Brief Biography
I have been at the
University of Glasgow since January 1988 and was Vice-Principal and Head of the
College of Science and Engineering 2015-2025. For three years (until 2015) I
was on secondment to the Scottish Government as the Chief Scientific Adviser,
where I also co-chaired the Scottish
Science Advisory Council. Until 2012 I was Dean of Research in the College
of Science and Engineering and Senate Assessor on Court, and before that I was
Head of Department of Computing Science for four years, from 2003 to 2007.
Previously, I worked at the
Departments of Computing Science and
Mathematics, University of Stirling, and Computer
Science, University of Edinburgh.
I have had short spells in
industry at British Ship Research Association and Burroughs Computers, and I
was a visiting scientist at DEC SRC (Digital Equip.
Corp. Systems Research Centre) in California, and a short-term BT Research
Fellow at the BT Labs at Martlesham. In the distant past I was a tutor for the
Open University Technology course T101.
I have a BSc. from the University of Stirling, and a PhD. from the
University of St. Andrews. My PhD
thesis: The Imperative Implementation of Algebraic Data Types, was supervised
by Dr. Roy Dyckhoff. I am a
Fellow of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Academy
of Engineering, a Fellow of the British
Computer Society, and a Fellow of the City and
Guilds of London Institute. I was Royal Society Leverhulme Research Senior
Fellow (2011-2012), Royal Society Wolfson Merit Research Award (2011-2016), and
a Suffrage Science award winner in Computing
Science and Mathematics. I have an honorary DSc from Universities of
Edinburgh, Strathclyde, and St. Andrews.
I have been a member of UKRI-EPSRC Council ,
REF 2021 Main Panel B, chair of DCMS
Science Advisory Council, chair of BCS
School Curriculum and Assessment Committee . chair of the UKCRC (UK
Computing Research Committee), Scottish Science Advisory Committee, TOP
(Technical Opportunities Panel) of the EPSRC, the Nurse Review of the Research
Councils, and secretary of the Adam Smith club for four years.
My Erdos
number is 4.
My Bacon
number is 3
(Proof: university challenge with Jeremy Paxman who was in Bridget Jones with James Faulkner who was in Xmen with Kevin Bacon).
I am married to David and we run for Westerlands
Cross Country Club; I play a bad violin in a quartet with this lot and in the
MathsStats ceilidh band.
