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The NeurodiverseIT Committee

Committee members are elected by the NeurodiverseIT membership at regular meetings.

Chair - Matthew Bellringer

The chair is responsible for the overall running of the group, and typically hosts and organises regular committee meetings, as well as the AGM. They are responsible for running the group in line with BCS strategy and guidelines, and are also the final escalation point within the group for any questions, concerns or difficulties.

Vice Chair; Secretary - Marc Goblot

The vice-chair supports the chair, often performing the role of the chair when they are unavailable. The secretary is responsible for documentation and formal minute-taking during committee business.

Treasurer - Desmond Alvares

The treasurer is responsible for manging the budget of the committee, and for submitting future budget requests for the group. They are also the first point of contact for any expenses claims for committee business.

Early Careers Officer - Nicola Martin

The Early Careers Officer, sometimes also called the Early Careers Advocate, is the role responsible for making sure that the committee and its work support the needs of potential and recent-entry IT professionals. They are the contact point between the rest of the committee and community members early in their career. This is a mandatory role and you can find out more about it in the BCS Early Careers Officer document.

Inclusion Officer- Beckett LeClair

The Inclusion Officer is tasked with maintaining standards of equity, diversity and inclusion within the group. They are the first point of contact for members with any concerns in this area. As NeurodiverseIT is itself an Equity Group within BCS (i.e. part of its role relates directly to inclusion), the Inclusion Officer may also provide specialist guidance to other groups who have questions relating to neurodiversity, and may collaborate with the Inclusion Officers from other Equity Groups. This is a mandatory role and you can find out more about it in the BCS Inclusion Officer document.

Events Officer - Nelson Alfonso

The Events Officer is responsible for organising, scheduling and publicising upcoming events. They liaise with external speakers/panellists as part of this work.

Learning & Development Officer - Peter Aldcroft-Colling

The Learning And Development Officer is responsible for supporting the L&D efforts of the group, evaluating learning materials, and liaising with externals interested in L&D related to neurodiversity in tech.

Education Liaison - Karthik Raghuraman

The Education Liaison is responsible for developing and maintaining connections with the world of education, including higher education.

Storytelling and Careers Development Officer - Xenia Angevin

The Storytelling and Careers Development Officer is responsible for collecting and sharing lived experience from neurodivergent IT professionals, and for curating information relating to career development.

Public Service Officer - David Hopkins

The Public Service Officer is responsible for developing and maintaining connections with public sector bodies, and is the first point of contact for matters relating to IT and neurodiversity in this area.

Committee Member - Wendy Goucher

Committee Member - Stephen Wilkinson

Committee Member - Jordan Dearn

Committee Member - Antonio Hidalgo-Landa

Committee Member - Aurora Pakenham-Smith

Joining the committee

We intentionally run NeurodiverseIT with a larger committee than some other specialist groups within BCS. We do this for two primary reasons. The first is to ensure that we have the widest possible range of lived experience represented in our decision-making. The second is to ensure that our mostly-neurodivergent committee members can fulfil roles that play to their strengths.

You can find more information about the committee and roles on the BCS volunteer roles page and more details in the Roles for committee members document.

As such, we often prefer to add new joiners in a new role, rather than replacing someone in an existing role. We may choose a specific role for you, or you might want to contribute to the overall running of the group as a general committee member.

If you are interested in volunteering, please get in touch with the chair (either using social media, as above, or the by email to neurodiverseit-chair@bcs.org ). When you do, please include a brief answer to the following questions:

  • What area of the group's work would you like to contribute to?
  • What skills or experience (if any) do you have doing this kind of work?
  • What is your overall interest (personal and/or professional) in the topic of neurodiversity and technology?

If you are interested in supporting the group but don't want to be a committee member, we are also regularly on the look out for speakers and panellists for online events and other collaborations.

Please note all committee members are volunteers, and as such may have relatively limited capacity to engage with requests some of the time. We appreciate your patience and understanding.