Julian Tait
Chief executive officer
Julian is a passionate advocate for technologies that build stronger communities, encourage new forms of economic activity and give people a stake in decision-making.
He’s spent more than a decade creating projects that prove the benefits of open and accessible data.
While working at FutureEverything, Julian co-developed Manchester’s Open Data Cities programme, and he’s been involved with many local, national and international initiatives. He is a co-author of the Open Data Handbook, The Open Book and other papers.
Sam Milsom
Programme development manager
Sam designs and delivers ODM’s programme including training, workshops and projects such as Data for Communities and the lottery funded Our Streets Chorlton.
He is a skilled workshop facilitator with experience of making data accessible to ‘non-data people’ and building strong community and stakeholder engagement.
Previously Sam has worked for Code Club and ReadingWise. In 2011, he co-founded Time/Image Online, responsible for the digitisation and cataloguing of the British Council’s film archive. He can sometimes be heard co-hosting the Tech For Good Live podcast.
Kirsty Styles
Communications manager
Kirsty is a journalist, campaigner, researcher and performer. In 2019, she became the first PhD candidate supported by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, where she’s looking at the environmental impact of the media.
She’s brought civictech stories to millions through business and consumer media, including working as an editor for the New Statesman, created a public speaker training scheme for women in tech in the North and launched a British Podcast Award-winning podcast for the New Economics Foundation. She also helped open the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s award-winning local investigation files.
Recent work includes the Standup For Journalism comedy training and performance night, offering journalists a new way to talk about the public interest, and acting as selection advisor for Nesta’s government-backed Future News Pilot Fund.
Sophie Walker
Project manager
Sophie is the COO and co-founder of Dsposal a clean-tech company, which along with its sister social enterprise Your Dsposal, is on a mission is to empower people to make better decisions with their resources and waste by increasing transparency and accountability to make a positive impact on our environment.
Prior to founding Dsposal, Sophie gained a degree in Conflict Resolution, cycled 8,700 miles around North America and enjoyed a winding career encompassing supply chain, the food industry and sustainability.
She is shortlisted for the NPW Outstanding Entrepreneur award 2020, was voted joint 5th in the 2019 Resource Hot 100, is the group coordinator of the Waste Compliance Taskforce and is an alumna of the CSC Leaders Programme.
Nathan Khadaroo-McCheynne
PhD Researcher
Nathan is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Manchester. He is writing his thesis in collaboration with Open Data Manchester on “Citizen Science for the Public Good”.
Nathan completed his BA in political science at the University of Manchester. His current research interests include citizen science, exploring statistical methodology for new and unconventional forms of data, contemporary debates in philosophy of statistics, open-sourced software (in particular R and Julia languages), communicating uncertainty, and cooking.
He is also a passionate advocate of open research practices and co-organises the university’s open science journal club.
Clara Parada
User researcher
Clara is a ‘tech for good’ user researcher based in Manchester. She has worked with clients in a variety of spaces, such as education, social care and homelessness.
She currently works with Diverse and Equal researching issues around ethnic diversity in tech, as well as upskilling people in Agile, User-centred Design and Research.
In her past life, Clara got a Master’s degree in Digital Media Management at Hyper Island, as well as a PGCE in Art and Design at Manchester Metropolitan University.
In her spare time, Clara likes to crochet, eat chips and go hiking!
Maura Hunt
Data architect
Maura is a PhD candidate in the Decision and Cognitive Science Research Centre at the University of Manchester. She is writing her thesis on cognitive shortcuts used in decision support systems.
Before her doctoral studies, Maura received her MSc in Business Analytics – Operational Research and Risk Analysis at the University of Manchester. She also completed aBSc in Psychological Sciences at Kent State University in the USA.
Maura’s research interests include multi-criteria optimisation, rationality, cognitive and resource constraints, human-computer interaction, open-source software (mainly in R programming language) and open-science practices.
Personally, she likes to watch Netflix, explore cute coffee shops, go hiking and travel.