Professor in Computer Science

The School of Computer Science at Northumbria University invites applications for a Professor of Computer Science to join a growing, ambitious, and research-active academic community. This represents an exciting opportunity to provide academic leadership within a newly established School at a time of significant institutional investment and growth. We are seeking applications from established academics who can offer strategic research vision, intellectual leadership, and mentorship, while contributing to teaching, knowledge exchange, and external engagement at scale.

Alongside this opportunity, the School is also recruiting at Lecturer and Assistant Professor levels. Collectively, this recruitment reflects our ambition to build critical mass across career stages, and to shape a coherent and progressive academic community.

The School of Computer Science at Northumbria University is a vibrant, growing, and research-intensive environment with a strong commitment to interdisciplinary, civic-minded, and human-centred computing.

Our core research strengths span Artificial Intelligence and autonomous systems, Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Civics, Networks and Cybersecurity, Digital Education, and Health Informatics. We hold a substantial portfolio of UKRI funding, including a recently awarded UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training focused on citizen-centred approaches to AI. Our cybersecurity research has also been repeatedly recognised through designation as an NCSC/EPSRC Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR).

Based in an award-winning, purpose-built facility at the heart of Northumbria’s City Campus in Newcastle upon Tyne, the School delivers research-informed, high-quality education to over 1,500 students across Computer and Data Science, AI, Cybersecurity and Networks, Games, and Business Computing, from Foundation to Doctoral level. Our facilities include specialist laboratories in Networks, Cybersecurity, and Games, alongside a new High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster supporting advanced research and teaching.

We foster a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive academic culture, supporting career development through mentorship, access to research funding, interdisciplinary collaboration, and opportunities to shape both teaching and research agendas within the School.

We are seeking applications from established academic leaders with an international reputation in any relevant area of Computer Science.

While we welcome strong applicants from across the discipline, we are particularly interested in candidates whose research aligns with one or more of the following broad themes:

• Artificial intelligence and data-driven systems, including trustworthy and responsible AI, human-AI and human-robot collaboration, and work addressing online harms, platform safety, content moderation, and algorithmic risk
• Networks, cybersecurity, and software systems, including secure, resilient, and scalable infrastructures and software engineering
• Digital society, public services, education, and wellbeing, including digital transformation in government, digital education, digital health and social care, and civic or socially responsible computing
• Computing for space and satellite systems, including data, software, networks, and AI for space-enabled applications

This list is not exhaustive, and we encourage applications from candidates whose work complements or extends the School’s existing strengths.

You will hold a doctoral qualification and demonstrate an established record of research excellence, including sustained publication in high-quality venues and success in securing external research funding. You will bring a clear and compelling research vision, with the ability to lead and grow research activity, build collaborations, and contribute to the strategic development of the School and University.

If you would like an informal discussion about this role, please contact Professor Shaun Lawson, Head of School, in the first instance.

Further information about the requirements of this role is available in the associated person specification.

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