Professor Tom Crick MBE joined the Cumberland Lodge Board of Trustees in July 2024. Tom is Professor of Digital Policy at Swansea University and Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Whilst his disciplinary background is in computer science, his interests sit at the research-policy-practice interface, identifying and addressing domain problems with broad digital, data-driven and computational themes, and especially focusing on the impact on citizens, culture and the economy: STEM/digital education, curriculum reform, science and innovation policy, artificial intelligence, data science, and skills/infrastructure for the digital/data economy.
Tom has led the major science and technology curriculum reforms in Wales over the past 10+ years, and has recently driven the development of Swansea University’s civic mission strategy. He was an inaugural Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales from 2018-2022, as well as a member of the expert panel for the Welsh Government’s 2019 Review of Digital Innovation for the Economy and the Future of Work in Wales. Alongside his academic work, Tom has held senior advisory roles with Nesta, Ofcom, and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, as well as non-executive roles in the utilities, engineering/manufacturing, and health sectors.
Tom is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and the Academy of Social Sciences, and was appointed MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to computer science. He was awarded the 2020 BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award for ‘Leading the Future of Science and Technology Education in Wales’, as well as a 2022 IET Achievement Medal in STEM Education and Policy, the 2023 Learned Society of Wales Hugh Owen Medal for excellence in educational research, and the 2023 BCS Lovelace Medal for Computing Education.