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Interview with Professor Tom Crick MBE

Professor Tom Crick is a computer scientist who brings his knowledge to bear on the big questions for Wales of education and industrial policy, including intelligent systems, smart cities, digital transformation, skills and infrastructure.  Tom’s generation was the first to have university education and he credits his secondary school and teachers with his stimulating his interest in technology.

He was at the heart of reform of the computing curriculum in schools and was appointed MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours for “services to computer science and the promotion of computer science education”.  He believes it is important that the pioneering role of the UK and its scientists in the IT industry is understood.

Early Life

Tom Crick was born in Oxford in 1981. His mother worked in adult education and his father was a production manager in technical manufacturing. Tom also has a brother.  He says of his parents: “My mum and dad allowed me to explore my own interests. I was perhaps a bit of a strange combination of someone who is quite geeky, deeply interested in science and technology but also quite sporty. I played tennis and football to a high standard when I was a teenager. I was deeply interested in physics and astronomy when I was quite young and that’s morphed into the physical sciences and certainly mathematics, and then a big focus on computing which became much more explicit as I finished my compulsory formative education and I went through to into university.”

 

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