCS' CIO Network event. Mark Burnham, CTO Government and Public Services at Deloitte, Jonny Sammut, Director of Digital Services at the Welsh Ambulance Service, Patrick Burgess, Technical Director at Nutbourne, and Christine Ashton, CIO of UKRI and a member of BCS' FTAG join Brian Runciman MBCS to discuss the clear iss

Social impact as a CIO

Aug 05 2024 28 mins  
BCS Fellow Karl Hoods was recently honoured with a CBE. Brian Runciman MBCS spoke to him about his CIO career, his focus on social impact, the skills shortage, future challenges CIOs will face and more. Karl is Group Chief Digital & Information Officer at the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and Department for Science Innovation & Technology. Hosted on Acast.

Playing with quantum with an eye on ROI

Jul 08 2024 28 mins  
Stefano Mensa from the Hartree Centre speaks to Brian Runciman MBCS about the industry-facing supercomputer centre, with a focus on quantum computing. What benefit will it add? How close are we to fault-tolerant quantum computing with the current logical qubit bottleneck? What can it do for UK business? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helping all innovative people deliver

May 29 2024 37 mins  
How can smaller organisations create a positive culture, encompassing genuine diversity of perspective? Melissa Sabella talks about her approach with the Honeycomb Works, where she has recently worked with RAEng on a new equity platform for start-ups and scale-ups. She also gives some practical tips, for example: how much time should you spend with your direct reports, and who shou

Digital Pioneers: Recoding our Future

May 14 2024 39 mins  
What is the mindset IT professionals require to really harness the potential of computing for social good? Our panel discusses ambition, boldness, capability, determination and entrepreneurism. Rashik Parmar MBE, Group CEO of BCS, Charlene Hunter MBE, CEO & Founder of Coding Black Females, Professor Andy Stanford-Clark, Distinguished Engineer, IBM UK, and Dr Kitty Hung, BCS Fel

The Needham Debate: Optimisation algorithms

Feb 26 2024 54 mins  
In January 2024, Professor Ruth Misener was presented with the Needham Award for her exceptional contribution to identifying and solving fundamental computer science research challenges at the intersection of computational optimisation and machine learning. A special panel discussed the complexities of optimisation as a research discipline and how algorithms can help businesse

From 'Millionaire' to cybersecurity

Feb 06 2024 26 mins  
Lisa Ventura MBE has been on a fascinating journey from mainstream TV to a cybersecurity career. Alongside this she has had a developing diagnostic journey. She talks to Brian Runciman MBCS about neurodiversity, her autism diagnosis and more. As she says... 'we are all generation cyber.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Formal languages, mathematical models and bike sharing

Nov 27 2023 25 mins  
Professor Jane Hillston, one of the winners of the Lovelace Award for 2023, discusses her work in formal languages. She talks to Brian Runciman MBCS about resource use in systems and performance modelling - measuring how much resource is used and when, from a mathematical viewpoint. It has applications in biology and transport systems in smart cities such as bike-sharing. She is al

Wikipedia: pretty good in parts

Aug 03 2023 33 mins  
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, speaks to Brian Runciman about the site's progress over the last 22 years; fakes news; reliable sources; the Wikipedia community and funding model; and being a pathological optimist. With bonus content on stochastic differential equations…  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How the Light Gets In

Jul 31 2023 32 mins  
If you like combining live music with discussions about science and technology, there’s now several summer festivals that tick that box. At the Dot Festival at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, and at WOMAD festival, you can hear expert talks and bands. Claire Penketh went to another festival - How the Light Gets In - to find out more, in this special edition of the Gem.  Hosted