My background combines strong academic credentials (PhD from strongest European string group, prestigious grants & awards, highly cited papers) with almost 20 years of software development experience, both in industry and academia. This includes lead roles developing and deploying enterprise software in mission critical settings as well as large scale numerical work. In my academic career, I engaged in highly visible and influential research in both String Theory and Critical Phenomena at the most pre-eminent European research institutes (CERN, CEA and Amsterdam). In recent years my interests have veered towards machine learning and artificial intelligence