Meet the team

• Dr Dan Lawson, Interim Director of Jean Golding Institute
  Dr Dan Lawson is interim Director of the Jean Golding Institute. As well as the interim Director role, he will assume the role of Academic Liaison for The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for Data Science and AI, on behalf of the University of Bristol. Dr Lawson is Associate Professor in Data Science in the School of Mathematics, University of Bristol. He works on many interdisciplinary interfaces, with contributions in methods for statistics at scale, networks and machine learning applied to problems including genetics, conservation, public health and the NHS, as well as data-driven appraoches in human geography and history. Dr Lawson co-directs Compass, the EPSRC centre for Computational Statistics and Data science, and sits of the strategic board of several interdisciplinary initiatives including as methodology lead for Oceanic and Southeast Asian Navigators.
• Patricia Holley, Institute Manager
  Patty is the Institute Manager. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the Institute. She coordinates the networking and partnership initiatives, manages resources and fosters collaborations. She also has worked as the Academic Engagement Manager at the Alan Turing Institute, supporting the Turing Interest Groups and an initiative to create new methods in data science and AI (TMCF). Patty has worked in research administration and project management for over 14 years. She grew up in Ecuador and worked in the Galapagos Islands studying Nazca Boobies and Waved albatrosses. She completed a Master’s degree in Biological Sciences at Wake Forest University, North Caroline, USA, where she studied the feeding trajectories of Hawaiian albatrosses during the nesting season.
• Christianne Fernee, Research Development Associate
  Christianne is a Research Development Associate at the JGI. She works strategically and collaboratively to develop the institutes research portfolio. Her background is in Osteoarchaeology and Biological Anthropology, with a focus on their intersection with data science and functional morphology. Prior to joining the JGI in January 2024, she held Post-Doctoral position in Biological Anthropology and Data Science at the University of Bristol.
• Madlen Williams
  Madlen is a Senior Executive Assistant at the Jean Golding Institute. She provides research and administrative support to projects within the institute, as well as working to deliver the JGI’s key services and strategic priorities. She comes from a background in Digital Anthropology with specific interests in socio-technical Worlds, completing Masters research into human-LLM relationships at the University of Bristol in December 2024.
• Kerry Turcsi, Research Coordinator
  Kerry is the Research Coordinator at the Jean Golding Institute. She helps promote the events hosted by the JGI and assists with the JGI's communication activities. Kerry has a degree in Biology from the University of Bristol and has previously worked in student administration within the University.
• Elaine Young, Senior Executive Assistant
  Elaine is responsible for reporting, mapping and promoting the impact activities generated by the Jean Golding Institute and data science research groups across the University of Bristol. Elaine has a background in Administration within the University of Bristol and has a degree in Psychology from the University of Cardiff.
• James Thomas, Senior Data Scientist
  James is a Senior Data Scientist at the JGI, leading our team of data scientists. He is interested in Urban Analytics, including electric micromobility, air quality and the vulnerability of people and infrastructure to the effects of climate change. He is also interested in data science education and training, co-organising the JGI Bristol DataViz Group and co-designing the DataFace training programme for schools as part of the Cheltenham Science Festival. He joined the Jean Golding Institute in December 2020, bringing over ten years of experience working in industry on low-carbon energy and net zero projects for Government and organisations in the energy sector, investigating the future decarbonisation of the UK energy supply and project-managing field trials to measure the real world performance of low-carbon heating technologies.
• Will Chapman, Data Scientist
  Will is a Data Scientist at the JGI. His interests are in applying machine learning to medical datasets and stochastic modelling. He has worked on computer vision pipelines to support clinicians in the early detection of rare types of stroke, collaborating with NHS health trusts to ensure patient privacy is safeguarded. He has a PhD in Experimental Psychology and joined the Jean Golding Institute in 2023.
• Huw Day, Data Scientist
  Huw is a Data Scientist at the JGI. He has an interest in the ethics and safety of data science, acting as co-organiser of the JGI Data Ethics Club and the Data Hazards project. As part of his interest in data ethics, he gives outreach talks in schools in the south west of England on ‘Weapons of Maths destruction’. He joined the Jean Golding Institute in October 2023, having completed a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Bristol, investigating patterns in DNA replication. He also worked as Research Associate for 3 months with the Bristol Digital Health group, looking at health scoring systems in the NHS.
• Léo Gorman, Data Scientist
  Léo is a Data Scientist at the JGI. He is interested in developing sustainable software for data management and analysis. He also has a keen interest in Bayesian analysis methods and multi-level modelling. Léo has experience applying data science in the field of international development. In collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute, he has developed software and analytical procedures to help researchers better understand the issues facing smallholder farmers in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries. With a background in physics and international development, he joined the Jean Golding Institute in October 2023, after finishing his PhD at the Alan Turing Institute and the University of Bristol.
• Richard Lane, Data Scientist
  Richard is a Data Scientist at the JGI. His interests are software development and processes for data science, delivering and designing training courses, and reproducible research. He has worked on computer vision of forensic and medical CT scans and data analysis from smart wearables. He manages the Ask-JGI helpdesk PhD data scientists, having worked on the team himself during his time as a PhD student in the School of Physics, before joining the Jean Golding Institute in 2023.
• Hen Wilkinson, Research Fellow
  Dr Hen Wilkinson Hen Wilkinson came late to academia following decades of work in UK cities around community conflict and tensions through Community Resolve. She is a Research Fellow at JGI, and the lead of the IPTG - an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers, practitioners and tech professionals developing the emerging field of PeaceTech - peacebuilding meets technology.