Head of School named in world’s top 40

Professor Wendy Hall, Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, has been named as one of 40 ‘technology masterminds’ by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of the USA (IEEE). In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the IEEE’s influential Spectrum journal, 40 leading thinkers from the worlds of science and engineering were asked to cast their gaze over the technology landscape and consider what are the biggest advances of the last 40 years, and what will have the biggest impact over the coming decade. In her contribution, Professor Hall named the Web as the most important technology: ‘When I saw Tim Berners-Lee demonstrate it in 1991 I saw an interesting system, but not what it was going to do—and honestly I’m not sure he knew either,’ she said. Looking to the future, she added: ‘I’m fascinated by how computer scientists can learn from neuroscientists and vice versa. We’re talking about building increasingly complex adaptive systems that need to evolve and we have models of this throughout nature.’ Professor Hall has just completed a one-year term of office as President of the British Computer Society. She is a member of the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology.