Andrew Bolster
Head of Data Science @ Synopsys Software Integrity Group; Treasurer @ Farset Labs & BSidesBelfast; NIOGN Board Member
Belfast, United Kingdom
Actions
Andrew Bolster aka Bolster
Andrew Bolster is a technologist, an award winning researcher, community leader, and an occasional public speaker.
As Head of Data Science at WhiteHat Security, he uses advanced data mining and machine learning techniques to provide adaptive cybersecurity for global brands at scale, and is building a community of practice around Data Science in Belfast.
Bolster’s academic works focused on the applications of Autonomous and Intelligent systems in defence and marine contexts, as well as emergent behaviours in distributed and decentralised systems, particularly focused on the application of social contagion theories of trust to make autonomous marine communication networks resilient to state-level interference.
He is a member of multiple AI Ethics groups and has taught on related subjects, including recent talks on AI explainability and the responsible use of machine learning in industry.
And when he's not teaching machines how to think, he is also a founding Director of Farset Labs, Northern Ireland’s Hackerspace, and a co-organiser of the InfosecNI, PyBelfast, and DataArtNI Meetup groups.
Area of Expertise
Topics
A Stranger in a Strange Land: Data Science Onboarding In Practice
With Data Science being the current hotness, it's appearing in job specs and linkedin posts more than ever. However, for an organisation attempting to invest in Data Science capabilities, how do you introduce, accomodate, and indeed, welcome these new skills into your production data workflows, and what tools can be leveraged in data exploration to understand the inevitable data cruft, technical debt, and documentation atrophy that comes from any large production service over time?
In this talk we'll walk through some of the practices I've arrived at as someone who joined an organisation with no previous Data Science capability, and what tools I recommend to new hires (and intrigued colleagues) to understand complex production datastructures.
Data Art: Creative collisions and getting out of your comfort zone
The technology community is known for being strongly inward looking; we focus on techniques, products, languages, frameworks, and best practices.
However, some of the best outcomes and experiences come from pushing and stretching our boundaries outside of the safety of our wee community.
In this talk, I'll be discussing some of the creative collisions I've come across; from using VR technologies to enable creative expression for disabled musicians, empowering artists to use electronics to connect their art to the wider world, and using science data to drive policy and political engagement.
Lies, Damned Lies and Data Science
Data Science is all about taking data from the observed or experienced world to generate actionable insights to support and direct decision makers, but there are plenty of ways data can 'lie'. Even with the best of intentions, processes, and controls, professional Data Scientists need to be on the look out for several 'tricks' that data can pull on us.
Tell me about your Programmer - Robopsychologist and other careers that don't exist (yet)
In Issac Asimov’s stories, the technical, social and personal impacts of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence are explored. One creation in his books was the career of “Robopsychologist”, a combination of mathematician, programmer, and psychologist, that diagnosed and treated misbehaving AI. In this talk we’ll discuss how on earth you can prepare for careers in Robopsychology and other careers that don’t exist (yet).
Targeted at a younger audience; discussing career paths and how to prepare for a future that isn't know.
Northern Ireland Developer Conference 2019 Sessionize Event
Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers. If you suspect this profile to be fake or spam, please let us know.
Jump to top