City St George’s will host a discussion with Professors Joeseph Collier and Baba Sheba as part of October’s institutional events marking Black Futures Month.
This event, entitled Algorithms and Accountability – Lessons from 1985, will focus on the importance of ensuring the accuracy and honesty of digital systems as Artificial Intelligence becomes increasingly influential in the world. It will also cover how having human accountability baked into the governance of such systems is absolutely vital.
Emeritus Professor Collier is a Class of 1967 medical school alumnus who also taught at the institution, retiring from the role of Professor of Medicines Policy in 2007. During his time at the institution, Emeritus Professor Collier unearthed a computer programme used to assist with processing student applications in the 1980s which discriminated against women and ethnic minority applicants.
Professor Sheba is a Professor of Digital Education and Transformation, and also the Director of Digital Transformation at City St George’s having previously led digital education at legacy St George’s prior to the merger.
"Moral and emotional dilemmas of being a whistleblower"
Speaking of the upcoming event Emeritus Professor Collier says, “During the talk I will discuss the events that preceded, led to the discovery of, and occurred in the wake of my finding of a computer programme used by St George’s Hospital Medical School for admission purposes in 1986. It was created and used to discriminate against those who had names which indicated they were either women or from a minority ethnic group.
“I will call upon the data published with my co-worker Aggrey Burke analysing the computer programme as well as the findings subsequently published by the Commission for Racial Equality. The latter’s report detailed what happened, vindicated our work, apportioned guilt for the events, proposed solutions, and changed admission practice throughout the UK. I will refer to these conclusions in the talk as well as discuss the moral and emotional dilemmas of being a whistleblower.”
“Institutions can prioritise fairness and accountability”
Professor Sheba says, “My work focuses on digital innovation, AI enabled education, institutional transformation and the responsible development of learning technologies that strengthen student capability, academic practice and sector readiness.
“Attendees can expect to hear two connected perspectives on an important part of our institutional history. Professor Collier will speak from experience about the events in the 1980s. I will speak about the power of algorithms and the importance of accountability in how these are used especially at a time of significant digital disruption. I will particularly focus on what we can learn about systems that reproduce past judgements and what meaningful human responsibility should look like.
Speaking about Black Futures Month more generally, Professor Sheba adds, “Black Futures Month has a forward focus and that future isn’t going to be shaped by new technology alone, but by those who have a voice in designing it, those who are affected by it, and whether institutions can prioritise fairness and accountability. This also has profound implications for how we prepare our learners in a changing world.”
How to attend this event
If you would like to attend this event please complete this registration form.
This event will take place in The Curve Lecture Theatre (Level 0, Hunter Wing) on our Tooting campus.
Attendance at City St George's events is subject to our terms and conditions.