TECHNOLOGY


“Technology opens doors”


Tech evangelist, social entrepreneur, thought leader, writer, speaker and mum – Dr Sue Black (PhD Computer Science, 2001) is all these things and more. For 20 years she has worked tirelessly to get more women into technology, inspired by her own life-changing experiences


When we catch up with Dr Sue Black, she’s just back from Brazil, where she’s been speaking about women, technology and equality on behalf of UK Trade and Investment, and fresh from interviewing Martha Lane Fox on stage at the 2015 National Digital Conference. Not bad for someone who left school with a scant handful of O-levels and spent the next few years trying to hold body and soul together as a single mother to three small children.


And the public speaking is just one element of an impressive portfolio career – ‘I wish there was a better phrase for it!’, she says – that includes setting up one of the UK’s first networks for women in technology and establishing #techmums, more of which later. She is Senior Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science at University College London, an associate at all-female digital consultancy Disruption Ltd and a mentor at Google Campus for Mums. She is also the Daily Mirror’s ‘tech agony aunt’ and writes a monthly technology column for The Guardian. Oh, and not forgetting her (successful) campaign to save Bletchley Park. No wonder she was recently named among Europe’s top 50 most influential women in technology.


The thread that runs through everything Sue does is the belief that technology has the power to change lives – something that is very much borne out by her own experiences. Having left home at 16, she was soon forced to drop out of school:


18 | SOUTH BANK | Autumn 2015


‘I couldn’t pay the rent and study at the same time,’ she says. She worked in a café, in accounts for RCA Records, did a stint with the local council, worked with refugees and even tried her hand at nursing.


Building a career


By 25, Sue was living in a refuge, with no job, few qualifications – and three children aged under three. ‘I knew I needed to build a career and support my family,’ she says. ‘I thought about what I’d enjoyed at school, and kept coming back to the same thing: maths.’ Having found a place to live, Sue enrolled in a university access course at Southwark College – then she applied to study computer science at LSBU.


It was something of a baptism of fire. ‘Most of the other students had come straight from studying computer science A-level,’ she says. ‘I had a lot of catching up to do.’ She was also juggling childcare – ‘I missed all the lectures that were timetabled after 2pm’ – and credit cards to keep her head above water. Nevertheless, it was clear she’d found her path. ‘My supervisor, Professor Robin Whitty, called me in and said, “Have you thought about doing a PhD?”. I said “Yes please, that sounds great!” What I didn’t say was that I didn’t know what a PhD was – I had to go to the library and look it up!’


Sue looks back on the time spent studying for her doctorate as a formative period. ‘I needed the money, so I took on as much teaching as I could – but I was terrified of standing up in front of a group of people,’


she recalls. ‘Robin Whitty also started encouraging me to go to conferences and networking events. He realised how important it was for me to make connections and start developing those softer skills.’


These events – many of them male- dominated – also made Sue aware of the barriers that faced women in technology. ‘You could tell sometimes that they just didn’t think you belonged there,’ she says. ‘I was stared at, patronised and even ignored.’ Then at a Women in Science conference in the late 1990s, she met Aliza Sherman, founder of pioneering US online network Webgrrls. ‘I just thought, why don’t we have something like that here? So I set it up.’


The result was BCSWomen. Initially based in London, the group soon went nationwide. ‘The interest was huge,’ says Sue. ‘Everyone wanted to know how to set up their own website, and at the time there was very little information available.’


Sue ran the group in her spare time while pursuing her academic career, first at LSBU, and latterly as head of department


‘‘ The whole idea is to upskill mums so that they can earn more money and create a better life for themselves and their families”


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