Speakers
Dr Julian Huppert
Namshik Han
Professor Raj Jena
Dr Zoë Webster
Chaired by Dr Julian Huppert, Director, Jesus College Intellectual Forum
Highly qualified computational drug discovery scientist with core expertise in the area of machine learning, computational biology, and multi-omics. The position of Head of Computational Research & AI at Milner Therapeutics of University of Cambridge would come with a remit to lead frontier AI technology applications for the analysis of complex multimodal biomedical datasets. This will be instrumental in the discovery of new disease pathways and mechanisms. In parallel to these roles at Milner, I also hold an appointment as an Associate Faculty at the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine and an Affiliated Principal Investigator at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. In my academic contributions, I also serve as an Adjunct Professor at the Yonsei University College of Medicine.
Further to this field of academic sciences, I am also engaged in linking the gap of academic research and its use in industrial use, more in-depth in the field of therapeutics and patient care. I eagerly look forward to the possibilities AI brings to revolutionize disease identification, discovery of drug targets, and indeed very wide scope in patient care, just to ensure our industrial collaborators are well-placed in these advances. It will allow me to develop creative computational strategies common to us both in our grand goal of new therapeutic solutions via the analysis of big data. In addition to these positions, I have also served the scientific function of founding Storm Therapeutics. I am also a co-founder of two high innovative AI drug discovery start-ups: Kure.ai Therapeutics in the field of developing immunotherapies with NK cells and CardiaTec Biosciences to bring forward therapeutics for revolutionary cardiological patients.
Raj Jena is a Professor of AI in Radiation Oncology based at the University of Cambridge Department of Oncology and Cambridge University Hospitals. His research interests focus on clinical image processing, data science and machine learning applications. Raj is the chief Investigator for Hamlet.rt, a multi-centre radiomics study in radiation therapy open at over 12 sites over the UK and Tata medical centre in Kolkata. He is a member of the Royal College of Radiologists’ AI in Clinical Oncology (AICO) committee and is Director of the Oncology Translational Research Collaboration (O-TRC) at the National Institute for Healthcare Research.
Raj enjoys working at the interface between the clinical, academic and commercial sectors. Following successful collaborations with Siemens and other imaging companies, and works as a clinical consultant to the InnerEye team at Microsoft Research. Here Raj had the opportunity to work with thought leaders in medical image analysis, and subsequently led the NHS AI lab funded OSAIRIS project, which developed the first cloud based open source imaging AI solution to be deployed at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Raj is now applying his knowledge of machine learning and image processing to the STELLA project, an international collaboration developing a novel smart radiotherapy unit for low- and middle-income countries.
Zoë advises organisations on AI strategy and practice, having been in the AI space for over two decades, as a practitioner and leader. Until May 2024, Zoë led BT’s AI Centre of Enablement which she built in the midst of a wider digital transformation to develop and deploy data science and AI at scale across the business. Before that, Zoë worked at Innovate UK where she led teams to accelerate UK innovation across a range of enabling and emerging technologies and sectors, including AI, manufacturing and novel materials. Zoë began her career, with an MSc and PhD in AI, at QinetiQ and SEA developing and demonstrating cutting-edge AI technologies, in areas including cyber security, retail and health. In 2023, Zoë gave evidence to the UK House of Lord’s Communications and Digital Committee on the opportunities and risks of Large Language Models. Zoë was named in AI Magazine’s Top 10 AI Leaders in UK and Europe in 2024.
David W. Wood, D.Sc., was one of the pioneers of the smartphone industry. He is now an internationally renowned futurist writer, educator, consultant, and speaker.
As Chair of London Futurists, David has organised and hosted over 300 public meetings since March 2008 on futurist and technoprogressive topics. Membership of London Futurists exceeds 9,500, making it the world’s largest future-oriented meetup.
He is co-host of the highly rated London Futurists Podcast which has the theme “Anticipating and managing exponential impact”.
As Executive Director of the LEV (Longevity Escape Velocity) Foundation, David organises and supports the LEVF team with their mission of “conducting and inspiring research to comprehensively cure and prevent human age-related disease”.
As Principal of the independent futurist consultancy and publisher Delta Wisdom, David helps clients around the world to anticipate and manage the dramatic impact of rapidly changing technology on human individuals and communities. This includes the NBIC technologies and the rapid emergence of AGI (artificial general intelligence).
Previously, David spent 25 years designing, implementing, and trailblazing the use of smart mobile devices, including ten years with pioneering PDA manufacturer Psion PLC, and ten more with smartphone operating system specialist Symbian Ltd, which he co-founded in 1998. His executive responsibilities included software development, technical consulting, partnering and ecosystem management, and research and innovation. By 2012, his software for UI and application frameworks had been included on 500 million smartphones from companies such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, Fujitsu, LG, and Panasonic.
From 2010 to 2013, David was Technology Planning Lead (CTO) of Accenture Mobility, where he also co-led Accenture’s Mobility Health business initiative. David is the author, co-author, or lead editor of 12 books about the future. These include The Death of Death, The Singularity Principles, Vital Foresight, Smartphones and Beyond, The Abolition of Aging, Sustainable Superabundance, and Transcending Politics.
David has a triple first class mathematics degree from Cambridge and undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science. He has an honorary Doctorate in Science from Westminster University. In 2009 he was included in T3’s list of “100 most influential people in technology”. He is the Foresight Advisor to SingularityNET, co-chair of the UK node of the Millennium Project, lead designer of Vital Syllabus, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), and sits on the Board of the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies).
He blogs at dw2blog.com and tweets as @dw2. He is a seasoned internationalist, and has been married for over 40 years to a native of South Korea.