Advisory Board
- Prof Brian Collins
- Sir Richard Dearlove
- Prof Andrew Briggs
- Prof Alexander Sergienko
- Prof Artur Ekert
Professor Brian Collins, MA, DPhil, FBCS, FIEE, FIOP, FRSA
Professor Collins is currently Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Transport and Professor of Information Systems and Deputy Principal of IT at DCMT, Cranfield University. He is the DCMT academic leader for Network Enabled Capability research and education. He is a Vice President of the BCS responsible for External Affairs.
Current Interests
His current personal research interests centre on the design and engineering of structured, secure and dependable knowledge and information management processes and systems using next generation information and communications technology (ICT).
He was recently academic adviser to the DTI on a Foresight Cybertrust and Crime Prevention project, Special Adviser to the Home Office Parliamentary Select Committee on ID Cards and is an Associate Fellow at RIIA Chatham House on Future Global Security issues.
Background
He completed at the end of 2001 a period as International Director of Information Technology at Clifford Chance the largest commercial law firm in the world, having revenue in 2000/01 of some £960m. His responsibilities covered all aspects of Information Technology and Telecommunications systems. They included financial management systems, document management systems, HR management, platforms for extranet and intranet services and a global, highly available network infrastructure that supports advanced collaborative document creation and messaging services.
As Head of Information Systems at the Wellcome Trust he was responsible and accountable for the specification, development, procurement and operation of the information systems in the Trust, the largest charity in asset terms in the UK and the principle private funder of medical research. He was responsible for the high-speed network architecture and implementation project management of the Wellcome Genome Campus at Hinxton from its inception through to user acceptance, including connection to SuperJANET.
At GCHQ he held a board level appointment (Director of Science and Technology; Grade 3) and was financially and programmatically accountable for the strategic direction, development and procurement of all information and communication systems. He was responsible for all scientific, engineering and technological policy in GCHQ and, as head of profession, throughout the intelligence community within the UK.