听Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Southampton, is one of three guest directors lined up for The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 to be held听between 4-9 June.
Dame Wendy joins comedian, presenter and theoretical physics graduate Dara O鈥橞rian and government Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, in being at the forefront of this year鈥檚 Festival. Recently named in the BBC Woman鈥檚 Hour 鈥楶ower List鈥� of leading British women in public life, Dame Wendy was also named in Computer Weekly鈥檚 鈥楿ktech50鈥� of top CIOs, industry executives, public servants and business leaders driving the role of technology in the UK economy. Earlier last year, she was also named as the second most influential women in UK IT, also awarded by Computer Weekly.听
Over the course of the six-day event, Dame Wendy will lead three events devoted to her specialist area of Web Science. 听On Friday, 7 June, she will host the Cheltenham Cyber Security Conference at Cheltenham鈥檚 Parabola Arts Centre opening the event by offering an overview of the cyber security landscape.
On Saturday, 8 June, Dame Wendy will lead two sessions devoted to the future of the Web and its usage.
During 鈥楾he Web and Us鈥� (12.45pm 鈥� Town Hall, Cheltenham) Dame Wendy will lead a discussion about how society is shaping the Web as the Web is shaping society, with neuroscientist Uta Frith, social scientist Aleks Krotoski and Artificial Intelligence expert and fellow University of Southampton Professor Nigel Shadbolt. The group will be joined on stage by Twitter chair Bill Thompson.
Later in the day, Dame Wendy will ask 鈥業s the Web Changing Society?鈥� (4.30pm – Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham) sharing her thoughts on what the Web means for society and for us as individuals in terms of how we think and interact with one another.
鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to be working with the Cheltenham Science Festival as a Guest Director,鈥� says Dame Wendy. 鈥淲hat I love about the Festival is the appetite for science I see there; from children all the way through to senior citizens, the audiences, as well as the topics, are so diverse and people just love it.
鈥淭he thing that really surprises me is how much science is packed into the Festival,鈥� she continues. 鈥淚t seems that the interest in science is increasing across the board these days.鈥�
For a full programme of activities linked to this The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 please visit: