Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS, Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, has received one of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s most prestigious awards.

Dame Wendy is the British Science Association’s honorary President for 2026-27, and will take up her position in September during the British Science Festival in Southampton.

She has become only the third woman in 25 years to win the Sir Frank Whittle Medal.

The Sir Frank Whittle Medal, named after Britain’s wartime jet engine inventor, recognises Dame Wendy’s extraordinary achievements during a career spanning five decades in leading the development of web science and shaping the UK’s AI strategy.

Dame Wendy’s work has shaped the development of digital libraries and the evolution of the internet – and she and her research group were investigating multimedia and hypermedia challenges years before the World Wide Web existed.

Recognised as a leading figure in shaping the future of technology, Dame Wendy co-chaired the UK Government’s AI Review in 2017, a pivotal report that informed the UK’s national AI strategy.

In a new book AI Explained: A Guide for Non-Technical Readers, to be published this September, she explains how artificial intelligence actually works, from first principles to the generative model.

Beyond her research and advisory roles, Dame Wendy has been a vocal champion of women in engineering and a role model for future generations of computer scientists and engineers, including as Senior Vice President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2005 to 2008.

Dame Wendy will be President of the British Science Association for 2026-27 and will deliver her Presidential Address – a conversation with BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman about the future of AI – at this year’s British Science Festival, which is hosted by the University of Southampton.

She also features in a new series of photographs of 50 of the UK’s leading engineers, specially commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering to mark its 50^th anniversary this year. An exhibition of these unique images of people whose innovation has helped to tackle some of humanity’s greatest challenges is currently touring the UK.

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Top Image: Dame Wendy Hall by thisisjude.uk, courtesy of the Royal Academy of Engineering 

Second Image: Royal Academy of Engineering President Sir John Lazar with Dame Wendy Hall, by Rob Lacey, courtesy of the Royal Academy of Engineering