Following Newcastle University's invitation to join the world renowned Alan Turing Institute last year the first twelve Turing Fellows have been announced.

The group is drawn from a wide range of expertise within the University. Alongside computing scientists and statisticians are engineers, geographers and policy experts.

The Newcastle Fellows are drawn from a wide range of expertise:

• Mike Catt - Director, National Innovation Centre for Ageing
• Selina Stead - Professor of Marine Governance and Environmental Science
• Richard Dawson - Professor of Earth System Engineering
• Nick Wright - Professor of Electronic Materials
• Rachel Franklin - Professor of Geographical Analysis
• Nick Holliman - Professor of Visualisation
• Stephen McGough - Senior Lecturer in Data Science
• Paul Watson - Professor of Computer Science
• Paolo Missier - Reader in Large-Scale Information Management
• Chris Oates - Senior Lecturer in Statistics
• Jian Shi - Reader in Statistics
• Darren Wilkinson - Professor of Stochastic Modelling

One of the Fellows, Professor Richard Dawson said: "Newcastle University being invited to join the Turing Institute was recognition of world class research using big data technologies across many different areas so it's fitting that the first group of Fellows is drawn from several subjects.

"We'll be working with our colleagues here in Newcastle and with Turing Fellows from other universities to finalise 50 new research projects where AI and data science can have a game-changing impact for science, engineering, society, and the economy."

Professor Dawson acknowledged the work of colleagues as being key to Newcastle University's success: "Nobody can become a world class researcher, or gain a Fellowship, or other international recognition without being part of a team of people. Diversity of ideas, experience and skills is key and so really these Fellowships reflect the work and expertise of many people across the University."

The Alan Turing Institute

The Alan Turing Institute, headquartered in the British Library, London, was created as the national institute for data science in 2015. It is named in honour of Alan Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), a pioneer of theoretical and applied mathematics, engineering and computing that underpins modern day data science and artificial intelligence.

Turing is best known, perhaps, for his efforts during World War II.  Turing was recruited to the Government Code and Cypher School, reporting to Bletchley Park the day after war was declared in 1939. He worked on a number of crucial projects to support the war effort, none more so than the decryption of the Enigma ciphers. In 1946 he was awarded an OBE for his wartime service.

From Newcastle. For the World.

Several of the Fellows are, or will be, based on the Newcastle Helix site. Once the Scottish & Newcastle Brewery in the city centre, the Helix site is fast becoming a major hub of innovation, research and development. The School of Computing, the backbone of Newcastle's World Top 100 ranking for computer science, is based on the site in the award winning Urban Sciences Building. A new building on site is approximately half way through the construction phase and it will house both the National Innovation Centre for Data and the National Innovation Centre for Ageing.

Professor Dawson added: "It's a really exciting time at Newcastle at the moment. Projects like Helix, membership of the Alan Turing Institute and fourth consecutive rise in the annual international rankings all bode well for city and region."

A full list of Turing Fellows can be downloaded from the Alan turing Institute website.