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Professor
Tom Crick
MBE CEng FBCS FIET FLSW FAcSS
Crick in May 2023
BornJanuary 1981 (age 43)
Oxford, UK
EducationWheatley Park School
Alma materUniversity of Bath (BSc, PhD)
Known forComputer science education, Artificial intelligence, Data science, Technology policy
AwardsIET Achievement Medal (2022)
BCS Lovelace Medal (2023)
Hugh Owen Medal (2023)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Bath
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Swansea University
ThesisSuperoptimisation: Provably Optimal Code Generation using Answer Set Programming (2009)
Websitewww.swansea.ac.uk/staff/thomas.crick/

Tom Crick (born 1981) is a British interdisciplinary computer scientist. He is Professor of Digital Policy at Swansea University and Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Alongside his academic work, Crick has led major reforms to the science and technology curriculum in Wales, with related contributions in digital/technology policy.

Early life and education

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Crick was raised in Wheatley, Oxfordshire.[1] He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in computer science at the University of Bath, having been sponsored through his undergraduate degree by ARM.[1] His doctoral research, funded by the EPSRC, considered superoptimisation by developing practical strategies to generate provably optimal code using answer set programming.[2]

Career

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After a period as a postdoc on ALIVE,[3] a European Commission FP7-funded project at the University of Bath, Crick was appointed lecturer in computer science at Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2009, becoming a full professor in 2016. He was recognised as a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2014.[4] He moved to a professorial role at Swansea University in 2018, becoming Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Civic Mission in 2021.

In 2017, Crick was elected Vice-President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT[5] for a three-year term. He has also served in a number of senior elected positions in the Association for Computing Machinery, including Vice-Chair of ACM Europe Council and a Member-at-Large of ACM Council.[6]

Crick is editor-in-chief of The Computer Journal,[7] published by Oxford University Press, and an editor of the Wales Journal of Education,[8] published by University of Wales Press.

Crick was an inaugural Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales from 2018 to 2022.[9] He has previously been a trustee of the British Science Association and the Campaign for Science and Engineering (both 2011-2017).[10] He was appointed a trustee of Cumberland Lodge in 2024.[11] He joined the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport as Chief Scientific Adviser in 2023.[12]

Computer science education and digital skills

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Crick has been involved with the reform of the school-level science and technology curriculum in Wales since 2010.[13][14] In 2013, he was appointed by the Welsh Government to chair an independent review of the ICT curriculum in Wales.[15] Crick argued that Welsh learners were not being given the necessary skills or agency to thrive in our digital world.[16][17]

In 2015-2016, Crick chaired the development of the bilingual Digital Competence Framework[18] in Wales, which elevated digital competence (the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to be confident in the use of technologies[19]) to the same standing as literacy and numeracy in the new Curriculum for Wales. It outlined how schools could incorporate student-centred digital competency into their local curriculum.[18]

Crick then led the development of the Science & Technology strand of the new Curriculum for Wales in 2017.[20] His efforts united the traditional sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) with computer science and design & technology.[21] The new curriculum was published in January 2020 and started phasing in for all schools in Wales from September 2022 onwards.[22] He was also appointed Chair of the National Network of Excellence in Science & Technology,[23] a £4m Welsh Government strategic investment which focused on supporting STEM teachers in partnership with higher education institutions.[24]

Crick also chaired Qualification Wales’ 2018 review of ICT sector qualifications, which reported that they were outdated and needed considerable reform,[25] resulting in new GCSE and A-Level qualifications in Digital Technology from 2021 onwards.[26]

Awards and honours

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Professor Tom Crick MBE". Archives of IT. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  2. ^ "Superoptimisation: Provably Optimal Code Generation using Answer Set Programming". University of Bath. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  3. ^ "ALIVE". University of Bath. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  4. ^ a b "National Teaching Fellows 2014: Dr Tom Crick". Advance HE. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  5. ^ a b "Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis among the recipients of prestigious computing award - BCS Lovelace Medal 2023". BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. 2023-11-07. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  6. ^ "ACM Council". Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  7. ^ "Editorial Board — The Computer Journal". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  8. ^ "Editorial Team — Wales Journal of Education". University of Wales Press. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  9. ^ "Our Directors: Professor Tom Crick MBE". Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  10. ^ "CRICK, Prof. Thomas". Who's Who (online ed.). A & C Black. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2024-09-28. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. ^ "Meet Our Team: Cumberland Lodge Leadership and Staff". Cumberland Lodge. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  12. ^ "DCMS Chief Scientific Adviser: Professor Tom Crick MBE". UK Government. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  13. ^ "The future of science and technology in the Welsh education system". Swansea University. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  14. ^ "A Century of Inspiring People: Tom Crick". Swansea University. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  15. ^ "The ICT Steering Group's Report to the Welsh Government" (PDF). Welsh Government. 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  16. ^ "Wales' schools 'left behind' in digital age, experts claim". BBC News. 2014-05-23. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  17. ^ * Digitally Engaged, Data Savvy and Computationally Literate: Key Competencies for Future Citizens?, a TED talk by Tom Crick
  18. ^ a b "Digital Competence Framework: your questions answered". Welsh Government. 2018. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  19. ^ Crick, T. (2022). Rethinking Digital Competencies in the New Curriculum for Wales. ITiCSE'22. Dublin, Ireland: ACM. doi:10.1145/3502717.3532145.
  20. ^ "Yr Athro Tom Crick - Gwyddoniaeth a Thechnoleg / Professor Tom Crick, Science and Technology". YouTube. Addysg Cymru/Education Wales. 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  21. ^ Moller, F.; Crick, T. (2018). "A university-based model for supporting computer science curriculum reform". Journal of Computers in Education. 5: 415–434. doi:10.1007/s40692-018-0117-x.
  22. ^ "Curriculum for Wales - Hwb". Welsh Government. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  23. ^ "£4m to improve school results in science and technology". BBC News. 2017-01-07. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  24. ^ "Drive to improve science and technology in schools begins". Welsh Government. 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  25. ^ "Delivering Digital: ICT qualifications are outdated and need fundamental reform". FE News. 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  26. ^ "GCSE Digital Technology". WJEC. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  27. ^ "Media Fellow alumni". British Science Association. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  28. ^ "Major WLCoW Award Recipients". Worshipful Livery Company of Wales. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  29. ^ "Thomas CRICK". The Gazette. 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  30. ^ "BERA announces 2020 Public Engagement and Impact Awards". British Educational Research Association. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  31. ^ "Fellows: Professor Tom Crick". Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  32. ^ "World leading engineers win IET Achievement Awards". Institution of Engineering and Technology. 2022-10-21. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  33. ^ "Fellows". Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  34. ^ "Hugh Owen Medal 2023". Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
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