Dr Melanie Garson joined us on Tuesday for our second Hale Lecture for this term. She is the Cyber and Tech Geopolitics Lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. This lecture was led entirely by FHS students in collaboration with Wetherby Senior School. Ayesha (LVI) introduced Dr Garson who displayed how she is leading and championing sustainable and equitable global change. Having left school with a desire to work in theatre Dr Garson found herself working in tech following a successful internship with the United Nations. Her work evolved into working in conflict resolution considering questions around how tech can assist in international conflict resolution. She highlighted the importance of people who work in tech knowing how to relate to the human side of technology. This tied in with her outlook as a tech optimist. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is accelerating things at a drastic rate, but for Dr Garson we must stay one step ahead of those with malicious intent by devising tech forward policy. She stressed the need to work hard to widen global access to the internet as 2 billion people currently do not have internet access.  

Dr Garson also encouraged us to reflect on Ikigai, a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living. She reminded us that success is not linear and encouraged us not to be afraid to try different things and never to put ourselves in a box. Maddy (LVI) and Oliver from Wetherby Senior asked questions around the main threats and/or opportunities around AI and cyber security and regarding the upcoming elections. The audience asked insightful questions such as ‘what is the future of cyberwarfare?’ And ‘how can we be vigilant about misinformation?’ Amira (UV) and James from Wetherby Senior thanked and presented Dr Garson with flowers on behalf of FHS. A special thanks to our alumni, parents, and neighbouring schools, Wetherby Senior School and St Marylebone Church of England School for joining us. Keep an eye out for the soon to be launched Instagram page @cyberwarfare2robots for Tech for Teens sessions with Dr Garson.

We are excited about our next Hale lecture on Wednesday 15 May with Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, Founder and CEO of Malaika School. Click here to sign up.  

Miss Bere, Assistant Head (Teaching, Learning and Innovation)