A new External Stakeholder Advisory Board (ESAB) has been appointed to support the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Machine Intelligence (CMI).
The 10-member board will provide independent, objective advice to the CMI leadership team. Their role is to ensure the Centre's research, academic programs, and community work remain relevant and aligned with the needs of industry, government, and wider society.
Meeting twice a year, the board brings together representatives from technology, finance, manufacturing, national policy, and community organisations.
Discussions will focus on five key areas:
- Strategic Direction: Advising on long-term strategy and the Centre’s position within national and international AI networks.
- Partnerships & Engagement: Identifying opportunities for research collaborations, funding, and industry ties.
- Curriculum & Talent Development: Offering perspectives on the skills next-generation AI professionals need across MSc, PhD, and professional training programs.
- Ethical & Responsible AI: Guiding best practices for the ethical development, deployment, and governance of AI.
- Risk Assessment: Spotting market, policy, and technology shifts that could impact the Centre's aims.
Board Members
The new appointees include:
- Mitchell Baker: Former CEO of Mozilla.
- Denis Battistella: Higher Education and Research lead at NVIDIA.
- Professor Rob Deaves: Visiting Professor, and Product Manager at Oxa.
- Denzil Lawrence: Boeing Global Technology – Europe and Chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s (AMRC) technical board.
- Laura Bennett: Head of Entrepreneurship at the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- Fay Skevington: Head of AI Alignment for Education at the Department for Education (DfE).
- Dr. Nataliya Tkachenko-Love: Responsible AI Mobilisation Lead at Lloyds Banking Group.
- Octavia Field Reid: Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute.
- Melissa (Liss) Gresswell: Head of Adult Skills at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
- Leah Morris: Executive Director of the Encode: AI for Science fellowships programme at Pillar VC/ARIA.
Connecting Research with Real-World Application
The board’s makeup reflects the Centre’s aim to balance technical development with ethical responsibility and regional impact. The inclusion of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and the AMRC connects the Centre’s research to local workforce skills and economic growth, industry representatives bring their perspectives on the application of research into AI, and the skills pipeline, while representatives from the DfE and the Ada Lovelace Institute align the Centre with evolving national debates around policy and ethics.