CREATe Public Lecture by Tristan Henderson: Code is not law and law is not code but can they be friends?
We were delighted to host another instalment in our series of public lectures, delivered by Tristan Henderson, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews. Tristan’s lecture will take place on November 26 at 3 pm in the Yudowitz Lecture Theatre, Wolfson Medical School Building, University Avenue, followed by a drinks reception.
Social Sciences Hub
Date: Wednesday 26 November 2025
Time: 15:00 - 17:00
Venue: Wolfson Medical School, Yudowitz Lecture Theatre
Category: Public lectures, Academic events, Student events, Alumni events
Speaker: Tristan Henderson
The early 2000s were infamously filled with calls of ‘code is law’, as legislators and legal academics tried to grapple with understanding the new technologies that comprised ‘cyberspace’ and the ‘information highway’. Today, in our data-driven society, where code is omnipresent and manipulates our behaviour in more ways than ever, it might be more important than ever to understand how code and law do, and should, interact.
“I am one of a relatively rare breed: a computer scientist who attempts to dabble in the law. In this talk I will use examples from copyright and data protection to show how code might help us understand the law that governs code. I will then suggest ways in which technology and law might be co-developed rather than merely co-exist. My hope is to encourage collaboration between computer scientists and lawyers so my breed might become more common!”
Tristan Henderson is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, where he acts as Director of Postgraduate Research and leads the Responsible and Sustainable Computing Research Theme. His research interests broadly revolve around understanding user behaviour in networked systems, such as networked games, wireless networks, mobile social and opportunistic networks. Latterly his work has moved into the privacy and ethical aspects of such research, which led in turn to an interest in the law, and how to combine understanding from computer science and the law to better regulate behaviour.
Tristan is the Director of the SICSA Graduate Academy, supporting computer science research training across Scotland. He also serves on the YoungScot Data Advisory Group, as an Area Editor for Data & Policy (CUP) and as an Associate Editor for Technology & Society (IEEE). He holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge, an MSc and PhD in Computer Science from UCL, and an LLM in Innovation, Technology and the Law from Edinburgh. For more information, see https://tnhh.org/
To attend this lecture, please register for the event.