What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?

I am a Professor of Cyber Security and have been at Loughborough for two years.

Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?

My days can vary so much that it’s hard to describe a typical day, and that’s one of the things that I love most about my job – the variety. Some days I can be up bright and early, getting ready to teach (I live in Norfolk, so a teaching session at 10am means leaving the house at 6.30am) and then spending a day interacting with students. Another day, I will be heading out to meet someone and possibly write/record something media-related, or I might be going out to do some hands-on research, whether that’s an engagement event, a workshop or running one of the many games we’ve developed as part of our research projects. Then there are some days when I get to sit and think and create, designing a new game, coming up with a new idea to get some key elements of research across or thinking of a new project.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

I have to say the recent Responsible AI-funded project on developing digital literacy and skills in AI stands out. We created a megagame (a large-scale interactive role-playing game – think Secret Cinema meets Dungeons & Dragons) and a children’s illustrated A to Z of AI. The megagame has been fantastic fun, and I’m due to run it as an event at the British Science Festival. I have even ended up taking it to the University of Tasmania for a trial run as part of a collaboration project.

The children’s book has been hugely rewarding. I spent a week or two writing in rhyming verse, and consequently speaking that way much to the pleasure of my family. I worked with three excellent illustrators to make something that is genuinely great fun. I’ve been out and done schools and science engagement events, ran a robot crafting workshop and an AI treasure hunt in a local library. We’ve had wonderful feedback and had the book featured on some tech books for kids websites, and other media. It’s available digitally too.

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

I think it has to be delivering my inaugural lecture. I never even imagined that I would make it as far as being a Professor, so I’ve felt very lucky to be where I am right now. Having the chance to deliver a lecture for my colleagues, friends, family and the general public was massively rewarding. One of my old sixth form teachers even came along with 10-15 students from his school, to show them what you can do with computer science (that isn’t just being a software developer). That, along with my four children actually sitting and listening for half an hour, was a real point of pride!

Which University value do you most resonate with and why?

I’m torn between adventurous and creative.

I spent the first half of my career to date working as a software engineer because I thought it would give me the licence to be creative and express myself. The reality was that I was delivering the same things in the same way time after time. Since I transitioned back to academia in 2013, I’ve been trying to do things differently. I’ve given a talk in the past called ‘Computer Science isn’t all about Computers’ and I’m trying to maintain that creativity and sense of adventure in my work. Yes, computers are important but the people that use them are equally important. I’m always keen to find different ways of engaging people with the subject, whether that’s writing a children’s book, creating a role-playing game or using storytelling-driven methods to think about the future.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

Tough one.

I think the thing that surprises people most when I tell them is the sheer amount of living things I have that depend on me in my house! We have four children, as well as four Maine Coons (giant cats!) and a dog. It is a very…active house, which occasionally borders on chaotic.

The other thing that I do enjoy is cooking, and at present that is focused on baking. We have a long standing pizza night in our house, which means I have handmade in excess of 1,000 pizzas at this point in my life. I’ve also been experimenting with as many different cookie recipes as I can find, recently.

Both of those things feed my other main hobby…running – it’s essential to maintain a healthy waistline and to get some space for mindfulness, and listening to an audiobook.

What is your favourite quote?

“When big things happen on such a large scale, it’s easy to forget sometimes that these big things are also happening to the little things in the world.” – Dungeon Crawler Carl

If you would like to feature in ‘Five Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Martha Causier at m.causier@lboro.ac.uk.