PA Raspberry Pi Competition

Caroline Gorski is Group Director of R² Data Labs, charged with developing the strategy and implementation of data innovation technologies and capabilities for Rolls-Royce that lead to new insights, new solutions and new business models, generating substantial value for the Group. R² Data Labs was formed in 2017 to be a catalyst and accelerator for Rolls-Royce data innovation.

R² Data Labs works across the Rolls-Royce Group as federated community of practice. Working collaboratively with Business Units, we identify, test, prove and accelerate new technologies and business models that best position Rolls-Royce to adopt, deploy and industrialise market-leading data innovation, creating change and positive disruption. They develop and mature the new data innovation expertise capabilities and digital first culture needed to achieve Rolls-Royce’s digital strategy.

Dominic has been a technology journalist for nearly 30 years, most recently as managing editor of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s monthly magazine E&T.

During that time, he’s covered a wide spectrum of topics but has maintained a particular interest in education and how young people can be encouraged to consider careers in engineering. He’s also played an active part in his own children’s school lives, serving as a governor and promoting STEM activities.

Emily currently works as a Programme Manager for the Design Council. She has a multidisciplinary background and education, working in architecture, urban design, research and innovation, and public health. Emily has a passion for understanding how the circular economy, digital fabrication, and distributed design can be sustainably embedded within the built environment.

This interest has enabled her to work across Europe and in the UK – working with Fab Lab Barcelona in Spain, SPACE10 in Copenhagen, Denmark and across Local Authorities in the UK. Emily has a specialist focus on designing and researching sustainable food systems. Emily has authored various publications on the effects of technological advancements on our food culture for organisations such as Aeres University, Preserve Journal, Project Gastronomia, and Copenhagen Tech Festival and built her own aeroponics system!

Mark Purcell is the Group CIO at Rentokil Initial plc. Prior to becoming Group CIO in April 2019, Mark held senior positions as Global IT Delivery Director, UK Hygiene and Textiles IT Director, Pest Control and Ambius Division IT Director, IT Director for UK & Rest of World, and then CIO Europe.

Mark has significant experience in business transformation, change management and project/programme management as well as expertise in M&A integration. Mark’s early career was with the Civil Service where he held an executive officer position in IT.

Musidora joined the Microsoft UK Senior Leadership Team in February 2022 as Chief Sustainability Officer, with accountability for driving sustainability outcomes for our customers, partners and internally. Prior to that, Musidora spent three years at Salesforce setting up and leading the Energy & Utilities go to market and has an extensive experience of the technology industry across hardware, consulting and software sales, over the past twenty years.

She featured on Computer Weekly’s list of most influential women in technology in 2021, was named one of the top 100 female future leaders in 2020 by INvolve and Yahoo Finance UK, and was included in Kindness & Leadership’s Rising Star list for 2020.  Musidora is passionate about D&I and particularly in supporting more women in the STEM industries and as such is an active coach, mentor and sponsor both inside and outside of the industry.

Phillippa Spencer, who has worked at Dstl for 17 years, collected awards for Woman of the Year and for Outstanding Contribution to defence at the Women in Defence awards. She was cited for her work applying mathematical and statistical thinking across a number of areas such as cyber, artificial intelligence, data fusion, chemistry and biology. Her analysis was used among healthcare workers in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak and she was a key expert in bringing the F-35 fighter into service.

More recently, Phillippa was involved in the clean-up of Salisbury following the Novichok incident, where she applied statistical modelling to determine whether locations or vehicles were safe to use. Phillippa is a fellow of the Royal Statistics society and the Institute of Mathematics, a chartered scientist and chemist. She has patents in diagnosis of sepsis and forensic analysis of DNA.

Rik is the Director of Informal Learning at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, leading on content to support learners in their network of clubs. Rik is passionate about providing young people of all ages, interests and abilities with the skills and confidence needed to build ideas and address challenges that matter to them.

Previously, Rik was the Director of Education at Code Club, a network of after-school coding clubs, until its merger with the Foundation, and is an experienced secondary Computing and ICT teacher.

Dr. Silvia Cirstea is associate professor and deputy head of the School of Computing and Information Science at Anglia Ruskin University, where she leads the BSc (Hons) Artificial Intelligence. She holds a PhD in Imaging Technologies and an MSc in Mathematics, and has acquired more than twenty years of research experience in computation modelling for engineering and medical applications. Prior to ARU, she worked for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and for the Medical Research Council. Her areas of expertise include numerical modelling of physical processes (acoustics, psycho-acoustics, optics, quantum electronics), signal processing, inverse problems and artificial intelligence.

She has worked on research projects funded by the EU, the UK government and British industry, and has authored peer reviewed papers on modelling of psycho-acoustic processes, echolocation, image and sound processing, and applications of machine learning. Silvia is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and an active reviewer for prestigious journal and research funding bodies.

Stephen Koch joined NHS Digital in November 2020 as the Director of Demographics and from January he took on the role of Director of Platforms. He is also working on the vaccines program to improve data quality and timely delivery of data to practices.

Prior to joining NHS Digital, Stephen was a Managing Director in Risk Technology at JPMorgan Chase. He has 25 years of experience working in Investment Banking IT, primarily developing in-house risk and finance applications and managing large scale change programs.

He co-founded the Male Allies group at JP Morgan to help men understand some of their accidental biases and how to improve gender diversity and has worked with a number of companies to help them create similar groups in the Finance, Oil and Building Industries. He is also Co-Founder of Men for Inclusion which is an organisation bringing together men and women to create a more inclusive workplace.