I study narratives about technology in society (who innovates, what, and why), the possibilities created by public money but also the limitations imposed on it. My PhD explored the assumption that ‘defence is different’ when it comes to developing high-tech items. I looked at issues raised about military and non-military procurement in the UK parliament and British newspapers to understand what (if anything) is different about defence. Answer: not much! Once upon a time, military requirements drove technology development, but now civilian areas of public life have also become technology intensive, so contract management issues exist in both areas, and there is merit in learning from each other rather than thinking in silos.
Before joining Bath, I was working on a training programme for local government officials called Infuse (https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/infuse/), supporting them to explore how public spending could enable innovation and achieve wider policy objectives. During this time, I built a society-building boardgame for school children to discuss public spending and governance. I like designing games and observing how they break down knowledge barriers. At Bath, I'm using a game to understand social norms and behavioural biases linked to cybersecurity (https://www.discribehub.org/).
AMA about science and public policy, public procurement, and board games.
Proof: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uniofbath/53308954989/in/dateposted/
Signing-off now! Thank you so much for your questions! :)