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The role of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) is to facilitate the exchange of ideas between the board members, the academic staff and the students in the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
Current IAB Membership - February 2022
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Professor Nader Azarmi
Head of BT Global Research & Innovation
BT Adastral Park, Martlesham, SuffolkProf Azarmi is currently Head of the BT Global Research & Innovation Programme at the BT Laboratories, Adastral Park, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. He joined BT in 1989, starting his R&D work on the application of Artificial Intelligence technology to BT's telecommunications network management and next generation resource management systems. He went on to create and pioneer BT's highly successful Intelligent Systems research and development programme, covering technologies such as ICT, AI, optimisation, agents , soft and evolutionary computing and their practical applications.
He has been collaborating with Prof Gerard Parr, Chair in Telecommunications Engineering and Head of the School of Computing Science at UEA, on the development and roll-out of major ICT/AI research and innovation initiatives in India, the Middle East and China. Prof Azarmi has been involved in many collaborations around the world, covering institutions and companies in the USA, (eg., MIT and University of Berkeley), the Middle East (eg., Khalifa University and Etisalat), China (eg., Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jia Tong University), India (eg., India Institute of Science and Infosys) as well as the UK, supporting and providing advice to governments and industry.
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Professor Andy Stanford-Clark
CTO - IBM UK
Andy Stanford-Clark is the Chief Technology Officer for IBM in UK and Ireland. He is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor with more than 40 patents. Andy is based at IBM's Hursley Park laboratories in the UK, and has a long background in Internet of Things technologies. He has a BSc in Computing and Mathematics, and a PhD in Computer Science. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Newcastle, an Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southampton, and a Fellow of the British Computer Society.
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Dr Belinda Clarke
Member of BBSRC Council
Director of Agri-TechEBelinda is Member of BBSRC Council and Director of Agri-TechE, the UK’s largest private sector membership organisation for agri-tech, connecting farmers and growers with researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs and investors to support the economic growth, agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability of the agri-tech value chain. Prior to her current role, Belinda was Lead Technologist for Biosciences at Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board). In a previous role she was Director of Innovation Ecosystems at ideaSpace at the University of Cambridge, a pre-incubator supporting early stage ventures, and prior to that was Life Sciences Manager for the East of England Development Agency, based at One Nucleus. She has worked as an International Trade Advisor for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals with UK Trade and Investment, and was Science Liaison Manager at the Norwich Research Park, focussed on brokering relationships between academia and industry, and promoting the science of the Park.
Belinda has a first degree in Natural Sciences (part II Plant Sciences) from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in plant biochemistry from the John Innes Centre, UK. She is a Trustee of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, a Nuffield Scholar, Fellow of the Society of Biology, Chartered Biologist, and a qualified business coach.
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Dr Neil Garner
CEO Thyngs - Norwich
Neil is a Company Founder, CEO, CTO, Product Innovator and Board Advisor with a long track record of creating & leading teams to deliver innovative new consumer services in the mobile payments, loyalty and marketing space. His business is Thyngs (Transforming ordinary objects into extraordinary commerce experiences); He was co-founder and CEO of WhiteSpace Norwich (the first co-working Tech Hub in Norwich, UK); and co-founder & Chairman of TechVelocity, a startup accelerator programme (the first in the region).
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Professor Paul Beasley
Head of R&D - Siemens UK
Paul Beasley is Head of R&D for Siemens plc with responsibility for coordinating UK innovation across the Company portfolio and their external research network. Paul Joined Siemens over 21 years ago, from Oxford Instruments and has worked in the Healthcare and Corporate Technology sectors where he was awarded Principal Innovator in 2008, with numerous published papers and patents. More recently he has been involved in cross sector collaborations to explore opportunities for digital technologies to create new markets and services. Paul is a Chartered Physicist and Engineer, who sits on a wide range of industry, academic and government strategic advisory boards is a Visiting Professor at the University’s of Sheffield and Huddersfield.
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Sarah Applegate
Head of Quantum Data Science & Partnerships, Aviva
Sarah was appointed Head of Quantum Data Science at Aviva in July 2021, looking after a virtual team of over 800 people working in data science, analytics, and engineering roles globally. In this role, Sarah supports the development, recruitment, and retainment of Aviva’s data scientists as well as enabling collaboration cross markets and increasing the data literacy of business leaders. Additionally, Sarah runs Aviva’s strategic partnership with the University of Cambridge, supporting research and training in the field of data science. Sarah is a Chartered Accountant, specialising in the General Insurance (GI) industry. Her previous roles include Head of UK GI Commercial Lines Risk, Head of Global GI Strategy & Insight and a variety of strategy and finance-based roles within Aviva’s Global Corporate & Specialty team.
Sarah was born and raised in Northern Ireland, before moving to Edinburgh to study for her MA (Hons) in Accountancy and Finance at Heriot Watt University. She now splits her time between Aviva’s London and Norwich offices.
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Dr Vittoria Danino
Anglian Water
Vittoria is the Head of the Anglian Centre for Water Studies, an industry led research centre founded on the research strengths of UEA. The aim of the Centre is to build mutually beneficial relationships, which drive new knowledge and research to benefit the wider water sector. Vittoria worked for seven years at the interface of research and wider society as a Relationship Manager within the UEA research and enterprise service, supporting the faculty of science. These roles build on a love of science and a desire to see new knowledge, innovation and technology used in business and wider society. She has a PhD in molecular microbiology, her research focussed on understanding the interactions of bacteria with plants and animals as part of industry, and government funded projects.
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John Fagan
Co-founder & Chair at SyncNorwich
John Fagan co-founded Norwich’s Tech and Startup Community, SyncNorwich, in 2012 with the aim of promoting and enabling local tech business growth in Norwich. John has been instrumental in building Norwich's national profile as a tech cluster. John also founded Sync The City, a flagship event in the region in which attendees pitch a start-up tech idea and attempt to make it a reality in 54 hours. In its sixth edition, over 800 developers, designers and business professionals have created 72 startups. He has involved UEA staff and students in the local tech community from SyncNorwich’s outset and his work has been hugely influential in helping UEA students find jobs and internships in the sector.
John is also a product & technical leader, with core expertise in building startup teams, and B2B & B2C products that leverage location technology. He has had many senior leadership roles, including Axon Vibe, Microsoft, Multimap and is interested in user experience, applied AI, agile and lean methodologies, augmented reality, Mobility-as-a-Service, Smart Cities, autonomous vehicles.
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Paul Sanford
Chief Constable
Norfolk PolicePaul Sanford has been a police officer in Norfolk Constabulary for 20 years. Paul started his career in Norwich spending time in uniform and detective roles in all ranks from Constable to Superintendent.
Promoted to Superintendent in 2008, Paul has held a number of posts including District Commander for South Norfolk, District Commander in Norwich and Head of CID. Paul spent three years running the National Police Chief's Council Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Working Group. During this period, Paul was the Police lead for the implementation and rollout of the new Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) and was a panel member for the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in the Family Environment led by the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England. Paul's office coordinated the national policing response to the rising concerns about the extent and scale of child sexual abuse and the growth of internet enabled abuse. In April 2017, Paul was appointed Temporary ACC for Local Policing. In September 2018 Paul was promoted to Temporary DCC and was substantially promoted in that role in January 2020 which oversees HR, Legal Services, Professional Standards, Joint Strategic Business & Operational Services, Corporate Communications, Information Management, Royalty & VIP Protection. Paul has a Master's Degree in Police Leadership and Management gained at The University of Leicester.
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Lisa Roberts
Head of Strategy
New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership - NALEPLisa join the LEP in 2015 as Head of Strategy. Lisa led on the development of the Norfolk and Suffolk Economic Strategy, Local Industrial Strategy and most recently the Covid 19 Economic Recovery plan. She manages the LEP’s team responsible for strategy development and implementation, EU Structural and Investment Fund, skills, infrastructure, inclusive growth, business intelligence, economic evidence, intervention development and funding. Prior to joining the LEP, Lisa spent 14 years in the civil service working in a broad range of policy areas including supply chain development, innovation, skills, European funding and rural policy.
Lisa combines her passion for raising the aspirations of young people with her strategic skills as an Enterprise Adviser, working with the senior leadership of a local school and businesses to develop their careers programme as part of the New Anglia Enterprise Adviser Network.
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Mike Shemko
Assistant Director of Data Science, Norfolk and Waveney ICS
NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur
Associate Member, Faculty of Clinical InformaticsMike is a serial entrepreneur in the tech, data science and health sectors. With a broad background in Bio-Resource Engineering, Medical Molecular Biology and Health Data Science, he has successfully completed the prestigious NHS Digital Academy “Cohort 1” programme for digital leaders and innovators, run by Imperial College London, University of Edinburgh and Harvard Medical Schools. Now with a national role in Public Health England in the National Infection Service, Data and Analytical Sciences (DAS) Division, He trained as a Clinical Scientist at University College London and successfully launched companies in clinical infection consulting, as well as an award winning facility inspection software. He has international experience in business and entrepreneurship, and is passionate about technology innovation, education, leadership, healthcare and entrepreneurship, with a particular interest in machine learning and data science applied to health.
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Maneesh Kumar
Leader - Business Development & Sales, P&L mgmt. and Strategy at Intel Corp