Biography:Tom Crick

From HandWiki
Professor

Tom Crick

MBE CEng FBCS FIET FLSW FAcSS
Crick in May 2023
BornJanuary 1981 (age 45)
Oxford, UK
EducationWheatley Park School
Alma materUniversity of Bath (BSc, PhD)
Known forComputing education, artificial intelligence, technology policy, systems engineering
AwardsIET Achievement Medal (2022)
BCS Lovelace Medal (2023)
LSW Hugh Owen Medal (2023)
BSA Honorary Fellow (2024)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Bath
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Swansea University
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
University of Bristol
ThesisSuperoptimisation: Provably Optimal Code Generation using Answer Set Programming (2009)
Websiteresearch-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/tom-crick/

Tom Crick MBE FLSW FAcSS (born January 1981) is a British computer scientist and engineer, a science and technology policymaker, and a senior civil servant. He is Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Professor of Digital Society and Policy at the University of Bristol. His work spans national computing education reform, digital and data policy, and the engineering and governance of large-scale AI-enabled systems in public services and government.[1]

Early life and education

Crick was raised and educated in Wheatley, Oxfordshire.[2] He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in computer science at the University of Bath, having been sponsored through his undergraduate degree by ARM.[2] His doctoral research, funded by the EPSRC, considered superoptimisation by developing practical strategies for generating provably optimal code for program optimisation using answer set programming.[3]

Career

After a period as a postdoctoral researcher on ALIVE,[4] a European Commission FP7-funded project at the University of Bath, Crick was appointed lecturer in computer science at Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2009, before being promoted to full professor in 2016. He was recognised as a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2014.[5] He moved to a research chair at Swansea University in 2018, becoming Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Civic Mission from 2021-2023. He was appointed Professor of Digital Society and Policy at the University of Bristol in January 2026.

Government service

In November 2023, Crick joined the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as Chief Scientific Adviser.[1] In this role, he provides scientific and technical leadership across the department's policy areas, advising ministers and senior officials on science, technology and artificial intelligence (AI).[6] His responsibilities include supporting the design, governance, assurance and deployment of complex socio-technical AI-enabled systems across areas such as media, culture, the creative industries, sport and civil society, and contributing to cross-government scientific advisory structures that promote high-quality, evidence-based policymaking.[6]

Professional service

In 2017, Crick was elected Vice-President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT[7] for a three-year term. He has also served in a number of senior elected positions in the Association for Computing Machinery, including Vice-Chair of ACM Europe Council and a Member-at-Large of ACM Council.[8]

Crick is editor-in-chief (2021–present) of The Computer Journal,[9] published by Oxford University Press, and an editor (2020–present) of the Wales Journal of Education,[10] published by University of Wales Press.

Computing education and digital skills

Crick has been involved with the reform of the school-level science and technology curriculum in Wales since 2010.[11][12][13][14] In 2013, he was appointed by the Welsh Government to chair an independent review of the ICT curriculum in Wales.[15] Crick concluded that the existing curriculum did not adequately equip learners with the digital skills required for contemporary education and employment.[16][17] This work treated digital education and skills provision as a large-scale socio-technical system, integrating curriculum design, assessment, teacher capability and supporting digital infrastructure.[18]

From 2015–2016, Crick chaired the development of the bilingual Digital Competence Framework[19] in Wales, which elevated digital competence (the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to be confident in the use of technologies[20]) to the same statutory position as literacy and numeracy in the new Curriculum for Wales. It outlined how schools could incorporate student-centred digital competency into their local curriculum.[19]

He then led the development of the Science & Technology strand of the new Curriculum for Wales in 2017.[21] His efforts united the traditional sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) with computer science and design & technology.[18] The new curriculum was published in January 2020 and started phasing in for all schools in Wales from September 2022 onwards.[22] Crick was also appointed Chair of the National Network of Excellence in Science & Technology,[23] a £4m Welsh Government strategic investment which focused on supporting STEM teachers in partnership with higher education institutions.[24]

Crick also chaired Qualification Wales’ 2018 review of ICT sector qualifications, which reported that they were outdated and needed considerable reform,[25] resulting in new GCSE and A-Level qualifications in Digital Technology from 2021 onwards.[26]

Non-executive and board-level roles

Crick was a non-executive director of Swansea Bay University Health Board from 2017 to 2024,[27] an inaugural Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales from 2018 to 2022,[28] and a non-executive director of Industry Wales from 2021 to 2024.[29] Alongside being a Vice-President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, he was a trustee from 2013 to 2020.[30] He has previously been a trustee of the British Science Association and the Campaign for Science and Engineering (both 2011–2017).[31], and was appointed a trustee of Cumberland Lodge in 2024.[32] Crick has been a non-executive director of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water since 2017.[28]

Awards and honours

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "DCMS Chief Scientific Adviser: Professor Tom Crick MBE" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/government/people/tom-crick. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Professor Tom Crick MBE" (in en-US). https://archivesit.org.uk/interviews/professor-tom-crick-mbe/. 
  3. ↑ "Superoptimisation: Provably Optimal Code Generation using Answer Set Programming" (in en). https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/superoptimisation-provably-optimal-code-generation-using-answer-s. 
  4. ↑ "ALIVE" (in en). https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/projects/alive-2. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "National Teaching Fellows 2014: Dr Tom Crick" (in en). https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/ntfs/dr-tom-crick. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "DCMS Chief Scientific Adviser Office" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dcms-chief-scientific-adviser-office. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis among the recipients of prestigious computing award – BCS Lovelace Medal 2023" (in en-gb). 7 November 2023. https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/google-deepmind-s-demis-hassabis-among-the-recipients-of-prestigious-computing-award-bcs-lovelace-medal-2023/. 
  8. ↑ "ACM Volunteer Recognition: Tom Crick" (in en). https://www.acm.org/volunteers/volunteer/crick_2948794. 
  9. ↑ "Editorial Board — The Computer Journal" (in en). https://academic.oup.com/comjnl/pages/Editorial_Board. 
  10. ↑ "Editorial Team — Wales Journal of Education" (in en). https://journal.uwp.co.uk/wje/site/editorialteam/. 
  11. ↑ "The future of science and technology in the Welsh education system" (in en-GB). https://www.swansea.ac.uk/research/research-highlights/culture-communication-heritage/reforming-education-in-wales/. 
  12. ↑ "A Century of Inspiring People: Tom Crick". https://www.swansea.ac.uk/centenary2020/century-of-inspiring-people/tom-crick/. 
  13. ↑ Crick, T.; Sentance, S. (2011). "Computing at school: stimulating computing education in the UK". Koli Calling'11. Koli, Finland: ACM. doi:10.1145/2094131.2094158. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2094131.2094158. 
  14. ↑ Brown, N.C.C.; Sentance, S.; Crick, T.; Humphreys, S. (2014). "Restart: The Resurgence of Computer Science in UK Schools". ACM Transactions on Computing Education 14 (2): 1–22. doi:10.1145/2602484. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2602484. 
  15. ↑ "The ICT Steering Group's Report to the Welsh Government" (in en-GB). 1 September 2013. https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-11/the-ict-steering-group-s-report-to-the-welsh-government.pdf. 
  16. ↑ "Wales' schools 'left behind' in digital age, experts claim" (in en-GB). 23 May 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-27526644. 
  17. ↑ Digitally Engaged, Data Savvy and Computationally Literate: Key Competencies for Future Citizens?, a TED talk by Tom Crick
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Moller, F.; Crick, T. (2018). "A university-based model for supporting computer science curriculum reform". Journal of Computers in Education 5: 415–434. doi:10.1007/s40692-018-0117-x. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Digital Competence Framework: your questions answered". 2018. https://hwb.gov.wales/storage/85f69bca-0134-426d-bff1-c46b4c1d067b/digital-competence-framework-your. 
  20. ↑ Crick, T. (2022). "Rethinking Digital Competencies in the New Curriculum for Wales". ITiCSE'22. Dublin, Ireland: ACM. doi:10.1145/3502717.3532145. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3502717.3532145. 
  21. ↑ "Yr Athro Tom Crick – Gwyddoniaeth a Thechnoleg / Professor Tom Crick, Science and Technology". Addysg Cymru/Education Wales. 6 March 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJcb44P4h4. 
  22. ↑ "Curriculum for Wales - Hwb" (in en). https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales. 
  23. ↑ "£4m to improve school results in science and technology". 7 January 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-38534139. 
  24. ↑ "Drive to improve science and technology in schools begins" (in en). 1 December 2017. https://www.gov.wales/drive-improve-science-and-technology-schools-begins. 
  25. ↑ "Delivering Digital: ICT qualifications are outdated and need fundamental reform" (in en-GB). 10 December 2018. https://www.fenews.co.uk/skills/delivering-digital-ict-qualifications-are-outdated-and-need-fundamental-reform/. 
  26. ↑ "GCSE Digital Technology" (in en-GB). WJEC. https://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/digital-technology-gcse/. 
  27. ↑ "Swansea Bay University Health Board Annual Report 2023-24" (in en). https://senedd.wales/media/cphmylwt/gen-ld16580-e.pdf. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Our Directors: Professor Tom Crick MBE" (in en). https://corporate.dwrcymru.com/en/about-us/governance/our-directors/professor-tom-crick. 
  29. ↑ "Non-Executive Directors – Sector Development Wales Partnership (Trading as Industry Wales)" (in en). https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/archive/announcements/2044. 
  30. ↑ "The British Computer Society Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements (Year ended 31 August 2020)" (in en). https://www.bcs.org/media/6685/annual-report-2020.pdf. 
  31. ↑ ",". Who's Who (online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U289185.  (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  32. ↑ "Meet Our Team: Cumberland Lodge Leadership and Staff" (in en-GB). https://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/about/people/?_sft_team=trustees. 
  33. ↑ "Media Fellow alumni". 8 June 2021. https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/media-fellow-alumni. 
  34. ↑ "Major WLCoW Award Recipients" (in en-GB). https://www.liverycompanywales.cymru/major-wlcow-awards-recipient.html. 
  35. ↑ "Thomas CRICK". 17 June 2017. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2804563. 
  36. ↑ "BERA announces 2020 Public Engagement and Impact Awards" (in en-GB). 17 November 2020. https://www.bera.ac.uk/bera-in-the-news/bera-announces-2020-public-engagement-and-impact-awards. 
  37. ↑ "Fellows: Professor Tom Crick". https://www.learnedsociety.wales/fellow/thomas-crick/. 
  38. ↑ "World leading engineers win IET Achievement Awards" (in en-GB). 21 October 2022. https://www.theiet.org/media/press-releases/press-releases-2022/press-releases-2022-october-december/21-october-2022-world-leading-engineers-win-iet-achievement-awards. 
  39. ↑ "Fellows" (in en-GB). https://acss.org.uk/fellows/. 
  40. ↑ "Hugh Owen Medal 2023" (in en-US). https://www.learnedsociety.wales/hugh-owen-medal-2023-professor-tom-crick/. 
  41. ↑ "Alom Shaha, Gisela Abbam and Tom Crick named British Science Association Honorary Fellows" (in en-US). 16 December 2024. https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/News/alom-shaha-gisela-abbam-and-tom-crick-named-british-science-association-honorary-fellows. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biography:Tom_Crick&oldid=4225279"