Professor Jaume Bacardit

Director of Advanced & High Performance Computing

Jaume Bacardit is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the School of Computing.

He is founding member and co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex BioSystems (ICOS) research group, and co-director for Advanced and High Performance Computing of the Science, Agriculture and Engineering Faculty.

His research interests include the scalability of AI algorithms, the development of methods for extracting knowledge and explanations from AI models (known as Explainable AI) and the application of AI methods to challenges in the life sciences, spanning from engineering biology, agricultural applications and biomedicine

Mr Mark Turner

Head of Research Software Engineering

Mark leads the Research Software Engineering team in the Digital Institute.

The team focuses on delivering software engineering expertise for research projects across the university. He graduated with a BSc in Computing from Northumbria University in 2008 followed by an MSc from Newcastle University in 2012.

In 2016 Mark was elected as a trustee for the UK Research Software Engineering Association, contributing to the transformation of the association into a registered charity in 2018.

Mr John Snowdon

Senior Research Infrastructure Engineer (HPC)

John has worked at Newcastle University since 2003 in a variety of roles designing, building and supporting unix infrastructure.

Since 2022 John has been the primary support for the Newcastle University Rocket HPC facility; providing advice and guidance to users of that system and other users with advanced computing requirements. John is a member of the HPC replacement project team and has had major input into the design and specification of the new Comet HPC service which is expected to come online in early 2025.

In addition to being the main University technical contact for HPC services, John is also responsible for the design and implementation of the supporting tools (such as the HPC portal) which accompany the HPC facility itself.

Mrs Carol Booth

Research Software Engineer (HPC)

After a degree in Linguistics, Carol started her career in Marketing scientific instruments but quickly moved into IT training and after her Masters degree went on to work in Secondary Education, managing assessment data and Virtual Learning Environments. She joined Newcastle University in 2017, providing specialist support for research and teaching in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, with a particular interest in Linux. In 2022, Carol joined the newly formed Academic IT Consultancy Team, providing advice across all faculties for novel and complex IT systems.

In 2024 Carol joined the Research Software Engineering Team as a member of the specialist support team for Comet HPC, providing training, user support and HPC Service Development.

Carol is working towards being a Carpentries Instructor and is interested in learning new technologies and working with other RSEs to ensure that researchers at all career stages get the best value from HPC.

Mrs Jannetta Steyn

Senior Research Software Engineer (Training & HPC)

After many years in industry as a software engineer Dr. Jannetta Steyn returned to university to study for a Masters in Bioinformatics followed by a PhD in computational neuroscience. She then joined the Bioinformatics Support Unit of Newcastle University for two and a half years after which she worked as a Senior Research Associate in the School of Computing.

In 2019 she joined the Research Software Engineering Team as a Senior Research Software Engineer. In 2020 she qualified as a Carpentries Instuctor and has since taken the lead in organising and instructing Software Carpentries workshops at the University. In 2021 she also qualified as a Carpentries Instructor Trainer.

Jannetta is a STEM Ambassador and enjoys taking part in outreach activities to make the public aware of the research that is being done at the university.

Mrs Michelle Gilbride

Operations Administrator

Michelle is the team Operations Administrator providing support across all the activities we undertake. Michelle has worked in a range of public and private sector organisations both in the UK and abroad.

Michelle supports the RSE team with meeting management, logistical support and event planning. In addition, Michelle supports the team’s training offering, including our HPC services, organising teaching spaces, registration and catering.