Industrial Advisory Board

The Industrial Advisory Board meets annually and discusses issues relating to the curriculum, employment and research collaborations. The industrial members are extremely supportive of the School and its students. They are enthusiastic about the high quality of graduates that we produce, and particularly interested in the industrial projects carried out by students on our courses. They appreciate that our students, with their help, have a big advantage over graduates from other universities in terms of their awareness and experience of real projects and business issues.

The meeting of the Industrial Advisory Board in May coincides with our third year project demonstrations, and the industrial members take a great interest in the projects done by our students – it is a good opportunity to identify potential recruits!

Please see below for further information about our members.

Dr Sam Chapman

Current organisation and role: The Floow Limited, Senior Vice President and Co-founder

Experience and qualifications: Alumni and entrepreneur, with wide background in growth computational innovation companies. I also hold a range of other roles in Westminster, in industry and regionally, including being part of the region’s Chamber of Commerce and a Cutler, representing digital growth firms in the region.

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: To maintain ongoing links with The University of Sheffield, to further ongoing regional development activities, collaborations with the School of Computer Science and impactful research activities, as well as student engagement and post-grad work.

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: Maintaining connections to research, leading innovation and the next generation of computer specialists.

What expertise do you bring to the group: I bring academic experience with ongoing research activities, coupled with experience with starts ups, spins outs and growth IT organisations.

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: Good communication and good teamwork are key.

What Computer Science skills or expertise do you think will be a focus over the next 5 years: AI and analytics are growing further in importance across all spheres with huge impacts bringing change to industry and the world.

Dave Cates

Current organisation and role: Redemption Media, Founder/CEO

Experience and qualifications: Over 20 years experience as an award winning hardware and software engineer - broadcast, publishing, health and education are core sectors of experience. Now consult with startups through to multi-nationals on technology and business strategy. Founded several startups and sold one. App voted "What's hot" by Apple for 6 months, NHS 'innovation in healthcare' award, #1 App in over 10 global regions.

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: I am passionate about raising the next generation with skills of the future and an educational foundation for life. I am founder and Chair of a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) and also a Trustee on the Sheffield UTC MAT. I believe deeper relationships and working across education phases is increasingly important. Something I hope I can contribute to through my networks.

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: Real life working experience of feeding back into the School the realities, challenges and opportunities in industry at any given time. Meeting with, mentoring and coaching of students is also valuable to assist them in navigating the various career options and pathways. Encouraging students to get stuck in with placements as soon as possible and helping support them through their studies.

What special expertise do you bring to the group: I have worked at large corporates (BT Labs) through to being self-employed and launching startups. I think this varied career across sectors and roles results in me bringing a rich array of influences and contributions to the IAB discussions. I also have a good understanding of educational organisation leadership, governance and finance, which might also be useful to the School.

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: Being teachable - an eagerness to learn is so vital as technology is always evolving at a rapid pace. Valuing relationships is vital to success. Enjoying challenges with an adventurous fun spirit and a 'can do' solutions mindset will also prove to be great foundations for success for a career in technology.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-cates/

Duncan Payne

Current organisation and role: ZOO Digital Group, Head of Software Engineering

Experience and qualifications: 15 years at ZOO, initially working as a software engineer following completion of a PhD in Computational Biology at The University of Sheffield. Within my time at ZOO, I have had management responsibilities for 9 years, and recently completed a Master's degree in management and strategic leadership at the University of Sheffield’s Management School.

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: As a Sheffield-based tech company, I am keen to develop and maintain high quality links between our organisation and the University particularly with the School of Computer Science. These links can bring benefit to me in my role, both in terms of recruitment strategy but also in developing my understanding of changes within the industry that I may not otherwise observe.

As an organisation, I recognise that we can provide input to the School of Computer Science, suggesting potential dissertation projects, funding PhDs, as well as potentially helping in the development of the curriculum.

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: IAB members are in industry and in offices on a daily basis. There can be a fair gap between the theory presented within educational settings and the practice experienced within industry. We are able to help bridge that gap, either through helping to set expectations, suggesting projects relevant to solving current problems within industry, or simply providing insight based on current experiences.

What special expertise do you bring to the group: Moving from a highly technical background (Computer Science master's, then PhD) to a more strategic role in senior management, I can share from a range of experiences that I have had over the course of my career so far.

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: Excellent communication skills, an ability to write high quality software with attention to detail and an understanding of the reason behind design decisions.

John Wright

Current organisation and role: BetterGov, Delivery Director

Experience and qualifications: Since graduating from Sheffield in 1992, I have spent 10 years in software product development, picked up eXtreme Programming while building wireless mobile applications, spent a couple of years creating and managing an end-to-end retail operating stack for a new venture at BT, before returning to the software consulting industry focused on agile and digital transformation for the past 20 years, now focused on tech for good in the public sector.

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: To provide insight into industry needs in software engineering, help with student projects and to keep up to date with research work at the university.

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: Providing insight into industry needs and supporting students in research and final year project opportunities.

What special expertise do you bring to the group: Opportunity to connect research with industry for the benefit of both parties, especially anything related to identity or big data engineering.

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: To understand the importance of automation, test-driven development and continuous delivery in enabling a business to be responsive to changing user needs. The ability to think differently, be creative and not accept the way things have always been done is the way they always have to be done.

John McNamara

Current organisation and role: IBM, Master Inventor

Experience and qualifications: 30 years at IBM including 10 years as an international consultant, lead innovator for the Innovation Centre in Hursley and Master Inventor in the Hursley Labs

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: Provide support and enable students to go into great careers

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: Industry perspective on courses/skills

What special expertise do you bring to the group: Lots of exposure to academia and industry collaboration

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: The ability to learn how to learn - as paradigms change and new technology emerges

What Computer Science skills or expertise do you think will be a focus over the next 5 years: A huge focus on the application of GenAi

Anthony Nettleship

Current organisation and role: BJSS, Technical Architect / Principal Technologist

Experience and qualifications: A software professional since 2012, I have a wealth of experience delivering value to customers. In this time, I have applied my strong communication and technical skills to all phases of the SDLC - from initial conversations with customers, through delivery and beyond to long term relationships and support.

As a software engineer, I have spent much of my career with Ruby, Java and Javascript. He is able to adapt to new tools and techniques whilst drawing on his experience to produce quality software that facilitates agility.

As an architect, I have delivered valuable, maintainable software in a range of architectures from monoliths to microservices.

An experienced leader, I believe that openness, empathy and a passion for continuous improvement are key drivers towards high-performing, agile teams.

What was your motivation for joining the IAB: As an alumnus from Sheffield, I'm keen to give back through sharing insights from my experience in industry. Building a relationship is also mutually beneficial with exposure to, and potential collaboration with, current research the current cohort of students.

How do you see the IAB contributing towards Computer Science at Sheffield: A window into what the industry is looking for from its potential hires, and what customers / other industries are asking for from us

What skills do you think are most important in a computer scientist: Problem solving skills and exposure to a wide variety of subject matter, tools and technologies to build a "I don't know this thing, but let's learn and have a go" mindset.

The importance of communications is often understated in software engineering, but underpins everything... with customers, with the team, through code.

What Computer Science skills or expertise do you think will be a focus over the next 5 years: GenAI is the obvious buzzword of the moment and while it isn't new, we're seeing more industries looking at how they can bring together their data in order to create generative models to gain more value from their business intelligence systems. I think this makes it important to understand as a core technology rather than the more "specialist" subject it has previously been considered to be.