Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS

Through her leadership roles on national and international bodies, Professor Dame Wendy Hall has spent much of her career at the forefront of the conversation on AI policy and computer science. She is currently Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton and is perhaps best known for having co-chaired the UK Government’s 2017 AI Review. 

Wendy showed promise in mathematics from an early age, and after earning her PhD from the University of Southampton in 1977, specialised in multimedia and hypermedia computer science research. 

In the early stages of her academic career, Wendy co-led the University of Southampton’s Multimedia Research Group, which pioneered several significant commercial database systems, including Microcosm 1994.  

Wendy’s research proved vital in the development of the World Wide Web, and in 2006, she joined the Web Science Research Initiative – now known as the Web Science Trust - as a founding director.  

As one of the first prominent female engineers in the field of computer science, Wendy is an inspirational role model for women in STEM. She has served on the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science & Technology and the Scientific Council of the European Council and has also led the Ada Lovelace Institute and British Computer Society – among others. 

In 2000, Wendy was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and in 2009, she was recognised with a Damehood in the New Year Honours.