Bill is a Professor of Applied Cryptography in the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment at Edinburgh Napier University, a Fellow of the BCS, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and a Principal Fellow of the HEA (PFHEA). He is a believer in fairness, justice, and freedom and his social media tagline reflects his strong belief in changing the world for the better: "A Serial Innovator. An Old World Breaker. A New World Creator." Bill also has a strong belief in the power of education and in supporting innovation from every angle, and he currently leads the Blockpass ID Lab and the Centre for Cybersystems and Cryptography. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cybersecurity. Bill works in the areas of cryptography, blockchain, trust and digital identity. He has one of the most extensive cryptography sites in the World (asecuritysite.com). Bill has published over 30 academic books and over 400 academic research papers. Along with this, Bill’s work has led to many areas of impact, including four highly successful spin-out companies (Zonefox, Symphonic Software, Cyan Forensics and MemCrypt), along with awards for excellence in knowledge transfer and teaching. Bill recently received an ”Outstanding Contribution to Knowledge Exchange” award. In 2023, he won the “Most Innovative Teacher of the Year” award at the Times Higher Education Awards (the “Oscars of Higher Education), and, in 2024, he was elected as a Fellow to the prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).