Our People

• Professor Daniel Neyland

  BDFI Co-Director
  

  Daniel is a social scientist and Professor of digital futures in the Bristol University Business School. For over 20 years he has worked on collaborative sociotechnical research projects, often working with computer scientists and engineers to come up with new ways of working and thinking.

  From studies of the everyday life of algorithms through to research on markets for digital data, he has demonstrated a commitment to challenging taken for granted assumptions regarding: the relationship between problems and solutions; what it means to govern and distribute relations of accountability and responsibility; and how we ought to go about the process of doing research.

• Professor Raul Santos-Rodriguez

  BDFI Co-Director
  

  Raul is a UKRI Turing AI Fellow and Professor of Data Science and AI and Intelligent Systems at the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol. Prior to his current role, he held positions both in the creative technology industry and academia.

  An advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration, Raul works across fields to address societal challenges in healthcare and climate science, rethinking the role of AI in complex decision-making, its accountability and transparency. His research interests lie around the foundations of human-centric machine learning, focusing on developing tools for humans to interact with and shape the behaviour of AI systems.

• William Campbell

  Senior Research Administrator
  William provides administrative support across the institute, including finances, diary management, event delivery and governance. He co-ordinates the BDFI programme’s operations, managing budgets, payments and records, as well as preparing reports and maintaining procedures/databases. His role ensures the smooth running of projects, services and communications for staff and external collaborators.
• Peter Oliver

  Business Development Manager
  Peter is the lead contact for our partners at BDFI. He supports the planning and implementation of engagement activities with new and existing partners to drive forward connectivity and co-creation across projects in the BDFI. Peter joined the University of Bristol in 2021, having previously worked in roles engaging external organisations in student activity in degree programmes.
• Adrian K. T. Ng, Technical Expert – Immersive Technologies

  Adrian is responsible for the immersive front-end of the Reality Emulator and the growth of immersive technologies in BDFI. He has a multi-disciplinary background in engineering, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, and extensive MR project delivery experience across multiple disciplines and technologies.
• Ashley Bligh, Technical Expert – Networks

  Ashley has been working as a Network Specialist within the UoB IT Network team, where he supported network connectivity across all the university buildings. His responsibilities also included designing, configuring, and deploying new networks, including those at BDFI.
• Leah van Jaarsveld, Technical Expert – Data Centre