I was born in the medieval city of Coventry, in the middle of England, in the middle of the last century, to parents who survived heavy bombing in the global conflict known as World War Two, which ended seven years before I began.
After going to university—first in Leeds and then in Canada—I travelled the world for several decades before moving back to the city of my birth with my partner and our adopted cat, Lola (seen above, the one not wearing glasses).
On a lighter note, Chey thinks I should have a hobby to take my mind off things, so I'm now into classic glass photography: using lenses from old 35mm film cameras to take pictures with modern digital cameras (for example, the Minolta lens on my Olympus camera shown here).
My partner of 35 years, the phenomenal Chey Cobb, is a US citizen legally resident in the UK. I am a citizen of both the UK and the US. We have both spent, and continue to spend, a lot of time researching how humans create and confront technology risks and health challenges. I write about my research for a variety of websites and publications, like:
- Cobbs on Security: cybersecurity articles, some written with Chey
- Medium: articles on technology, policy, cannabis, and more
- LinkedIn: check my "Featured" articles
- ResearchGate: curated publications
- YouTube: narrated articles, personal views
- IEEE Technology & Society: perspective on technology
This blog is where I write about more personal stuff, like: the fact that I'm retired, although I'm still open to interesting projects; my plans to publish another book, but I'm not sure when; my attempts to raise awareness of the medical problems which disabled my partner; the role of registered carers and how it can be supported; my hopes for the demise of the patriarchal medical establishment that continues to fail women so badly.
On a lighter note, Chey thinks I should have a hobby to take my mind off things, so I'm now into classic glass photography: using lenses from old 35mm film cameras to take pictures with modern digital cameras (for example, the Minolta lens on my Olympus camera shown here).
On a more serious mote, I feel the need to contribute to society so I serve on the board of a charity, Carers Trust Heart of England, and do driving jobs for our local hospital as one of the hundreds of UHCW Volunteers.
If you want to contact me, you can use the form on this page or DM me @zcobb on Twitter.
Note: I am aware of some issues and missing images in some older articles on this site—a side-effect of moving this blog from WordPress to Blogger—I'm fixing them as and when I can.
