Prof. Ben Azvine
Global Head of Security Research and Distinguished Engineer, BT
Ben leads the global cyber security research programme in BT.
Ben is responsible for setting direction and strategy for security research, identifying innovation opportunities and leading a strong international team of researcher to develop new capabilities in collaboration with industrial and academic partners.
Ben has 30 years’ experience in both academia and industry. His previous roles included leading the IT research centre and Head of Business Intelligence and Customer Analytics Research at BT Group Chief Technology Office. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in Control Engineering, a PhD in Intelligent Control Systems from Manchester University and an MBA from Imperial College, London. He joined BT in 1995 to lead a research programme to develop and exploit novel Artificial Intelligence technology to support next generation IT systems. Since then he has held senior, principal, chief research scientist posts at BT’s global R&D headquarters in Adastral Park, Ipswich.
He has edited two books and published more than 100 scientific articles on novel application of intelligent systems. He is an inventor of 70 patent applications, has won 4 BCS awards and an IET gold medals for IT innovation, is a current holder of a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship at City and holds Visiting Professorship positions at the Universities of Bristol, Cranfield, Suffolk and Bournemouth. Ben’s current research interests include the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to cybersecurity, protection of critical national infrastructure, data analysis and information and knowledge management.