Professor of Cognitive Robotics (Informatics) in the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. He was until recently a professor of computer science at the University of Essex, England. Previously, he has held faculty positions at Caltech, University of Bielefeld, Starlab and the University of the West of England. Holland is best known for his work in biologically-inspired robotics, where he has contributed to the theory and practice of collective robotics, ant algorithms and machine consciousness, among other sub-fields. Some of the projects he has been involved in have attracted attention from the media, notably the Slugbot project, which aimed to produce a robotic predator capable of sustaining its energy levels from hunting and digesting snails. For the last ten years, Owen has mainly been interested in the prospects for building a conscious machine. He is a professor of cognitive robotics in the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and taught at various universities around the UK. He is a specialist thesis supervisor for students in Design for Performance & Interaction.