Mark d’Inverno is recognised as a world-leading interdisciplinary researcher at the interface of performance, improvisation, participatory design, AI, ethics and the humanities.
Mark completed a BA in mathematics at St Catherine’s College, Oxford University, followed by an MSc in Computing. He then joined University College London (UCL), where he completed a PhD in Symbolic Artificial Intelligence entitled “
Agents, Agency and Autonomy.”
According to
Google Scholar, Mark has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles charting an early career in mainstream theoretical computer science research spanning symbolic AI and Formal Specification, which has become increasingly interdisciplinary over the last two decades.
His interest in interdisciplinary research comes from his time as Director of Research at Goldsmiths (Pro-Warden (PVC) Research and Enterprise) and his four decades of professional music performance experience.
He has been fortunate enough to receive critical acclaim as a jazz pianist (including BBC National Radio stations, Jazz FM, BBC Music Magazine, The Guardian, The Observer and specialist Jazz magazines) and has performed nationally and internationally since the 1980s.
Mark has a strong track record in public engagement, including appearing on BBC National TV, BBC National Radio, New Scientist Live, Sky Arts TV, and various concerts, keynotes, and workshops internationally. He aims to connect with diverse audiences, often at the piano, incorporating experiences as a musician to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using AI to support human creativity.
Recent invited talks on the interface of AI with creativity, music, ethics and learning include “ARMON.IA - Workshop Creativity and Improvisation with AI” (Barcelona 2025), "Jazz I Am" Conference (Barcelona, 2023 and 2024), Creative Machine (Jesus College, Oxford University, 2023), EdTech World Forum (London, 2022 & 2023), AI for Good Conference (2022), LEGO Ideas Conference 2020, Music Most Wanted Festival (Berlin, 2019), and The Conference, (Malmo, 2019).
He has a track record of supporting interdisciplinary and arts-based research nationally and internationally, recognising its criticality as part of any groundbreaking and forward-reaching research ecosystem. He was Deputy Convenor for the Creative Arts, Performing Arts & Design Panel of the Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise 2020 which included drafting the Panel Specific Guidelines, selecting the Panel and running the entire assessment and reporting process.
UGC invited him to take on the same role for the 2026 exercise, which included putting the panel together and drafting the panel-specific guidelines
He was on the Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel (IDAP) for the UK’s REF 2021 and joined the Research Diversity Advisory Panel for REF 2029. Furthermore, he worked as a senior member of the interdisciplinary research assessment college (as Rover and Panel Chair) for UKRI's innovative cross-council interdisciplinary research pilot scheme from its inception in 2023. He co-founded the UK’s Practice Research Advisory Group (PRAG UK) back in 2018 to support the diversity of research practice in the UK research ecosystem.
He has led a wide range national and international interdisciplinary research projects funded by the UK and EU, holds honorary professorial research positions at
Instituto de Investigación en Inteligencia Artificial (IIIA) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain and
Dip. di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and is a member Academia Europea (The Academy of Europe).