Bio

30 years in NLP, NLU, Speech Recognition (ASR) and Machine Learning (ML), early adopter of Neural Networks (back in 1993). 25+ years in Voice and Conversational AI as a VUI Designer, CUI Designer, Conversation Designer & Conversational Experience Architect. 14 years in Academia (Computational Linguistics / Language Engineering). I have designed, branded, developed & optimised Conversational Speech IVRs, Voicebots and Chatbots in several languages for Contact Center automation (Natural Language Call Steering and Self-service), Digital & Voice Assistants for Big Tech (APPLE, SAMSUNG), Telecoms (VODAFONE, SKY, TALKTALK), Banking (BARCLAYS, EMIRATES NBD), Energy & Utilities (TECO, PEOPLE'S GAS, CENTRICA), Insurance & Security (ALLSTATE, ADT, AVIVA), Logistics (DPD), Retail, Government (UK NHS & DWP, European Commission), voice platform and Contact Centre technology providers and systems integrators (NUANCE, AMAZON LEX, OMILIA, CONCENTRIX, WEST INTERACTIVE, SAMSUNG Bixby). I have designed or redesigned Voice and Chat conversational experiences in UK and US English, German, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish which have saved my B2B clients up to $10 million annually. At GlobalLogic (a HITACHI Group company) I am Coordinator of the global Web3 and Blockchain CoE and SME for design-led and data-driven Voice & Conversational AI (VOCAI), including VUI and Conversation Design. I help our clients specify, design, build, deploy and improve digital assistants, voicebots and chatbots for Enterprise and Government Digital Transformation (DX) and Total Experience (TX) that are robust in the face of unpredictable language use and ''explainable'' when customisation, design and data control, ownership and maintainability are required. I hold a Post-Doc in VUI / CUI / Conversation Design for Voice, a PhD in Language Engineering & Computational Linguistics (ML and ANNs for NLP and NLU), an MSc in Machine Translation & a B.A. Hons in Linguistics & English.