The Turing Talk, previously known as the Turing Lecture, is an annual award

lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...

delivered by a noted speaker on the subject of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

. Sponsored and co-hosted by the

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and ...

(IET) and the British Computer Society, the talk has been delivered at different locations in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

annually since 1999. Venues for the talk have included Savoy Place, the Royal Institution in London, Cardiff University, The

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

Belfast City Hall Belfast City Hall ( ga, Halla na Cathrach Bhéal Feirste; Ulster-Scots: ''Bilfawst Citie Haw'') is the civic building of Belfast City Council located in Donegall Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It faces North and effectively divides the comm ...

and the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. The main talk is preluded with an insight speaker, who performs an opening act to the main event. The talk is named in honour of

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...

and should not be confused with the

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in comput ...

lecture organised by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Recent Turing talks are available as a live webcast and archived online.

Turing Talks

Previous speakers have included: * 2022:

Julie McCann Julie Ann McCann is a British computer scientist who is a professor at Imperial College London. She is the leader of the Adaptive Emergent Systems Engineering. She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and was awarded the Suffrage Science ...

, a day in the life of a

smart city A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in retur ...

* 2021:

Cecilia Mascolo Cecilia Mascolo is a Professor of Mobile Systems at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Education Mascolo received her Bachelors, Masters and PhD in Compu ...

, Sounding out wearable and audio data for health diagnostics * 2020: , Digital Twins: The Next Phase of the AI Revolution * 2019: Engineering a fair future: Why we need to train unbiased AI * 2018:

Andy Harter Andrew Charles Harter (born 1961 in Yorkshire, England) is a British computer scientist, best known as the founder of RealVNC, where he was CEO until March 2018. Education and early life Born in Yorkshire in 1961, Harter attended the Queen E ...

, Innovation and technology – art or science? * 2017: Guruduth Banavar, Beneficial AI for the Advancement of Humankind, British Computer Society * 2016: Robert Schukai, The Internet of Me: It's all about my screens * 2015:

Robert Pepper Robert M. Pepper (born February 10, 1948) is an American specialist in communications policy. Education Pepper received his Bachelor of Arts degree and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Career Pepper held faculty positions at t ...

, The Internet Paradox: How bottom-up beat(s) command and control * 2014: Bernard S. Meyerson, Beyond silicon: Cognition and much, much more * 2013: Suranga Chandratillake, What they didn't teach me: building a technology company and taking it to market * 2012: Ray Dolan, From cryptoanalysis to cognitive neuroscience – a hidden legacy of Alan Turing * 2011:

Donald Knuth Donald Ervin Knuth ( ; born January 10, 1938) is an American computer scientist, mathematician, and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is the 1974 recipient of the ACM Turing Award, informally considered the Nobel Prize of computer sc ...

, An Evening with Donald Knuth – All Questions Answered * 2010:

Christopher Bishop Christopher Michael Bishop (born 7 April 1959) is the Laboratory Director at Microsoft Research Cambridge, Honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. Bishop is a member of ...

. Embracing Uncertainty: the new machine intelligence * 2009: Mike Brady, Information Engineering and its Future * 2008: James Martin, Target Earth and the meaning of the 21st century * 2007:

Grady Booch Grady Booch (born February 27, 1955) is an American software engineer, best known for developing the Unified Modeling Language (UML) with Ivar Jacobson and James Rumbaugh. He is recognized internationally for his innovative work in software archi ...

, The Promise, the Limits and the Beauty of Software * 2006: Chris Mairs, Lifestyle access for the disabled * 2005:

Fred Brooks Frederick Phillips Brooks Jr. (April 19, 1931 – November 17, 2022) was an American computer architect, software engineer, and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of IBM's System/360 family of computers and the O ...

, Collaboration and Telecollaboration in Design * 2004: Fred Piper, Cyberspace Security, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly * 2003: Caroline Kovac, Computing in the Age of the Genome * 2002:

Mark Welland Sir Mark Edward Welland, (born 18 October 1955) is a British physicist who is a professor of nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge and head of the Nanoscience Centre. He has been a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, since 1986 and ...

, Smaller, faster, better – but is it nanotechnology? * 2001:

Nick Donofrio Nicholas Michael Donofrio (born September 7, 1945) is an American scientist and engineer and was the Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology at the IBM Corporation until 2008. Upon retirement, he was selected as an honorary IBM Fell ...

, Technology, Innovation and the New Economy * 2000:

Brian Randell Brian Randell (born 1936) is a British computer scientist, and Emeritus Professor at the School of Computing, Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He specialises in research into software fault tolerance and dependability, and is a noted aut ...

, Facing up to Faults * 1999:

Samson Abramsky Samson Abramsky (born 12 March 1953) is Professor of Computer Science at University College London. He was previously the Christopher Strachey Professor of Computing at the University of Oxford, from 2000 to 2021. He has made contributions to t ...

From Computation to Interaction – Towards a Science of Information

References

1998 establishments in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 1998 Lecture series Computer science education Academic awards British Computer Society Institution of Engineering and Technology Alan Turing {{compsci-stub