People

Ian Betteridge – Editorial voice and direction

Ian Betteridge has more than two decades of experience in technology journalism. He has contributed to leading publications, including Wired, The Guardian, and ZDNet, covering topics from consumer technology to enterprise systems. Based in Canterbury, he continues to write and speak on technology, media, and digital culture.

Jake Berger – Programme Management

With more than 25 years of experience in digital, media, archives, and cultural heritage, Jake specialises in shaping products, solving complex challenges, and driving successful delivery. His expertise spans programme leadership, AI, agile product management, data management, process reengineering, and organisational design. As Executive Product Manager at BBC Technology and Archives, he spearheaded the design and delivery of online products that provided video, audio, and data to global audiences. Business Manager for BBC Production, a £500M, 3,000-person operation. Head of Technology & Distribution for thespace.org, leading digital innovation for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Programme Manager for the original BBC Digital Public Space initiative. Trustee at Learning On Screen and the Besson Street Trust.

Michael Quirke – Development and Strategic Fundraising

Business development director with decades of experience, primarily in educational publishing and services. Most recently, Cambridge University Press Business Development Director for Spain and Portugal, responsible for building partnerships with key academic institutions. Responsible for building the financial and institutional partnerships that will provide the sustained resources needed to deliver this long-term civic infrastructure project.

Robert Leedham – Editor

Robert Leedham is an award-winning writer, editor and educator. He has contributed to successful start-up projects such as The Guardian Guide, Wired UK, Virgin Net and UpMyStreet, and he has worked widely across the print, broadcasting and Internet industries for 30 years. Among his TV credits are David Simon’s Generation Kill for HBO (Blown Deadline/Company) and ITV’s Doc Martin (Buffalo Pictures).

Stefan Magdalinski – Architecture and Engineering

Head of Technical Programs at the Filecoin Foundation for four years, with responsibility for Security, UX, and software development programs supporting the Filecoin Network, a decentralised data storage ecosystem. Before Filecoin, spent 25 years building internet companies and non-profits as CEO, COO and CTO across multiple sectors in the UK, USA, Africa and Asia. Expert at building and managing digital teams and creating web properties that people engage with. CTO of Virgin.com, founding CTO at moo.com, and ran businesses in Africa and Asia for Naspers Group. Played an important role in creating ground-breaking civic web projects, including UpMyStreet (now part of Zoopla), WriteToThem.com and TheyWorkForYou.com.

Tony Ageh – Executive Director, dotPublic

Renowned digital innovator and media strategist celebrated for his transformative contributions to public service media—Chief Digital Officer at New York Public Library. At the BBC, he was instrumental in creating BBC iPlayer and overseeing the BBC Archive, revolutionising access to digital content. His leadership in digital archiving and preservation has significantly influenced policies for safeguarding digital media for future generations.

Zelda Rhiando – User Experience and Design

Zelda is a user-centred designer who has focused much of her career on ’tech for good’. Whether it’s designing at a national scale (NHS App, Covid response) or crafting new digital paradigms, her work is informed by the philosophy that, whether it’s a shed, a website, a novel or an experience, the best design is invisible.

Dirk-Willem van Gulik – Infrastructure and Security Policy

An internet engineer behind the World Wide Web and the founding father of the Apache web server, as well as being president of the Apache Software Foundation during its first decade. Dirk-Willem’s career spans the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, United Nations, major telecommunications firms, satellite and space agencies, and multiple startups. He also contributed to international standards bodies on internet architecture and protocols from the early days, and built the first web server startup, Covalent; advanced big data and the semantic web at Asemantics; created the first instant-play P2P viewer at Joost.com. Dirk-Willem was Chief Technical Architect at the BBC during the London Olympics. In the Netherlands, he helped the Ministry of Health in developing the CoronaMelder app, using open source, cryptography, and security-by-design to build public trust. Recently, he has been advising the European Union on the impact of software regulation on innovation and open source.

Gabriel Stein – Provenance and Assertion

Technologist, developer, and occasional writer interested in how media shapes society. Head of Operations and Product at Knowledge Futures, a non-profit building public digital infrastructure for knowledge communities, including PubPub and Docmaps. Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Worked at the intersection of publishing and digital technology in multiple technical and editorial roles: front-end engineering at Ogilvy, support for Google’s display advertising platform, reporting and editing at Fast Company, audience development and product management at Upworthy, and product development at digital book club startup Heleo (now Next Big Idea Club). Co-founded Massive Science, a company that teaches researchers how to communicate their work to the public and partners with scholars to study the impact of public communication using interactive web tools.

Jens Finkhäuser – Protocols and Distributed Systems

Technologist and architect focused on distributed systems, open standards, and privacy-preserving infrastructures. Jens leads major projects within the Interpeer initiative, developing protocol specifications that challenge structural weaknesses in today’s internet and propose alternatives that embed user agency and resilience at the architectural level. His work bridges applied engineering with civic purpose, advancing concepts such as the Personal Information Environment (PIE) and new models for distributed social, discovery, and curation layers, and he is an active contributor to open-source efforts and global discourse on digital sovereignty, protocol design, and sustainable infrastructure.

Jude Robinson – Accessibility

Global Head of Accessibility at Springer Nature, responsible since 2004 for the company’s accessibility strategy, governance, and delivery. Founded the open-source Pa11y tooling adopted by organisations worldwide and established internal enablement and governance structures to embed accessible practices at scale. Work spans legal interpretation, policy development, and stakeholder engagement. Institutes and chairs multiple executive and non-executive accessibility steering committees and working groups. Advises executive leadership and product teams on compliance and risk/opportunity. Previously led frontend development and has spoken on making accessibility achievable for libraries, researchers and editors.

Laura Melissa Williams – Design strategist

Laura is an interdisciplinary design strategist, creative facilitator, and coach working at the intersection of design, data, art, systems, and ecological thinking. She translates complex challenges into strategies, services, and opportunities for public and private sectors worldwide. A UK Design Council Expert Associate for six years and a certified Design Council Skills for Planet trainer, she has contributed to health and planet-focused design, co-authoring the Systemic Design Toolkit (2024) and shaping the Green Design Skills Blueprint (2025). Recently appointed to G42 as a Planetary Design expert, she sits on a pan-European board that connects design, policy, and business to scale sustainable value. Her clients include the BBC, the British Science Association, Google, and The Future Laboratory. A Bio Leadership Fellow and Climate Fresk facilitator, she works in a regenerative and participatory way.

Matt Locke – Communications and Marketing

Founder and CEO at Storythings, a content agency and B Corp formed in 2011. Clients include ADP, Lenovo, BCG, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and PBS. 25+ years in senior roles in digital and public media, including Head of Innovation at BBC New Media (2001-2006) and Commissioning Editor, Education/Head of Multiplatform at Channel 4 (2006-2011). Writes and gives talks regularly about media, attention and storytelling, including newsletter Attention Matters and the series A Brief History of Attention. Governor for the University of The Arts London. Former trustee positions include the Science Museum Group Digital Committee, National Media Museum, British Science Association (Deputy Chair), The Audience Agency (Chair), Photoworks (Chair), and BAFTA Learning & Events and Children’s Committees.

Paula Le Dieu – Digital Policy and Civic Innovation

At the forefront of radical change and discourse in public services provision for 30 years. Led influential projects including the BBC’s Creative Archive, Creative Commons International, and was an early contributor to the UK’s doteveryone. Worked for the British Film Institute, Mozilla Foundation and Fairfax. Frequent advisor on digital policy and service design for Ofcom, Arts Council England, Guardian Newspapers and Australia’s National GLAM institutes. Extensive mentoring through thespace.org and Crossover Labs. Presented on international stages including the UN, EU and G8 forums.

Richard Northover – Identity Systems and Privacy

Product leader and strategist focused on identity, privacy, and trust. 20+ years as a web developer and product manager designing and advocating for simple, consistent, user-controlled, standards-based identity systems. Product Director for Identity and Access at Elsevier, leading development of a unified platform that prioritised anonymous access to academic literature. At bbc.co.uk, helped establish and later led the team that delivered the BBC’s first site-wide identity system, contributing to the organisation’s privacy and accessibility standards. Works with STM on trusted identity in scholarly publishing. Associate at Unthinkable Digital. Background in science journalism.

Sarah T. Gold – Digital Trust and User Experience

Designer and researcher specialising in human-centred technology and digital trust for the private and public sectors. Founder of Projects by IF, a digital agency that helps clients use emerging technologies to deepen existing relationships through greater customer trust, and a recognised authority in responsible technology, she advises governments, universities, and public institutions on building accountable, people-first digital infrastructures.

Zillah Watson – Domain Acquisition and Product Development

Co-founder and CEO of Phase Space VR, a tech-powered mental health platform for young people in education. Former head of BBC VR and industry leader in scalable mass-market VR production. Developed the world’s first large-scale shared headset VR distribution model, pioneered in public libraries across the UK. Led content curation for the launch of BBC iPlayer Radio and used AI to search the BBC’s extensive programme archives. Led the team to acquire ‘dot.BBC’, one of the first brand TLDs, from ICANN. Honorary Professor of VR at UCL and visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths and the London Interdisciplinary School. Studied Law at the University of Oxford and qualified as a barrister.

Cory Doctorow – Ethics and Public Speaking

Globally recognised science fiction author, technology activist and public intellectual. Author of The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, Chokepoint Capitalism, the Little Brother series, and recent novels including Red Team Blues and The Lost Cause. Special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Held academic and honorary positions at MIT, Cornell, the Open University and York University. Fulbright Chair in Public Diplomacy at USC. Recipient of the Neil Postman Award for Public Intellectual Activity and the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for lifetime achievement. Co-founder of open source company OpenCola. Serves on boards of the Open Technology Fund, Metabrainz Foundation, and Clarion Foundation. Blogs daily at pluralistic.net.

Jeff Freeland Nelson – Governance

Jeff Freeland Nelson is Director of Venture Investments at American Public Media Group, where he leads the Horizon Fund, backing media, technology, and news startups as well as the Next Challenge for Media and Journalism, the largest startup competition open to nonprofit and for-profit media startups in the United States. Jeff is also the founder of YOX, a creative toy company with sales across North America and is the named inventor in four U.S. patents. A Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and German Marshall Fund fellow, Jeff holds a BA from Hamline University and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Dr Kate Crawford – AI Research and Social Impact

Leading scholar of artificial intelligence and its material impacts. Research Professor at the University of Southern California, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New York, and inaugural visiting chair of AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Leads the Knowing Machines Project, a transatlantic research collaboration investigating how AI systems are trained. Co-founded multiple research institutes, including FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency and Ethics in AI) and the AI Now Institute. Named by TIME100 as one of the world’s most influential people in AI.

Prof Martin Eve – Open publishing infrastructure

Martin Paul Eve is Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at the University of London’s Birkbeck College. He is the author of 10 academic books, several of which are about the histories of digital technologies. He is a co-founder and former CEO of the Open Library of Humanities.

Dr Meredith Broussard – Ethical AI and Public Interest Technology

Professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Research Director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology. Data journalist and author of award-winning books, including More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech and Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World. Academic research focuses on artificial intelligence in investigative reporting and ethical AI, with a particular interest in using data analysis for social good. Former features editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer and software developer at AT&T Bell Labs and MIT Media Lab.

Michele Coleman Mayes, JD – Legal Strategy and Governance

Former General Counsel and Secretary for the New York Public Library (2012-2024). Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Allstate Insurance (2007-2012). Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Pitney Bowes (2003-2007). Several legal capacities at Colgate-Palmolive (1992-2003). Chaired the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession (2014-2017). Board of Trustees of the American College of Corporate Governance Counsel since 2019. Director for the Centre for Reproductive Rights since 2020, currently serving as Board Chair. Former director of Assurant, Inc. (2004-2007), chairing the Nominating and Governance Committee. Joined the Board of Gogo in 2016, chairing the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Joined the Board of Brookfield Wealth Solutions Ltd. in 2023, serving on the Governance and Nominating Committee.

Seb Bacon – Advisor, Transparency

Seb Bacon is Professor of Research Software Engineering and Chief Technology Officer at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, University of Oxford, where he has built the teams behind OpenSAFELY and OpenPrescribing. He is a longstanding advocate of transparency by default: OpenSAFELY publishes its own source code, requires researchers to publish their analysis code, and shows every workload on a public dashboard, an approach now required for accessing national-scale GP data. Before Oxford he founded and sold a technology company, was CTO of OpenCorporates, devised and deployed the Alaveteli freedom-of-information platform in twelve countries, and co-founded Democracy Club.

Tony Curzon Price – Governance and Standards

Founder of FIDU, the First International Data Union. Policy Adviser at Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency. Economist with public sector experience in the No10 Policy Unit, Cabinet Office, Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Competition Commission. Former editor-in-chief of OpenDemocracy. Founded and led a venture-backed silicon design business. Non-executive director of the UK’s energy regulator, OFGEM.

Tracey Brown OBE – Evidence and Public Policy

Director of Sense about Science since 2002, leading the charity’s work to expand and protect honest discussion of evidence in public life. Under her leadership, Sense about Science has launched globally significant initiatives including AllTrials, a campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes, and Ask for Evidence, which engages the public in requesting evidence for claims made by governments, corporations, and media. Tracey led the drafting of the Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice, adopted into the UK Ministerial Code in 2010, and the creation of a public interest defence to libel in the Defamation Act 2013. Developed the Evidence Transparency Framework, used to audit UK government departments and since adopted by audit agencies internationally. Led the 2022 What Counts? inquiry into the public’s experience of policy information during the pandemic. Honorary Professor at UCL in the Department of Science, Technology and Engineering in Public Policy. Chair of the board of trustees of Jurassica and trustee of the UK Research Integrity Office. Named by the Times as one of the ten most influential figures in UK science policy. Awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to science. A vocal critic of the idea of a ‘post-truth’ society and champion of the public interest in trustworthy evidence.

William Perrin OBE – Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships

Works at the interface of technology, the state and the voluntary sector—founder of tech startups and community activist. Wide-ranging public service career helping set the national framework for regulating the media and culture sectors. Technology policy advisor and private secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair (2001-2004). Responsible for initiating the UK government’s interest in open data in 2007; remains a data activist. Founded and ran community journalism startup Talk About Local (2009-2018), winning a Google Digital News Initiative award for innovation in local data use. Provided consultancy services to leading technology and media companies, trusts and foundations.