CREATe is delighted to invite you to the next in our series of public lectures, delivered by Tristan Henderson, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews. The lecture is taking place on 26th November at 3pm in the Wolfson Medical Building (Yudowitz Lecture Theatre).

Tristan Henderson: Code is not law and law is not code but can they be friends?

The early 2000s were infamously filled with calls of 'code is law', as legislators and legal academics tried to grapple with understanding the new technologies that comprised 'cyberspace' and the 'information highway'. Today, in our data-driven society, where code is omnipresent and manipulates our behaviour in more ways than ever, it might be more important than ever to understand how code and law do, and should, interact.

I am one of a relatively rare breed: a computer scientist who attempts to dabble in the law. In this talk I will use examples from copyright and data protection to show how code might help us understand the law that governs code. I will then suggest ways in which technology and law might be co-developed rather than merely co-exist. My hope is to encourage collaboration between computer scientists and lawyers so my breed might become more common!

Tristan Henderson is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews and the Director of the SICSA Graduate Academy, supporting computer science research training across Scotland. He also serves on the YoungScot Data Advisory Group, as an Area Editor for Data & Policy (CUP) and as an Associate Editor for Technology & Society (IEEE). He holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge, an MSc and PhD in Computer Science from UCL, and an LLM in Innovation, Technology and the Law from Edinburgh.