Professor Thomas Irvine has been appointed as the new deputy director of the Web Science Institute (WSI).

Tom, who is also the Head of Music in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has contributed to the WSI’s success as an associate director since 2018. Responding to his appointment, Professor Irvine shared his excitement:

“I am honoured to have been appointed to a more responsible role at WSI. The institute has been a professional and intellectual home for me for the past eight years, and I am delighted at the chance to give something back to my wonderful colleagues there, continuing to offer the perspectives of a musician and humanities scholar to WSI’s important work as thought leaders on the relationship between humans and technology.”

Tom’s past research has explored the global history of Western Art Music and more recently, as an Alan Turing Fellow, investigated the use of machine learning in jazz composition, highlighting the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to tackling today’s research challenges.

Specifically, he aims to use his new role to foster closer collaboration between faculties and research groups to learn more about how the arts and humanities can help solve critical challenges in web science, data science and AI. He explains:

“I’m really looking forward to helping bring WSI into even closer collaboration with the faculties and the other interdisciplinary institutes. I’m excited to learn more about all the great work being done across the University at the intersection of data and society. The current AI revolution makes this an especially compelling time for us to be exploring this area together.”

Professor Les Carr, Deputy Director of the WSI, expresses his delight in welcoming Tom into his new role:

“Tom has helped us to see Web Science from different perspectives and to broaden our achievements by collaborating with researchers in seemingly unrelated fields. I’m excited to discover what more he can help us accomplish in the future”.

The announcement follows Professor Pauline Leonard’s departure from the role earlier this year. Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Director of the WSI, explains her anticipation for future projects:

“We are so grateful for Pauline’s contributions in developing the WSI and are very pleased that she will continue with us as an associate director. Retaining the brilliant expertise and experience of both Pauline and Tom will ensure that we build on our momentum to position 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 at the forefront of Web Science and AI research.”

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