Dame Wendy is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton and Dean of the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences. She was Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) from 2002 to 2007. In 2006, she became one of the founding directors of Web Science Research Initiative, alongside Tim Berners-Lee. She became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2009 UK New Year Honours list, and was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.