Andrew and Kathleen Booth Memorial Lecture

The Andrew and Kathleen Booth Memorial Lecture is delivered annually by world-renowned scholars and practitioners of computer science, to commemorate the pioneering work of Professor Andrew Booth and Kathleen Booth (née Britten) at Birkbeck. 

In 1947, both academics visited the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton University, where they worked with John von Neumann, one of the most influential early computer pioneers. Their best-known machine, the APEC (All-Purpose Electronic Computer), was designed in Birkbeck’s Computation Laboratory (which became the former Department of Computer Science and Information Systems) in 1952.

2022

Professor Marina Jirotka, Professor of Human Centred Computing, University of Oxford: 'Responsible robotics: What could possibly go wrong?'

Thursday 9 June

Previous Lectures

• 2021 - Paul Clarke: 'Where physical and digital worlds collide (video)'
• 2019 - Magda Piatkowska: 'BBC and data (video)'
• 2018 - Professor Zoubin Ghahramani, FRS: 'Future directions of machine learning and artificial intelligence (video)'  
• 2017 - Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley: 'Pioneering women in computing (video)' 
• 2016 - Professor Andrew Blake: 'Data-centric engineering and the Alan Turing Institute (video)'
• 2015 - Professor Dame Wendy Hall: 'The importance of web science (video)' 
• 2014 - Richard Ayers: 'The Impact of Digital Technology and Social Media on Sport (video)'
• 2013 - Ken Olisa OBE: 'Rich versus Right? The Technologist's Dilemma (video)'