Michael Walker was until his retirement in September 2009 the Group Research and Development Director for the Vodafone Group of companies, with the responsibility for the Group’s research activities, intellectual property and technology standards worldwide.  He also led technology innovation and managed engagement with start-up companies for Vodafone, and was a member of the board of Vodafone Ventures, the venture capital arm of the company.

Michael is a Vodafone Fellow and an Executive Technical Advisor to the company. He is chairman of the Board of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.  He holds the Vodafone Chair in Telecommunications at Royal Holloway, University of London, as a part-time professor, and is a visiting professor at the University of Surrey.

Michael is Vice Chairman of the mobile VCE – a group of universities and industries researching mobile communications. He sits on scientific advisory boards for the Universities of Warwick and Surrey, and was a member of the academic advisory board of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. He was a member of the UK Technology Strategy Board, and currently sits on the UK Government’s OFCOM spectrum advisory board.  Michael is a non-executive director of some start up companies.  He was recently made a Fellow of the Wireless World Research Forum.

Before joining Vodafone, Michael was Head of Mathematics at Racal Research, and prior to that an academic at the University of Tuebingen in Germany.

Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a member of Council of the Academy. He is the current President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. He was appointed an OBE in June 2009 for his services to the telecommunications industry