The work of a Lancaster University professor has been recognised by a prestigious Fellow status from an international learned society.

Steve Hodges, Distinguished Professor in Computing and Digital Systems at Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications, has been recognised as a Fellow of the ACM – the Association for Computing Machinery – for his contributions to ‘interactive device and systems research resulting in widely adopted and impactful products’.

The ACM is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society and Fellow status is the organisation’s most prestigious member grade. It recognises the top 1% of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community.

Professor Hodges is among 71 honourees this year who hail from 14 countries and were chosen from among ACM’s global membership of more than 100,000 computing professionals.

Before joining Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications, Professor Hodges spent 25 years working in industry research labs including Microsoft and AT&T. His work spans topics in engineering and computer science that range from mobile and ubiquitous computing to assistive technologies and connected devices. He has co-authored more than 100 papers, has been granted 135 patents and his research publications have resulted in six lasting impact “test-of-time” awards.

Professor Hodges is recognised internationally for his early work on wearable cameras and life-logging through the SenseCam. He led the team that designed, produced and deployed of hundreds of SenseCam prototypes, one of which is on permanent display in the UK national Science Museum. His research showed that sequences of wearable camera images are a remarkably powerful trigger of autobiographical recall in patients with amnesia and early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease; some found the device so helpful they carried on using it for many years.

For more than 15 years Professor Hodges has also developed and promoted opportunities for children to engage with technology via physical computing. He made critical technical contributions to the hardware design of the BBC micro:bit which has now been used by an estimated 70 million children in more than 85 countries.

ACM President Yannis Ioannidis said: “I personally enjoy reviewing the list of achievements of the new Fellows because it offers a snapshot of what’s happening in our field at the moment. This year, for example, we are honouring members working in well-established disciplines such as computer architecture and software engineering, alongside innovators in emerging disciplines like swarm intelligence or scene recognition. As we congratulate the new Fellows for their accomplishments, we hope that their work will also serve as an inspiration to the next generation.”

Professor Hodges said: “I’m honoured to be selected as an ACM Fellow in recognition of over 25 years of work on interactive devices and systems, and the influence this has had on a wide range of products and experiences.”

The 2025 ACM Fellows will be formally recognised during an awards banquet on June 13 in San Francisco.