Professor Harvey is an expert on artificial intelligence, machine learning and signal processing. In his first lecture series he will focus on the latest innovations in information technology.
Richard Harvey said: “If people don’t understand IT, they will sleep-walk into more data-breaches, privacy violations and technological misapprehensions than already make the front pages. In this series of lectures, I want to challenge those misunderstandings and present a more balanced picture of computer science. I’m extremely honoured to be joining the Gresham Professors and I hope my first series of lectures on the Science of Information will live up to their incredibly high reputation.”
As Professor of Information Technology, Richard Harvey will continue the 420-year-old tradition of delivering free lectures aimed at the public within the City of London and beyond. During the academic year, Gresham College puts on a total of 130 lectures at Barnard’s Inn Hall and the Museum of London. All Gresham lectures are live streamed and made available on YouTube after the event.
Sir Richard Evans, Provost of Gresham College, said: “The IT Professorship at Gresham College is the newest of our 10 Professorships and as such comes with a real opportunity to shape the role. Richard Harvey brings to the IT Professorship a history of innovation in artificial intelligence and computer vision. His many collaborations with leading technology firms give him a strong practical foundation. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to facing the most challenging academic problems and we are honoured that he has accepted the position as IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College.”
A series of six lectures a year is delivered by each of the College’s ten Professors. These are augmented by series presented by several Visiting Professors and as many as 40 individual lectures from a range of authoritative speakers selected from the worlds of academia, politics and industry.
Professor Harvey’s lectures for 2018-19 will be:
- It from Bit: The Science of Information – Tuesday 23 October 2018, 6 pm at the Museum of London
- Speech Processing: How to Wreck a Nice Peach – Tuesday 27 November 2018, 6 pm at the Museum of London
- Computer Vision: Machines that See – Tuesday 12 February 2019, 6 pm at the Museum of London
- Deep Learning: Miracle or Snake Oil? – Tuesday 19 March 2019, 6 pm at the Museum of London
- Text Mining: A Test of Character – Tuesday 16 April 2019, 6 pm at the Museum of London
- Creativity: Can Computers Cut It? – Tuesday 28 May 2019, 6 pm at the Museum of London