Old Girl Professor Sue Turner, OBE (Class of 1985) returned to the Girls’ Division at the end of March to deliver the annual Platt Fisher Lecture. This lecture series, hosted by the Girls’ Division, began five years ago and provides a platform for inspirational Girls’ Division alumnae to use their personal experiences and interests to inspire current and former pupils.
The 2026 Platt Fisher Lecture was titled ‘The Future Belongs to the Curious: Why AI Makes Your Questions More Valuable Than Ever’.
This timely topic is one that Professor Turner is very well-qualified to discuss. She is Professor in Practice for AI and Technologies at the University of Bristol Business School. In 2020, using her Law degree and her MSc in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, she established AI Governance Limited to advise business and policy makers on pragmatic AI, data ethics and governance issues, and making a societal impact.
Her reach in this field is global, through accredited training programmes and as a founder member of the United Nations AI Skills Coalition. She has been rated in the World’s Top 100 Women in AI Ethics and was one of the first 14 people globally to be accredited in the Foundations of Independent Audit of AI systems.
Professor Turner is dedicated to using her expertise in AI governance and ethics to inspire people and organisations to use AI with wisdom and integrity.
Her career spans entrepreneurial private businesses and not-for-profit organisations, where she has led significant organisational growth, raised £27 million for charity and collaborated to shift power to help people improve their prospects. She has been a Board Chair and Non-Executive Director for purpose-driven businesses in regulated industries as well as a Mentor on the Turing Institute’s Skills Policy Awards.
Professor Turner was awarded the OBE in 2021 for Services to Social Justice.
Her Platt Fisher Lecture was a thoughtful exploration of the impacts of AI and what it means for the future, and in particular how it will impact and be used by the young people in the audience.
Watch the Platt Fisher Lecture in full:
The Platt Fisher Lecture in pictures:
