Check Out Our agenda
Find out more details as the speaker sessions are revealed for our 2026 agenda.
PLAN YOUR DAY, YOUR Way
Thursday, September 24th, 2026
Key:
Technical Talks =
Leadership Talks =
08:30 - 09:00
registration
Tea, coffee and breakfast rolls on arrival.
09:00 - 09:05
Welcome
CEO, ScotlandIS
09:05 - 09:55
Sponsor Welcome
09:55 - 10:55
Keynote - The power of professionalism to build trust in AI
Emma Logan, Deputy President, BCS
11:00 - 11:20
coffee break
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, with the chance to network and browse the exhibition hall.
11:30 - 12:10
AI, Hack that for me
William Wright, CEO, Closed Door Security
With the incredible speed that developers have been integrating AI into their applications, the tools we have to prevent attackers from abusing AI has not kept up, and in fact unlike other vulnerabilities in web applications (like XSS) there is no easy or clear way of stopping prompt injection attacks.
In this talk, Daniel will cover some of the top threats, including prompt injection, jailbreaking and data poisoning, the impact it can have on an application, and attacks and defences at three levels: before a prompt hits the LLM, defences on the LLM and defences after the LLM.
While there is no silver bullet, he will finish by pointing the attendees to a few tools they can use to protect their own applications, and why you need to care, plus more on AI legislation and the growing call for 'responsible AI' practices.
11:30 - 12:10
Workshop
12:20 - 13:00
Debugging the Org Chart: Influence and Hierarchy in a Hybrid World
Tim Clarke, Business and Improvement Analyst, Katoni Engineering
Most complex technology transformations don't fail because the strategy or technology was wrong. They fail because they were planned using a comfortable fallacy: the org chart. When organisations prepare for change, they map their processes. Rarely, if ever, do they map their people. Yet the informal networks of trust, influence, and communication within every organisation are precisely what determine whether change takes hold or quietly dies.
Organisational Network Analysis (ONA) makes those invisible structures visible. Using passive signals, calendar data; email metadata; project collaboration, alongside active surveying, ONA produces a data-driven picture of how work actually happens. Underpinned by graph databases, centrality algorithms, and community detection, ONA identifies informal influencers whose buy-in matters more than any leadership mandate, knowledge brokers who translate new ideas into practice, and bottlenecks where resistance will crystallise.
This argument becomes urgent when change involves integrating AI Agents into everyday workflows. Deploying autonomous systems without understanding an organisation's social topology won't aid transformation; it will exacerbate existing dysfunction.
This session covers passive versus active data collection, graph analytical techniques, and the practitioner tooling landscape. Attendees leave with a concrete framework for applying ONA to their own transformation challenges.
12:20 - 13:00
Marketing Workshop
13:00 - 13:50
Lunch
14:00 - 14:40
Fireside Chat
OEUK
14:00 - 14:40
Cyber Workshop
14:50 - 15:30
Behind The Veil - A Glimpse into the Murky World of Cybercrime
Jon Hope, Senior Technology Evangelist, Sophos
The headlines are full of stories of cyber attacks, but have you ever wondered who are behind these attacks?
Who are the cybercriminals, where do they come from and what tactics do they employ?
More importantly still what can we learn from the history of ransomware so that we can be better prepared and more resilient in the future?
14:50 - 15:30
Your Software Isn't Dead. Your UI Is.
Nick Finch, Chief Technology Officer, inmydata
Software companies have spent decades building complex UIs on top of valuable business logic and data. Agentic AI is collapsing that model right now. When an AI agent can talk directly to your system's API, your carefully crafted interface becomes optional. That's not a threat. It's an opportunity.
The companies that thrive in this shift won't be the ones racing to bolt AI features onto their existing products. They'll be the ones that recognise what they actually have, deep domain logic, proprietary data, years of encoded expertise, and package it for a world where agents are the new interface.The companies that thrive in this shift won't be the ones racing to bolt AI features onto their existing products. They'll be the ones that recognise what they actually have, deep domain logic, proprietary data, years of encoded expertise, and package it for a world where agents are the new interface.
This talk draws on real systems built in production over the past four years. An expert buying system that synthesises ERP data, commodity markets, weather patterns and crop forecasts to help coffee buyers make better decisions. An intelligent knowledge capture platform that interviews subject matter experts and turns tacit expertise into queryable intelligence. Both built by a four-person team using AI-first engineering practices.
You'll leave with a clear framework for identifying what's valuable in your own software, what's about to become irrelevant, and what to do about it.
14:50 - 15:30
From Silicon to Superconductors: Manufacturing and Integration for Scalable Quantum Systems
Martin Weides, Director of James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC), University of Glasgow
Quantum technologies are now moving beyond laboratory demonstrations toward scalable, manufacturable systems. This talk focuses on the critical role of advanced nanofabrication and system integration in enabling that transition.
Drawing on developments at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC) and the emerging ecosystem around Quantcore and Kelvin Quantum, the session will explore how superconducting circuits, semiconductor platforms, and photonic systems are being engineered—and crucially, interfaced—to build practical quantum hardware. Key challenges such as fabrication yield, materials control, and reproducibility will be discussed, alongside approaches to hybrid integration, chiplet architectures, and high-density interconnects.
The talk will further highlight how initiatives such the Scotland Critical Technologies Supercluster and the Critical Technologies Accelerator are strengthening the link between design, fabrication, and packaging, enabling more reliable and scalable quantum devices.
14:50 - 15:30
Panel Discussion
15:35 - 15:55
coffee break
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, with the chance to network and browse the exhibition hall.
16:00 - 17:00
keynote 2
17:00 - 17:15
conference close
CEO, ScotlandIS
Young Software Engineer awards dinner
18:15 - 18:45
champagne reception
We’ll kick off the evening with our champagne reception and networking.
18:45 - 21:25
Dinner
Welcome and housekeeping, before three-course dinner and wine.
21:25 - 22:00
young software engineer of the year awards
For over 30 years, we’ve been celebrating the young software engineers of tomorrow from each of our Scottish universities; many have gone on to perform some incredible roles and achievements around the globe. We will award the 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, and Best Engineering Prize to students on the night, with prizes kindly sponsored by Sopra Steria, BCS, Resillion and Leidos respectively.
22:15 - 23:00
after dinner entertainment
A brief welcome from After Dinner Entertainment sponsor, Lloyds Banking Group, will be followed by a set from our musical act.
23:00
official event close
23:55
coach to glasgow leaves
01.00
bar closes
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