fbpx

The stories of the pioneering people behind IT

This expanding database contains more than 200 oral histories recorded by the Archives of IT team. They tell the extraordinary story of how the Tech industry has transformed our lives, in the words of the people who made and are making it happen.

You can filter interviews by subject area below or use the Search button at the top of the page. If you know who you are looking for, use our A-Z list here.

Filter by:

Sir Michael Brady Part 2

Professor Sir Michael Brady is Emeritus Professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Oxford, having retired in 2010 as Professor of Information Engineering.  He was co-director of the Oxford Cancer Imaging Centre.  He is distinguished for his work in artificial intelligence, applying his work to a wide range of medical programmes, particularly breast, liver and colorectal cancer.  He combined his work in oncology with a range of entrepreneurial activities including Deputy Chairman of Oxford Instruments, and the founder of successful start-ups such as Guidance, Mirada Medical, Optellum, Perspectum, ScreenPoint Medical, and Volpara Solutions among others.

A man with grey hair smiling. He is wearing a blue polo shirt.

Jeremy Brassington

The early experience of rejection gave Jeremy Brassington a drive which led through impressive exam results to studying chemistry at Oxford. Despite a well-received thesis on blood proteins, he found academic research unappealing, and instead qualified as an accountant.   Describing auditing as “the dullest subject on earth” he turned to banking, eventually focusing on tech venture funding and turning around failing businesses such as Oxford Molecular. “It taught me how not to run a business,” he says.

In 2003, Jeremy moved into Assistive Technology, redesigning an assistive listening device for the hard of hearing. Having had learning difficulties himself, he realised could help students with dyslexia, language problems and other disabilities.  “It was the first time I had run a business that was doing good,” he says. He managed it for the next 15 years, launching in 30 markets worldwide.

In 2019, Jeremy founded Habitat Learn, an Edtech group which combines automated note-taking and transcription with a smartphone app that helps disabled students take notes in lectures and is now pioneering digital education for all students. He hopes it will become a unicorn.

Sir David Brown

Sir David Brown got hooked on electronic engineering when his father took him to a Faraday Lecture at the age of 14. His first job was with Plessey, which had sponsored him through sixth form and university. At Plessey he worked on the UK’s first digital telephone exchanges and Ptarmigan a landmark tactical mobile cryptographic telecommunications system for the British army. He is a firm believer in the power of teamwork and went on to senior roles at STC, ICL, Northern Telecom and Motorola.

More recently, Sir David has focused on non-executive roles in technologies that are “edgy and fun”, such as hydrogen fuel cells and printing sciences. As chairman of the board of trustees at Bletchley Park, home of British World War II code-breaking, he is a passionate about encouraging young people to become engineers. With four honorary doctorates, a visiting fellowship at Oxford University and a knighthood, he continues to be an eminent figure in the telecoms and electronics industries.

Professor Alan Bundy CBE

Professor Alan Richard Bundy, CBE, FRSE, FRS, FREng, FACM is Professor of Automated Reasoning in the School of Informatics at Edinburgh University.  Throughout his long and illustrious career he has worked mostly as a researcher in artificial intelligence, mathematical reasoning and representations of knowledge.  Alan helped set up the UK Computing Research Committee and has been the Vice-President of the British Computer Society, among many other contributions to important bodies.

Dr Keith Burgess OBE

Dr Keith Burgess OBE was born in Merthyr Tydfil, where education was the way to escape the waiting shovel and the route out of the valleys. 

Arthur Andersen, and their subsequent brands, revolutionised the industry approach to IT-based change and, in 30 years with the consultants Keith developed their approach to “business integration.”  He became responsible for Andersen’s outsourcing and other offerings worldwide and observes that a key to a successful consultancy business is the culture.

He helped to implement public-and private-sector IT systems and has clear views about what drives success and failure.  He is concerned that the UK may not have the IT integration skills it needs for the future.