IT Leaders Forum Annual Conference and Symposium

We are all responsible for ensuring technology-led change is safe and positive for everyone in society. At BCS we’re committed to meeting this responsibility under royal charter.That’s why we set the highest standards of professionalism and best practice in the industry, share knowledge, and develop skills and capability tuned to our evolving digital world.We’ve been supporting the technology industry since 1957 and our 70,000-strong membership spans 150 countries. Every member actively promotes IT professionalism and we provide them with career development opportunities and bring the community together to address the professional, ethical and economic challenges facing technology today.

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

The Conference and Symposium sets the agenda for the IT Leaders Forum for the next year

<h3>Event overview</h3>A day on what IT leadership does next.The morning: AI in practice - ethics, transformation and resilience – in four short talks, a round table and a plenary.The afternoon: the SFIA skills framework and the impact of AI; how a BCS working group tackled availability and launched Engineering Resilience; and the future challenges facing IT leaders, from autonomous vehicles and quantum computing to the future of the profession and growing BCS across the regions.One question runs through the day: what is the most important problem ITLF should tackle?The closing plenary picks the forum’s priorities for the year ahead, with a call for volunteers, followed by drinks and networking until 18:00.Speakers include: Chris Ambler, Dr Mohan Ravindranathan, Dave Sutton, Sarah Greasley, Ian Seward, Peter Leather, Gill Ringland, Professor Ed Steinmueller, Rony Zaman, Haiyan Wu and Dr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro.Chair: Gill Ringland. Co-chairs: Julie Hendry, Ed Steinmueller and Kevin Eagles.Lunch and refreshments provided. Please join us in person or online.

<h3>Agenda</h3>11:00 - Event start with AI topics: talks, round table and plenary - Chris Ambler, Mohan Ravindranathan, Dave Sutton, Sarah Greasley12:30 - Lunch13:15 - SFIA Skills and Competency Framework and the Impact of AI - Ian Seward, Peter Leather13:45 - Tackling a problem with a BCS working group - Gill Ringland, Ed Steinmueller, Rony Zaman14:15 - Break14:30 - The IT leader, meeting the future challenges: autonomous vehicles resilience (video), quantum computing (video), the future of the IT profession -Gill Ringland15:30 - Afternoon tea15:45 - Achieving BCS growth across regions - Haiyan Wu16:00 - Round table: what ITLF can and should do on technology, leadership and BCS growth16:30 - Closing plenary: priorities for the year ahead - panel including Dr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro17:00 - Drinks and networking18:00 - Event close

<h3>Synopsis</h3>Sessions will cover: AI Ethics in Practice: From Principles to Responsible Decisions Chris AmblerAI systems increasingly influence decisions that affect individuals, organisations and society, but ethical principles alone do not guarantee ethical outcomes. I will explore how moral psychology, competing ethical frameworks and human cognitive biases shape AI-assisted decision-making, and consider how organisations can translate responsible-AI principles into practical governance, accountability and assurance.AI and Transformation: From Technology Adoption to Organisational Reinvention Dr Mohan RavindranathanAI transformation is not achieved simply by introducing AI tools into existing processes. To realise its full potential, organisations must fundamentally rethink how work is designed and delivered, reshaping services, decision-making, governance, technology, and workforce capabilities around a new partnership between people, data, and intelligent agents. This session will explore how organisations can move beyond experimentation and technology adoption to drive meaningful organisational reinvention and sustainable transformation.The wider implications of AI Transformation - Dave Sutton (joining online)The wider implications of AI Transformation for organisations. Preparing for AI Transformation: developing AI strategies and defining principles and policies; defining organisational and governance structures, practices and processes; and building readiness, delivery and service management capability. Looking to the future to build long-term AI capability.The impact of AI in resilience Sarah GreasleyAI is increasingly being used to extend human capability to deliver resilience across architecture, anticipation, and recovery, and to minimise the impact of service failures and outages. However, it can also add opacity, fragility, and new points of failure. Like any technology, the design, training, governance and testing are crucial to successful implementation, and this presentation will draw out some of the key considerations.SFIA Skills and Competency Framework and the Impact of AI Ian Seward and Peter LeatherA brief introduction to, or refresher for, SFIA, the employer-driven skills and competency framework, the Foundation itself and the global community of users. How SFIA version 9 already provides a foundation for organisations and professionals to use it as an AI and machine learning skills framework, and what is underway for the SFIA 10 release in 2027, with a Q&amp;A to capture your needs and ideas.Tackling a problem with a BCS working group Gill Ringland, Ed Steinmueller, Rony ZamanThe history of the Availability Working Group, lessons learnt, and the launch of Engineering Resilience, followed by open discussion.The future of the IT profession Gill RinglandAI, new labour models and our growing dependence on digital services are reshaping what it means to be an IT professional. This session looks at the skills and responsibilities the profession now needs, and the role of employers, the industry and BCS in building them, ending with questions for ITLF on what to do next.Achieving BCS growth across regions Haiyan WuUCL’s work expanding BCS membership among young graduates and researchers, prompting discussion on where else the approach might work.

<h3>About the speakers</h3>Chris AmblerChris Ambler is a Fellow of BCS and a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, with more than 45 years’ experience in technology and quality assurance. Drawing on degrees in Computer Science and Psychology, he now focuses on AI ethics, governance and the psychology of human-AI decision-making.Dr Mohan RavindranathanDr Mohan Ravindranathan is a technology strategist, enterprise architect and AI transformation leader with more than 25 years’ experience delivering large-scale business and technology change across the public and private sectors. Within HMRC’s Chief Digital &amp; Information Office he leads strategic initiatives in Generative AI and Agentic AI, including the development of HMRC’s Agentic AI Strategy, and has been at the forefront of introducing Agentic AI concepts into government transformation. He holds a PhD for his thesis on Heterogeneous Intelligent Systems from Edinburgh and an MBA from Warwick.Sarah GreasleySarah Greasley has worked in IT, particularly with financial institutions, in many different guises. She was a Distinguished Engineer at IBM, before joining Direct Line Group as Group CTO, and then AWS as Director of Solution Architecture for EMEA. She is now pursuing a portfolio career and mentoring startups in the AI and Next Generation Computing space.Ian SewardIan Seward, General Manager, SFIA Foundation. Ian began his professional work as a systems and software engineer within the UK aerospace and defence sector, initially in research and then developing experimental and operational equipment. He then focussed on developing organisational software engineering capability across several business sectors. He has led the SFIA Foundation for the last 12 years.Peter LeatherPeter Leather, Update Manager and Global Lead, SFIA Foundation. 40 years of industry experience, with 25 years specialising in tech people and skills management and organisational performance for major UK and global IT companies. More than 20 years contributing to SFIA, leading global volunteer and community initiatives through the SFIA Council and User Forum. Served as a Subject Matter Expert and Project Manager for SFIA versions 7, 8, 9 and 10.Rony ZamanRony Zaman MBCS CITP has spent approaching 20 years in operational resilience and availability leadership, with delivery experience across mission-critical communications, healthcare and emergency service technology estates, from availability engineering and service continuity through to board reporting in 24/7 operations. He has designed disaster recovery governance and RACI models, defined RTOs, RPOs and impact tolerances, and run tabletop and full-failover testing across 999 control-room, clinical and public-sector platforms, including major international sporting events where downtime carries patient-safety consequences. He has a proven record of converting regulatory obligation into practical controls, evidence and reporting that withstand scrutiny.Dr Mercedes Arguello CasteleiroDr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro has a PhD in Physics and is an elected committee member of BCS SGAI, the BCS Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence. For many years she carried out research in the Bio-Health Informatics Group at the University of Manchester. She is interested in Neuro-Symbolic AI and in the benefits and drawbacks of low-code and no-code AI with open-source LLMs, including AI agents. She has held lecturer posts at the University of Buckingham and taught computer science at the Universities of Southampton and Manchester. She is currently working on the TQ-FOODS project, funded by SCAF and Quantum ARC.Gill RinglandGill Ringland is Secretary and Treasurer of the BCS IT Leaders Forum and a Life Fellow of BCS. A pioneer of systems and data architecture at CAP, Inmos and Modcomp, she went on to build a £3bn business at ICL, where her strategy work produced the book Scenario Planning. She was CEO, Director and Fellow of SAMI Consulting from 2002 to 2017. She co-chaired the ITLF Service Resilience Working Group with Professor Ed Steinmueller and co-wrote Resilience of Services: reducing the impact of IT failures. She has over 100 publications, including twelve books.Dave SuttonDavid Sutton is a retired IT executive with extensive experience across banking, utilities, hospitality and other sectors, specialising in major business change, enterprise architecture and IT management. His expertise includes IS/IT strategy, programme assurance, problem management, and data and database analysis and design. He is currently interested in AI to support business transformation, strategy and innovation, and is actively involved with the BCS IT Leaders Forum.Ed SteinmuellerEd Steinmueller is Professor Emeritus of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at University of Sussex. His entire career has been devoted to the economic and social implications of information and communication technologies. Along the way he has consulted on competition and industrial policy and regulation and innovation in the ICT industries.Haiyan WuBio to follow

Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.This meeting is conducted in accordance with the <a href="https://www.bcs.org/media/egnkzp3f/bcs-code-of-conduct-for-meetings.pdf" title="https://www.bcs.org/media/egnkzp3f/bcs-code-of-conduct-for-meetings.pdf" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">BCS Code of Conduct for Meetings</a>.BCS is a membership organisation. If you enjoy this event, please consider joining BCS. You’ll be very welcome. You’ll receive access to many exclusive career development tools, an introduction to a thriving professional community and also help us Make IT Good For Society. <a href="https://www.bcs.org/membership/events" title="https://www.bcs.org/membership/events" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Join BCS today</a>If you are attending in person, please familiarise yourself with the <a href="https://www.bcs.org/media/ww4jlkud/visitor-instructions.docx" title="https://www.bcs.org/media/ww4jlkud/visitor-instructions.docx" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Visitor Instructions</a> for the BCS London Office.Please note, if you have any accessibility needs, please let us know via groups@bcs.uk, and we’ll work with you to make suitable arrangements.BCS privacy notice: your data will be processed by BCS in accordance with our <a href="https://www.bcs.org/legal-and-privacy-notices/data-privacy-notice/" title="https://www.bcs.org/legal-and-privacy-notices/data-privacy-notice/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">data privacy notice</a>.Photography: by attending this event, you may be photographed or filmed. Please speak to a member of staff if you do not wish to be included.For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event, please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.

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IT Leaders Forum Annual Conference and Symposium

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IT Leaders Forum Annual Conference and Symposium

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BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

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