Advisory public appointment for Law academic

Northumbria Law School academic Professor Marion Oswald MBE has been appointed by the Home Office to the Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group (BFEG), an advisory non-departmental public body.

Members of BFEG are recruited to provide independent expert advice to the Home Office on the ethical considerations related to the use of biometrics, forensics, machine learning, AI and complex data sets. Professor Oswald joins five other newly-appointed experts from across the UK who join existing members to help address some of the most challenging and cutting-edge ethical issues today.

As well as her position at Northumbria, Professor Oswald is also a Senior Research Associate with the Alan Turing Institute. Her research covers the legal and ethical implications of new technologies in policing and national security. She is Principal Investigator of the UKRI-funded 4-year Responsible AI UK Keystone Project ‘PROBabLE Futures – Probabilistic AI Systems in Law Enforcement Futures’ and founding chair of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and West Midlands Police Data Ethics Committee.

Commenting on the appointment Professor Oswald said: “I am honoured to have been selected for this role and looking forward to working with colleagues to provide ethical advice to the Home Office and Government Ministers on biometric technologies, such as facial recognition, and data-driven machine learning and artificial intelligence. Emerging technologies can offer significant benefits in law enforcement and for tacking crime, and independent advice can help to manage this ethically and responsibly.”

Professor Robert MacIntosh, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Business and Law at Northumbria, added: “Northumbria has significant research strengths in AI across a range of disciplines. Professor Oswald’s appointment to the BFEG further enhances our reputation and shows the leading role that colleagues play in shaping policy at the very highest level. It also shows that work on AI is relevant not just in computing science but in law and a range of other disciplines.”

Professor Oswald will be joined on the BFEG by other new members, Giles Herdale, Director, Herdale Digital Consulting Ltd, Dr Matt James, Associate Professor Bioethics and Medical Law, Professor Penney Lewis, Criminal Law Commissioner, Ms Elisabeth Mackay, Digital Trust and Cybersecurity Consultant, and Dr Malcolm Oswald, Director, Citizens Juries c.i.c.

Professor Mark Watson-Gandy OBE, Chair of BFEG, said: “I am so delighted that Giles Herdale, Matt James, Professor Penney Lewis, Dr Malcolm Oswald, Elisabeth Mackay and Professor Marion Oswald have agreed to join BFEG. Their appointment will further strengthen and compliment the very considerable expertise on our panel.”

For more information on Northumbria Law School please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/law