Tech and society

BCS believes in making IT good for society - part of this is navigating the transformative benefits of IT and digital technology safely and securely.

BCS works in a variety of ways with the government, the public sector, private industry and civil society to generate practical solutions to key issues such as online harms, cyber security and data security and protection.

Events, articles and reports

Algorithms

The majority of people do not trust computers to make decisions about any aspect of their lives, according to a survey conducted by BCS. Over half of UK adults have no faith in any organisation to use algorithms when making judgements about them.

Algorithms report

Diversity report

BCS campaigns for a more diverse workforce in the digital industries. The BCS annual diversity report looks at employment trends.

BCS diversity report 2020

Huawei survey

Find out what expert BCS members think about the UK government's decision to remove Huawei from involvement with the 5G network. Will it make the UK network safer, or slow down digital innovation?

Huawei survey 2020

AI risks

The expertise of the BCS policy department is called upon by the government to inform its policies across the board - such as the Standards in Public Life committee.

AI risks having bias and discrimination ‘hard-wired’ in - BCS tells report

Past reports

Join in

Discover BCS membership! You’ll be joining a thriving community of IT professionals and benefits include access to regular events, conferences, meetings, as well the chance to join our members’ groups such as the ICT Ethics specialist group, or the Law Specialist Group.

Share your support

BCS regularly polls IT professionals and members on topical issues. Our surveys are one way that we listen to our members opinions and this helps to form our policies on major areas of public policy, such as the NHSX contract tracing app.

"Lack of diversity in product development teams is a concern as non-diverse teams may be more likely to follow practices that inadvertently hard-wire bias into new products or services."

Dr Bill Mitchell, BCS Director of Policy
Commenting on a report published by the Committee for Standards in Public Life

Get involved

Do you want to know more about our policy work or have views about STEM policy you’d like to share? Would your organisation like to get involved with our STEM research or carry out a joint campaign with BCS? If so, we want to hear from you! To share your opinions and to find out more about partnering with us, get in touch at policyhub@bcs.uk

Email policyhub@bcs.uk

Explore our other priorities

Health and care

Digital health is undergoing rapid transformation and BCS, as the professional body for IT, is committed to supporting the establishment of recognised professional standards in this sector. This will enable and empower digital health professionals to mitigate risks and provide secure, insight-driven data to improve patient care.

Explore health and care

Education

We support the teaching of rigorous and relevant computer science across the academic spectrum, from primary school to university. We are also the end-point assessor for the thriving digital apprenticeship sector. The UK currently faces a major skills gap and education is the key to kickstarting innovation and sustaining our future economy.

Explore education

Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI is rapidly affecting all aspects of our lives, but the pace of professional practice doesn’t always keep up with its impact. BCS helps to find solutions to the big public policy questions where AI is used - from facial recognition technology, recruitment, health care and logistics. BCS believes that developing and maintaining a diverse and inclusive AI sector is central to reducing bias in machine learning and delivering AI applications that are fit-for-purpose and representative of our society.

Explore artificial intelligence