Licia Capra to be a BSA Media Fellow for 2018

We are delighted to announce that Professor Licia Capra is one of UCL Engineering British Science Association Media Fellows for 2018! Licia is joined by Professor Clare Elwell and Dr Gemma Bale from the Department of Medical Physics.

The BSA Media Fellowship scheme provides a unique opportunity for practising scientists, clinicians and engineers to spend two to six weeks working at the heart of a media outlet such as the Guardian, BBC Breakfast or the Londonist.

Since its inception in 1987, the scheme has reflected the BSA’s commitment to increasing the accessibility of the sciences. Media Fellowships provide scientists, engineers and their colleagues with newfound confidence and willingness to engage with the media, to tackle issues of mistrust and misrepresentation and to give journalists access to new scientific expertise in a transparent and accessible way.

About Licia

I joined UCL in 2000 as a PhD student in the Software Systems Engineering group, and never left! I have now been Professor of Pervasive Computing in the Department of Computer Science since 2015. Initially, I was researching languages and tools to support the development of mobile systems. Over the years, my interests have shifted from the needs of software developers to the needs of end-users, and I am now mostly concerned with enabling interactions that are “fit for purpose”. I do so taking a data science approach: I analyse how people interact with systems looking at the data traces they leave behind; I then use computational techniques to extract knowledge about the functioning of such systems and the behaviours of users, and finally use this knowledge to inform future developments.”

We wish Licia an insightful and instructive experience on her Fellowship!