Experience

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  Intact Digital Ltd

  • Cambridge, United Kingdom

  • Founder & CEO

    • Jan 2016 - Present
    • Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Intact Digital Ltd (IDL) provides managed services for hosting and using legacy software to ensure long term access to data, information and knowledge. INTACT Software Library complements e-archives, document management systems and code repositories by providing installations and computing environments in which legacy software can be used securely and conveniently. With IDL digital continuity plans, organizations can protect their investment in technology and digital assets of long-term value. Digital continuity is an essential component of the business continuity. IDL collaborates with software vendors to plan product releases and manage product support beyond the market life-span. Its also supports data publishers, managers, and owners to enable reliable access and use of content using stable and reliable software installations.

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  Qatar Computing Research Institute

  • Doha, Qatar

  • Research Director

    • Sep 2022 - Present
    • Doha, Qatar

    Research Director with the Arabic Language Technologies (ALT) Group at the Qatar Computing Research Centre (QCRI), leading research and incubation of economically sustainable initiatives.QCRI is a leading research organization in computing, internationally renowned for its research excellence and dedication to impactful innovation. ALT research is its flagship initiative, focused on developing state-of-the-art methods and technologies for processing Arabic content and spoken language.

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  University of Nottingham

  • Nottingham, United Kingdom

  • Professor Emerita, Computer Science

    • Oct 2015 - Jul 2020
    • Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Chair of Data Science. Conducted research in computational methods and conceptual frameworks for applying state-of-the-art techniques in information retrieval, machine learning and AI. Taught professional ethics in computing. Contributed to the University Research Strategy as Global Research Theme (GRT) Lead for Digital Frontiers. Involved in the University wide initiative on AI lead research and innovation.

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  Microsoft

  • Principal Researcher

    • Jun 1998 - Oct 2015

    Created and led Integrated Systems interdisciplinary research group, focused on innovation in information management and communication systems. Created more than 20 prototypes, received 13 patents and published over 90 publications across computer science disciplines, including information retrieval, natural language processing, machine learning and human-computer interaction.

  • Director of Research Partnership Programme

    • Oct 2005 - Feb 2010

    In addition to active research, served as Director of Research Partnership Programme, connecting Microsoft Research (MSR) with leading innovators in industry to explore opportunities for collaborative research initiatives. Led MSR participation in the PLANETS and SCAPE EU digital preservation projects involving consortia of memory institutions and industry. The projects focused on tools and methods to support digital preservation workflows at scale.

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  Clairvoayance

  • Pittsburgh

  • Director of Research

    • Jan 1993 - Jun 1998
    • Pittsburgh

    Third employee hired by CLARIT Corporation, a successful spin-off from Carnegie-Mellon University that was later renamed Claritech and then Clairvoyance when acquired by JustSystems, Japan. Led a team of 17 researchers focused on information retrieval techniques and natural language processing (NLP). Claritech was a pioneer in computational linguistics and incorporating NLP into statistical information retrieval models.