Putting Human Safety at the Centre of Technology: Dr Laura Bishop, British Standards Institution
Read about our President's Award finalists: Society Award finalist - Dr Laura Bishop, AI and Cyber Security Digital Sector Lead, BSI
Dr Laura Bishop is a psychologist who works at the intersection of technology and human vulnerability, and has spent her career ensuring that the former does not come at the expense of the latter. Across AI, robotics, immersive technology and cyber security, she has led and influenced initiatives that make technology safer, more ethical and more genuinely beneficial, particularly for those who are most at risk.
At BSI, Laura leads work on AI literacy, age assurance, privacy by design and chatbot safety. Drawing on her background in human factors and cyberpsychology, she approaches technological risk as a psychological safety issue, asking not just what systems can do, but how people actually experience and interact with them. Her work on chatbot safety, for instance, addresses risks that regulation has been slow to catch up with, including emotional dependency, misinformation and the harms that can arise when vulnerable users engage with AI systems designed without their wellbeing in mind.
Her voluntary contribution extends this work into some of the most urgent contexts imaginable. Through SpringAct, a UN-funded charity, Laura provides expert guidance on a trauma-informed AI chatbot supporting domestic violence survivors. Built with privacy and security as core principles, the system includes a hidden evidence vault to help users build the courage to leave safely. Already deployed across multiple countries, the platform is now being expanded to serve communities across the UK.
Laura's influence reaches government at the highest level. As a fellow with the Government Office for Science, she has advised on social media use by under-16s, child interaction with chatbots and emerging risks from AI toys, consistently raising issues, including technological paternalism, addiction and chatbot withdrawal, that others have been slower to identify. She serves on techUK's Robotics Working Group and Emerging Technology Leadership Committee, the All Party Parliamentary Group AI Advisory Board, and works closely with techUK's Justice and Emergency Services Team on digital standards for policing and digital literacy across the justice system.
Her commitment to inclusion is equally longstanding. For over eight years, Laura has supervised students researching safe chatbot use, deepfakes and human decision-making in cyber security, with many going on to receive academic and professional recognition. She champions women and girls in science, mentors young people across multiple technology disciplines and has contributed to UN white papers and represented the UK at G7 level events on AI literacy.
Dr Laura Bishop does not wait for technology to cause harm before acting. She builds the frameworks, standards and safeguards that prevent it, and does so with the rigour, empathy and ambition that the Society Award was designed to honour.
Click the image below to learn more about Laura:
Dr Laura Bishop
AI and Cyber Security Digital Sector Lead, BSI
Dr Laura Bishop
AI and Cyber Security Digital Sector Lead, BSI
Nomination reason:
Laura was nominated for leading internationally significant work on online safety, responsible AI and human-centred technology standards, spanning AI literacy, chatbot safety, age assurance, cyber resilience and the ethical use of robotics and immersive technology. At the Government Office for Science, she has advised on risks to under-16s from social media and AI toys, and has consistently raised less visible harms such as technological paternalism, chatbot addiction and emotional dependency. Her voluntary work with SpringAct, where she provides expert guidance on a trauma-informed AI chatbot for domestic violence survivors, demonstrates how she applies these principles to protect the most vulnerable users in practice.
Biography:
Dr Laura Bishop is a Human Factors Cyberpsychologist. With a PhD in human vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks and research in both human-robot and human-computer interaction, Laura is highly experienced on the psychological and societal impacts of technology.
At BSI, Laura supports the development of standards around the safe, secure and reliable use of AI, robotics and cyber systems, sitting on many national boards and committees including the AI All-Party Parliamentary Group Advisory Board. Within techUK, this includes the Emerging Technology Leadership Committee, Robotics Working Group and VAWG and RASSO Tech Working Group.
Outside of work, Laura volunteers her expertise to causes focused on protecting victims of domestic violence including SpringACT - a charity connecting human rights and technology to end global social injustices and the #endeyecheck campaign.
Over the next year, Laura will be supporting the UK Government as Socio-technical Aspects of AI Fellow as well as continuing as an Honorary Research Associate of Cardiff University.
