Join global experts at the 32nd BCS Annual Online Conference on Software Quality Management with the theme "Ethics in AI Human Conduct".
Speakers
Tom Gilb HonFBCS (Norway)
Professor Joseph Kasser (Australia)
Pyrros Radimissis (Australia)
Pamela Agbahor (UK)
Dr Larry Kennedy (USA)
Dr Barclay Brown (USA)
Agenda
9:00am - Final Technical Tests for Speakers
9:15am - Registration - Opening Address, Margaret Ross and Raid AlQaisi
9:30am - Keynote: AI Ethics Planning, Tom Gilb HonFBCS
10:00am - Break
10:45am - TBC, Joseph Kasser
11:45am - Lunch
12:15pm - Quality Assurance as a Cybernetic Process, Pyrros Radimissis
1:15pm - Break
1:30pm - Building Ethical systems, Not monsters: What three iconic films teach us about, Pamela Agbahor
2:30pm - Break
2:45pm - TBC, Larry Kennedy
3:45pm - Break
4:00pm - Closing Keynote: TBC, Barclay Brown
5:00pm - Closing Remarks, Raid AlQaisi and Margaret Ross
Event synopsis
This year's conference's general theme is "Ethics in AI Human Conduct".
Join global experts at the 32nd BCS Annual Online International Conference on Software Quality Management (SQM), where industry pioneers, academics, and practitioners address the most pressing ethical challenges in AI-driven systems.
This year's focus responds to urgent industry needs identified in the BCS Ethics Survey 2023: 82% of IT professionals demand organisational ethical policies for AI, while 88% advocate for government leadership in shaping global ethical standards, in AI and other high-stakes technologies (BCS, 2024).
Talk synopses
Quality Assurance as a Cybernetic Process - Pyrros Radimissis
"Quality Assurance as a Cybernetic Process” frames QA as a feedback-and-control function designed with ethics embedded for complex, AI-enabled systems and the people who run them.
Using the lens of cybernetics and Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, it lays out four layers of quality assurance; engineering, project/program, governance, and meta‑QA.
Presenting how to design for quality, test what matters, govern responsibly, and continuously “audit the auditors.”
The session translates this into practice for human–AI teaming, opaque decision chains, and training‑data risks, arguing that ethics can’t be outsourced to automation but must be embedded in the regulatory design.
Attendees will leave with a clear architecture and actionable methods to keep intelligent systems and their overseers honest, aligning compliance with conscience.
Building Ethical systems, Not monsters: What three iconic films teach us about bias in ai and responsibility - Pamela Agbahor BA MSc MBCS
This presentation explores the challenges of bias in artificial intelligence, using three iconic films as powerful storytelling tools. Each film reveals a distinct form of bias: individual and social prejudice, structural injustice, and institutional exclusion. These mirror real-world issues in AI systems.
Blending narrative, ethical reflection, and quality management principles, the session highlights the societal risks of unchecked AI bias. It encourages the audience to consider how bias shapes the systems we design and how we can build fairer, more inclusive, and more responsible and ethical technologies.
About the speakers
Tom Gilb was born in California 1940, lived in the UK 1956-58, Norway 1958 to present. Joined IBM 1958.
Consulted for a very wide variety of organisations, and managed to influence some of them in interesting and well documented ways. See ‘PPPP’ below.
Tom is an Honorary Fellow of BCS. See Gilb.com for more details. Tom is the author of thirteen paper books, dozens of E-books, and hundreds of papers on a wide variety of subjects. His book ‘Competitive Engineering’ is a substantial definition of systems engineering ideas. His works are at Researchgate All free, and https://leanpub.com/u/tomgilb (free samples)
Many BCS and other videos by Tom are at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tom+gilb, and at the BCS SPA video site https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBhokJ0qd3_wlvr0j85YhmNfNj8ZJ8M-
Tom has guest lectured at universities all over UK, Europe, China, India, USA, Korea – and has been a keynote speaker at dozens of technical conferences internationally.
There are very many organisations and individuals who use some or all of Gilb methods. IBM and HP were two early corporate adopters. Over the recent 20 years, 20,000 engineers at Intel have adopted his ‘Planguage’ requirements and design methods. Some case studies of the use of his methods are in ‘Powerful Ploys for Problems, using Planguage’, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384054757_PPPP_Powerful_Ploys_for_Problems/, which includes an updated references section with free publications, up to 2024.
Tom is 84, retired, living in Norway. He follows up electronically daily, and his highest wish is to spread useful ideas to the next generation.
Pyrros Radimissis is an experienced Test & Evaluation (T&E) Manager and specialist consultant with a strong foundation in systems thinking and assurance. He holds certifications as a Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP), Systems Engineering Quality Manager (SEQM), and Certified Practising Project Director (CPPD). With extensive experience supporting complex defence and government programs, he brings disciplined oversight to system performance, verification, and stakeholder alignment.
Pamela Agbahor holds a BA (Hons) in Foreign Languages and Literature with a major in French but has built a 15-year career in IT. After working at a commercial bank, she taught herself database development and expanded into software and data systems. Pamela also has experience in data management, IT training, Business Intelligence, along with auditing, administrative, and other support roles in diverse sectors but primarily in the education sector.
She earned an MSc in Computing (Software Engineering) from the Open University, with a dissertation that uncovered major barriers to environmental sustainability data collection in the Film and TV industry through interviews with key stakeholders. She is also a certified IT quality manager.
Pamela enjoys tackling an organisation’s most critical problems. Drawing on her expertise in quality management, she helps control costs that escalate from unclear goals, poor planning, or overlooked risks. She focuses on improving stakeholder value that benefit both organisations and their customers.
Based in the UK, Pamela is an active member of several BCS specialist groups, including Quality Management, Data Management, Green IT, and Artificial Intelligence.
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This event is brought to you by: Quality specialist group
Supported by: Dorset branch and Hampshire branch
