About
Biography
Data Leader @ Black Duck Software, recovering academic, former robo-psychiatrist, hackerspace founder, meetup organiser, and player-of-calendar-tetris.
Previously a Data Scientist/Academic working in the fields of Affective Computing, Wearable Technologies, Trust and Reputation, Autonomous Systems and Cyber Security.
Currently Senior R&D Manager (Data Science) at Black Duck Software, using advanced generative AI, data mining and machine learning to detect, assess, and remediate vulnerabilities and malware attacks on cloud and on-prem infrastructure for fortun 500 companies and global brands. LLM Operationalisation Lead, and ‘Data Tzar’.
Completed PhD Research at The University of Liverpool (formerly at Queen’s University Belfast’s ECIT Institute) investigating Trust and Reputation in Marine Communications for Autonomous Systems of Systems under the joint Anglo-French Defence Research Group, established at the 2010 Anglo-French Summit
Founding (former) director of Farset Labs, Northern Ireland’s Hackerspace, developed while I was finishing off a Masters in Electronics and Software Engineering at QUB. Farset Labs now provides the technical and entrepreneurial community with a place to share resources, knowledge and experience in a relaxed atmosphere, laying the foundation for the next wave of Northern Irish industry-leading technologists and business leaders.
A sucker for Doctor Who, Scottish and Japanese Whiskey, Craft Beer, any movies involving Christoph Waltz, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, or Quentin Tarantino, and heavily caffinated German softdrinks.
Current Roles
- Senior R&D Manager (Data Science) @ Black Duck Software
- Treasurer @ BSides Belfast CIC
- Director @ Northern Ireland Open Government Network
ETC
Engagements and Publications
- 2025
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Analytics - Data Governance for Data Scientists - Guest Lecture
-
The Human Factor: Redefining Cybersecurity In The Age Of AI - Forbes - Commentary
-
ChatGPT Search Is Now Free To Use Without An Account—Is It Safe? - Forbes - Commentary
-
AI Agents Will Cut Account Exploit Time - Information Security Buzz - Commentary
-
New AI “Agents” Could Help Bad Actors Launch Attacks - Information Security Buzz - Commentary
-
AI Agents on Autopilot: OpenAI’s Operator Can Be Exploited for Cyberattacks - SecurityBuzz - Commentary
-
Blackstone defends data centre investment vision amid DeepSeek AI disruption - Techerati - Commentary
-
DeepSeek and Cybersecurity: What Tech Pros Should Know - Dice - Commentary
-
DeepSeek rise leads to $1 trillion loss for US tech giants - Techerati - Commentary
-
What is DeepSeek and what is all the fuss about? - SecurityInfoWatch - Commentary
-
ChatGPT o1: AI That Thinks, Lies, And Deceives Like A Human - DataDrivenInvestor - Commentary
-
CISA Launches AI Sharing Playbook - SCMagazine - Commentary
-
- 2024
-
Northern Ireland Developers Conference - Building Beyond Buzzwords: Productioninsing AI in Cybersecurity - Speaker
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Analytics - Building Beyond Buzzwords: Productioninsing AI in Cybersecurity - Guest Lecture
-
Zero-Click GenAI Worm Spreads Malware, Poisoning Models - DarkReading - Commentary/Interview
-
Panic over new ChatGPT that ‘reasons’ as expert warns of terror AI raids that steal cash from ‘huge numbers’ of victims - The Sun - Commentary/Interview
-
Generative KI hat enorme Auswirkungen auf Softwareentwicklung und Softwaresicherheit - ManageIt - Guest Publication of Blog Post
-
Generative AI has a huge impact on software development and software security - Teiss - Guest Publication of Blog Post
-
ChatGPT Two Years On: Experts Weigh In - ITSecurityGuru - Commentary/Interview
-
Unmasking the ChatGPT Threat: How AI Raiders are Stealing Cash from Thousands! - Central Recorder - Commentary/Interview
-
What is WRAP and how can it help train AI more efficiently? - ITPro - Commentary/Interview
-
Microsoft Copilot could have serious vulnerabilities after researchers reveal data leak issues in RAG systems - ITPro - Commentary/Interview
-
Unmasking the ChatGPT Threat: How AI Raiders are Stealing Cash from Thousands! - Central Recorder - Commentary/Interview
-
AI Scientist LLM goes rogue: Creators warn of “significant risks” and “safety concerns” - The Stack - Commentary/Interview
-
Hackers are trying to exploit a new critical MOVEit vulnerability – here’s what you need to know - ITPro - Commentary/Interview
-
Data Privacy Day 2024 - ITSecurityGuru - Commentary/Interview
-
- 2023
-
BelTech 2023 - Practical ML for Cyber Security - Speaker
-
SISTEM2023 - Practical ML for Cyber Security - Speaker
-
BringITOn “Top 12 Tech Jobs” - Interviewee
-
One Year Anniversary of ChatGPT by Synopsys - Technology Reseller - Author
-
To improve cybersecurity, is an annual one-month awareness pep rally enough? - NerdForTech - Commentary
-
Over 800k Flagstar Bank Customers Impacted by Third Data Breach Since 2021 - itsecurityguru - Commentary
-
TP-Link Smart Bulb Users at Risk of WiFi Password Theft - HackRead - Commentary *
TP-Link Smart Bulb Spills Wi-Fi Passwords - Infosecurity Magazine - Commentary
-
We’re getting poisoned by bad software. Why not talk about it that way? - NerdForTech - Commentary
-
Is your smart light bulb giving passwords to hackers? - Cult of Mac - Commentary
-
Officials Point To Russia After Electoral Commission Hack - Silicon.co.uk - Commentary
-
Cyber-attack hits the UK’s electoral registers - itsecurityguru - Commentary
-
Unraveling the EC Data Breach: Cybersecurity Experts Weigh In on the Implications - Infosecurity Magazine - Commentary
-
UK Electoral Commission systems breached for over a year - BetaNews - Commentary
-
- 2022
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Analytics - Practical ML for Cyber Security - Lecture
-
AI NI 17 - AI in Cyber Security, Healthcare & Data Science Success Stories - Practical ML for Cyber Security - Speaker
-
- 2021
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Analytics - Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics - Guest Lecturer
-
BLUG Technical: Universal screwdrivers - Apache Arrow in 5-10 Mins - Lightning Talk
-
WhyNI - Enzo Recruitment - Podcast Guest
-
Unattested Pod - Podcast Guest
-
Dr StrangeBot: or how I learned to stop worrying and trust machine learning - NTT - Author
-
- 2020
-
Northern Ireland Developers Conference: Kids Track - Tell me about your Programmer - Robopsychologist and other careers that don’t exist (yet)
- Speaker
-
Northern Ireland Developers Conference - A Stranger in a Strange Land: Data Science Onboarding In Practice
- Speaker
-
BelTech - AI Explainability - Panellist
-
DevBash - Pragmatic Data Science - Speaker
-
Is Your AI Ethical? - RTInsights - Author
-
The Importance of Active Learning in Data Science and Engineering - Cybersecurity Insider - Author
-
- 2019
-
PyConIE - Planning Your Hackerspace With Python
- Speaker
-
Northern Ireland Developers Conference - Data Art: Creative collisions and getting out of your comfort zone
- Speaker
-
/
PyBelfast - The Joys of Python 3
-
- 2018
-
PyConIE - An Idiots Guide to (Open) Data Science
- Speaker
-
/
PyBelfast - Scalable Analytics with Dask
-
University of Ulster PgDip/MSc Digital Media Communications - Guest Lecturer
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Science - Guest Lecturer
-
/
DigitalDNA/AINI - Unfeeling Fire; Autonomy in Defence - Speaker and Panellist
-
Northern Ireland Developers Conference
- An Idiots Guide to (Open) Data Science - Speaker
-
Machine Learning BASH HODL-AI: Live Coding RNN on the Blockchain
- Speaker
-
BelFOSS
- The Ballad Of Farset Labs: Redux - Speaker
-
Cambridge House Grammar School - Annual Awards Ceremony - Guest Speaker
-
/
Drive105 - For Arts Sake with Eileen Walsh - Radio Interviewee
-
Moving to Belfast? Here are 10 people you need to know - SiliconRepublic - Listee
-
- 2017
-
University of Ulster MSc Data Science - Guest Lecturer
-
BLUG - Open Data Science in Python - Speaker
-
/
PyBelfast - Pandas for Data Science - Speaker
-
Best In Class: Our Pick of Northern Ireland’s Tech Educators #1 - SyncNI - Listee
-
Ethical hacker turned off heating 300 miles away - Newsletter - Interviewee
-
Dynamic Model of Athletes’ Emotions Based on Wearable Devices - International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics - Author
-
- 2016
-
Analytical Metric Weight Generation for Multi-Domain Trust in Autonomous Underwater MANETs - Invited paper for Underwater Communications Security session at IEEE UComms 2016, Lerici, Italy - Author
-
Physical Behaviours for Trust Assessment in Autonomous Underwater MANETs - Submitted to The 13th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), Brasilia, Brasil - Author
-
BelTech - Innovation Engineering - Panellist
-
Open Data Day - Community Use of Open Data - Speaker
-
- 2015
-
Single and Multi-metric Trust Management Frameworks for Use in Underwater Autonomous Networks. In Trustcom/BigDataSE/ISPA, 2015 IEEE, Helsinki, Finland - Author
-
How The Future Gigabit Internet Is Likely To Play Out - MakeUseOf - Author
-
Raspberry Pi Farset Labs ‘jams’ teach kids how to code computers - BBC - Interview
-
Big Data Is Big Business In Northern Ireland - TechWatch - Interview
-
Ignite Liverpool
- A Rant About A Visitors Perspective of Liverpool - Speaker
-
- 2014
-
Analysis of Trust Interfaces in Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Collaborative MHPC Operations, The Technical Cooperation Program, Technical Report TR-C3I-06-2014, May 14, 2014, Portsmouth, UK not publically available - Author
-
A Multi-Vector Trust Framework for Autonomous Systems, AAAI Spring Symposium Series, Palo Alto CA, USA - Author
-
How to Optical and Quantum Computers work? - MakeUseOf - Author
-
GPS III: Where Are We? And Where Are We Going? - MakeUseOf - Author
-
Becoming an Expert Andrew Bolster on Suspicious Submarines - University of Liverpool - Appearance
-
A Multi-Vector Trust Framework for Autonomous Systems - Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Spring Symposium - Author
-
Liverpool Social Media Cafe
- The Ballad of Farset Labs - Speaker
-
InterTradeIreland All-Island Innovation Conference Permitting the Creative Insanity of Your Community - Speaker
-
- 2013
-
Experimenting with ICT in Belfast - AgendaNI - Appearance
-
Tech Britain Coverage - TechBritain - Interview
-
Global Game Jam Hits Belfast - Following The Nerd - Appearance
-
Global Game Jam: Belfast to take part for first time - BBC News - Interview
-
Belfast Hub for Global Games Jam - Newsletter - Appearance
-
Weekend hackathon set for Belfast - Ulster Business
-
Global Game Jam hackathon set for Belfast this month - Silicon Republic - Appearance
-
CXNI Creative Collaborative Futures From Ceramics to 3D Printing: Discussing Maker Research Culture in Northern Ireland - Speaker
-
TEDxBelfast
- Dr Strange Sub or How I learned to stop worrying and accept Emergence - Speaker
-
Innovation in Northern Ireland: Nesta in Belfast
- Speaking
-
Blick Shared Studios Creative Camp - Speaker
-
- 2012
-
/
Bank of Ireland Junior Dragons Den Regional Heat - Speaker
-
Northern Ireland Science Park - Generation Innovation Awards Ceremony 2012 - Speaker
-
Imagining a Digital Future - Ulster Business - Appearance
-
Northern Ireland economy needs to make space for technological innovation and creativity - BusinessFirstOnline - Interview
-
The Tech Show (Podcast) - iChrisTaylor - Guest
-
Top entrepreneurs inspire next generation - Appearance
-
Farset Labs makes it into Belfast Business Top 50 - Belfast Media Group - Appearance
-
Belfast one of 16 UK cities to get 4G mobile services in 2012 - BBC News - Interview / Co-Author
-
Andrew Bolster from Farset Labs talking to Linzi Corr at ITE Belfast - Brightwater Recruitment - Interview
-
Muckraker Partners with Farset Labs (Blog) - Muckraker - Appearance
-
A Different Road - New Scientist - Interview
-