Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science, to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the UOC

PhD in Mathematics, Regius Professor of Computer Science, Associate Vice-President for International Engagement at the University of Southampton, Executive Director of the Web Science Institute and Managing Director of the Web Science Trust, Dame Wendy Hall is to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the UOC. The ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. (CET) on Thursday 2 March in the U Building's auditorium on the UOC Campus (Carrer del Perú 52, Barcelona) and can be followed live here and on social media with the hashtag #HonorisCausaUOC.

Dame Wendy Hall is to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) on Thursday 2 March 2023 in recognition of her academic career in the field of artificial intelligence, the semantic web and web science, her inclusive vision of technology as a resource for people's well-being, and her leading role in the fight for gender equality and against horizontal segregation in the field of technology.

Dame Hall sits on the AI Council, an independent expert committee serving the UK Government with guidance and leadership in the artificial intelligence ecosystem, and is Chair of the Ada Lovelace Institute. One of the world’s leading computer scientists, she is recognized internationally as a key figure in the development of web science, and was one of the first computer scientists to embark on research into multi- and hyper-media technologies, before the existence of the World Wide Web. She was a member of the UOC Internet Interdisciplinary Institute's Scientific Research Committee between 2013 and 2015.

Active in the defence of gender equality in science and technology, she spearheaded the creation of the British Computer Society Women's Forum and has promoted numerous other initiatives raising awareness of women's role in the field of computer science.

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and ranked one of the hundred most powerful women in the United Kingdom by the BBC, she has received honorary titles from various other universities, including University College London (2014), the University of Birmingham (2012) or the University of Glasgow (2009).

Dame Wendy Hall, the UOC's 14th honorary doctorate

Dame Wendy Hall will become the Univeristat Oberta de Catalunya's 14th honorary doctorate and the award ceremony will coincide with the end of Josep A. Planell's time in office as president of the UOC.

Recent honorary doctorates awarded by the UOC have gone to figures such as Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London;  Mary Beard, Professor at the University of Cambridge, or Manuel Borja-Villel, Director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.