As 2025 draws to a close, the ITNOW team puts together a selection of articles from the year — from the role of psychology in computer design to the ethics of travel and how AI is affecting the UK water industry, it’s been a fascinating 12 months to work in the tech industry.
Thanks to all our fantastic contributors and readers — we’re looking forward to bringing you more top tier content in 2026. Read on to explore our top ten articles of 2025.
1. Do we need a new discipline of AI engineering?
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI) capabilities, has been a key trend in many organisations over the past year. While its effects are being felt in a wide range of domains, it is in software development and delivery where some of the most startling results are being seen. Software engineering is an established, decades old discipline. Professor Alan Brown FBCS asks whether the current rise of AI means there’s a need to define a new discipline for those who create it. Read the full article: Do we need a new discipline of AI engineering?
2. Zero trust, real talk: rethinking cybersecurity for a volatile future
At a recent closed-door BCS CIO Network event, industry leaders, policymakers and cybersecurity experts convened to grapple with one of the most complex challenges of our digital era: how to stay safe in a world where digital transformation is inevitable — and increasingly risky. As part of BCS’ CIO Network family of events, Brian Runciman MBCS reports on how cybersecurity leaders are reconsidering trust, cost and culture in the face of evolving threats, AI disruption and the complex realities of Zero Trust implementation. Read the full article: Zero trust, real talk: rethinking cybersecurity for a volatile future
3. Dare, always dare: Lovelace Colloquium 2025
On 16 April 2025 the BCS Lovelace Colloquium celebrated its 18th birthday at the University of Glasgow Student’s Union (GUU), a building which forbade women until 1980. With a variety of talks and over 150 female and non-binary students in attendance as well as academics and industry professionals, the event was filled to bursting. Georgia Smith MBCS reports. Read the full article: Dare, always dare: Lovelace Colloquium 2025
4. 12 ways psychology makes computers better
Cognitive approaches have long helped IT develop more purposeful systems to serve users better, and the most effective computer systems leverage an understanding of their users' minds to create more valuable products. In this article, we will explore 12 psychological principles incorporated into computing that have enhanced the quality of the systems we produce. Whether you’re designing a user interface, interaction or experience, understanding some key psychological principles can make the process more successful. Kolawole Daramola MBCS explores and explains. Read the full article: 12 ways psychology makes computers better
5. The ethics of travel: balancing safety, sustainability, and personal autonomy
Transport is key to modern life: we travel for work, move resources and products from A to B, visit family and friends near and far, and go on holidays abroad. Computing has the potential to improve transport efficiency and safety, but it comes with significant risks. This article considers some of the key areas where ethics, technology and transportation collide. Professor Neil Gordon, Tunde Akindele and Pierre Morel from the BCS Ethics Specialist Group examine how technology could impact transport, from safety to sustainability. Read the full article: The ethics of travel: balancing safety, sustainability, and personal autonomy
6. Changing critical systems in government IT
IT within government has been shifting in prominence for some time. Traditionally seen as a support service quietly enabling policy, administration and service delivery, it now finds itself centre stage. This evolution has been gradual but decisive. Ian Mitchell C-ENG FBCS, Accenture UKI’s Director CTO Advisory in UK Secure Transformation Services, considers why IT services that once sat quietly in the background are now mission critical to the functioning of modern government. Read the full article: Changing critical systems in government IT
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7. How AI and digital innovation are transforming the UK water industry
From leaking water mains to polluted rivers and questions over funding the ocean of necessary improvements, the UK water industry’s reputation isn’t sparkling. Dig behind these headlines, however, and you’ll find an industry that’s embracing digital technologies at a rate and with a radicalness that is entirely at odds with the sector’s outward facade. Jeannette Henderson, Principal, Ofwat Innovation Fund, tells Martin Cooper about the part artificial intelligence and IT skills can play in transforming the UK’s water system. Read the full article: How AI and digital innovation are transforming the UK water industry
8. Agentic AI: developing the skills and systems for success
How can we manage an AI designed to build and execute its own plans, with even less human input? Agentic AI is developing rapidly, raising new questions about ethical frameworks, deployment and what skills the future workforce will need. Grant Powell MBCS spoke to Dr Bill Mitchell OBE FBCS. The following article is based on that conversation, diving into what makes agentic AI unique — and how it can be integrated into businesses successfully. Read the full article: Agentic AI: developing the skills and systems for success
9. Is AI or quantum computing more energy intensive?
In a recent BBC Radio 4 interview, the team behind a quantum computer made a striking claim: their machine could solve a problem so complex that a conventional supercomputer would need to be wired to a small power station to match its performance. It’s a provocative image — one that invites us to ask: how do the energy demands of quantum computing compare to those of AI running on classical systems? Julian Fletcher FBCS, Chair of the BCS Quantum Specialist Group, looks at AI and quantum computing’s energy uses and finds comparing them is a fascinating but impossibly difficult task. Read the full article: Is AI or quantum computing more energy intensive?
10. How machine learning could improve water quality
George Gerring, River Deep Mountain AI Programme Lead, and Chris Dawson, R&D Lead at Xylem, speak to Grant Powell MBCS about an innovative project to analyse water pollution with a view to improving water quality and benefit public health. Read the full article: How machine learning could improve water quality
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Interested in all BCS has to offer? Explore our range of oher articles, courses and books:
