About

Biography

Senior R&D Manager (Data Science) @ Black Duck Software, recovering academic, former robo-psychiatrist, hackerspace founder, meetup organiser, and player-of-calendar-tetris.

Driving data to make AI work.

Leading enterprise AI platform operations serving 500+ internal R&D users, with platforms scaling to 30+ billion tokens monthly and £600k resource responsibility spanning team operations and AI infrastructure. Regular strategic collaboration with CEO/CIO/CISO on data governance policy development that directly impacts product contract terms and organizational AI adoption frameworks.

Previously a Data Scientist/Academic working in the fields of Affective Computing, Wearable Technologies, Trust and Reputation, Autonomous Systems and Cyber Security. Now focused on the practical reality of productionising AI in cybersecurity - doing the hard boring plumbing, so the sexy innovation is easy.

Current work spans enterprise-scale AI operations: comprehensive security analysis covering tens of millions of findings with over a million scan events monthly, crisis leadership enabling autonomous platform performance during organizational transitions, and cross-functional AI enablement through systematic training programs and organizational maturity frameworks.

Active in global AI regulatory landscape: proactive alignment with evolving NIST AI Framework, EU AI Act, Cyber Resilience Act and related regulatory developments, working directly with strategic advisory, legal, and customer-facing audit teams to ensure organizational compliance and industry best practices. Regular commentary on AI governance frameworks and regulatory approaches across different jurisdictions.

Industry recognition as Top R&D External Media Contributor through thought leadership across Forbes, InfoSecurity Magazine, and major industry publications. Regular speaking at conferences including Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, with multi-year university guest lecturer developing AI governance curricula. Developed “Building Beyond Buzzwords” philosophy bridging academic research and enterprise implementation reality.

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.