Research team

Jo Bates

Jo Bates
Professor of Data and Society University of Sheffield

Jo is principal investigator on Patterns in Practice. Her research has examined how socio-cultural and political economic factors shape data flows, data practices and data policy. She is interested in issues of power and how beliefs about data and society shape how people imagine and work with data.

She has explored these interests in different contexts including open government data initiatives, meteorological & climate data flows and data science practice. 

She has also contributed to related research projects in the field of data and AI studies, including Living with Data, the Cyprus Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (CYCAT), and work on labour relations in crowdwork systems.

Itzelle Medina Perea

Itzelle Medina Perea
Postdoctoral researcher University of Sheffield

Itzelle is a postdoctoral researcher working at Patterns in Practice. She recently completed a PhD in the Information School at the University of Sheffield.  As part of her PhD research, which adopted a Critical Data Studies perspective, she explored the sociocultural values and norms within university-based research teams that reuse patient data (e.g. motivations for data practices, patterns of decision making, perceptions of their own culture, relationships and ways of engagement with external cultures). Before joining Patterns in Practice, Itzelle worked as a research assistant on Living with Data.

Helen Kennedy

Helen Kennedy
Professor of Digital Society University of Sheffield

Helen is a co-investigator on Patterns in Practice. Over 20+ years, she has researched how digital media developments are experienced by ‘ordinary people’, how these experiences can inform the work of digital media practitioners in ways that address or overcome inequalities. She is interested in perceptions of and feelings about data processes and ‘datafication’ and related issues such as trust, injustice and what ‘good data’ might look like. She is also interested in the role of visual representations of data and whether they can mobilise people to act.

Erinma Ochu

Erinma Ochu
Associate Professor Immersive Media UWE Bristol

Erinma is a co-investigator on Patterns in Practice. They are a biologist and storyteller working at the intersection of the arts, emerging technologies and information at UWE Bristol. They are founder of #OpenLight, a platform for co-inquiry emerging from knowledge exchange with minoritised artists and cultural entrepreneurs, to invent new cultural forms, literacies and worlds to navigate a warming world, funded by Wellcome. Erinma gained a PhD in Applied Neuroscience from The University of Manchester then worked in story development, film production and distribution as EAVE graduate at B3 Media. They have led, collaborated on and acted as critical friend on a range of social change research initiatives including the Beacons for Public Engagement, Creative People and Places and the Community for Engaging Environments. Erinma’s involvement as Co-I on PIP focused on AI and arts practice builds on a JUSTAI/ Ada Lovelace racial justice fellowship critiquing the ethics of AI informed by Sylvia Wynter’s ‘The Ceremony Must be Found, After Humanism’ with researcher and designer, Caroline Ward, co-founder of Squirrel Nation. 

Monika Fratczak

Monika Fratczak
Postdoctoral researcher University of Sheffield

Monika is a postdoctoral researcher working at Patterns in Practice. She joined the research team in September 2022 after completing her PhD, which explored emotional responses and (potential) democratic participation through data visualisation about climate change in two different national contexts. She has also worked as a research assistant/associate on ‘Living With Data‘,mapping and visualising inequalities in vaccine hesitancy  and ‘Generic Visuals in the News‘.

Samborne Bush

Samborne Bush
Researcher Associate UWE Bristol

Samborne is a research associate on ‘Patterns in Practice’. He recently completed a degree in Sociology with Quantitative Research Methods at the University of Bristol. Samborne also worked as a research assistant on Worker Perceptions of Risk in an Age of Technological and Industrial Transition: A Project in Bristol where he produced and co-hosted the podcast ‘Yesterday’s Island, Today: Down on the Marsh’.

Craig Scott

Craig Scott
Artist in Residence Watershed, Bristol

Craig Scott is the Artist in Residence on Patterns in Practice. He is an independent Composer, Performer and Creative Technologist creates sound works for human and non-human performers. With a background in Jazz and Improvised music, Craig is currently working with semi-automated acoustic instruments (simultaneously automated and human controlled) to explore the potential of improvised duets between a human musician and Machine Learning driven automation.

He has performed original work internationally inc. Warsaw Autumn (PL), Gaudeamus (NL), Copenhagen Jazz Festival (DK), V&A museum, Cafe OTO, The Vortex, Manchester Jazz Festival, Dutch Fretless Guitar Festival and WOMAD. As a solo artist he is the recipient of PRSF Composers Fund, Francis Chagrin Composer Award, Jerwood/PRS Take 5 and nominated for the Paul Hamlyn Composer award 2023.

Instagram: @Craig_Scotts_Lobotomy

www.CraigScottsLobotomy.Bandcamp.com

Hadley Beresford

Hadley Beresford
Postdoctoral researcher University of Sheffield

Hadley is a postdoctoral researcher working at Patterns in Practice. They recently completed their PhD, which explored the use of data and algorithms in the public sector. The partner organisation for their PhD was the Department of Work and Pensions, and the research focused on how algorithms can discriminate against marginalised groups and how the risk of this might be mitigated on algorithmic projects. They have also worked as a research assistant on the website version of Dr Susan Oman’s book Understanding Well-being Data.

Lucy Sabin

Lucy Sabin
Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Sheffield

Lucy (she/her) is a postdoctoral research associate working on Patterns in Practice with a focus on communicating research insights among key audiences. She recently completed her PhD thesis in Geography (practice-related) at University College London. Her project, Aerography: Situated perspectives on air quality and breathing, explored participatory research in environmental politics and environmental quality. Lucy holds a master’s in Communication from the Royal College of Art and has held teaching posts in media and communication at Arts University Bournemouth, University for the Creative Arts, and University of Sussex. Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn.