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Dr. Judith Townend

A new University of Sussex Knowledge Exchange fellowship will fund work with the civil society organisation Connected by Data.

Dr Judith Townend, member of the Sussex Law and Technology Centre and a co-director of the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, has been awarded a University of Sussex Knowledge Exchange fellowship for a project that will address the barriers and enablers for public bodies engaging with the public and civil society on data and technology decision-making.

Through engagement activities, Townend and project partner Connected by Data will produce a resource to help public bodies in the focal areas of education and justice better engage public and communities in their decisions and policy development on data and technology uses.   

Also relating to technology and transparency, Townend and Dr Daniel Clark, research fellow in open justice, have been awarded an AHRC Impact Acceleration Account grant to fund a workshop as part of their year-long ‘Making Justice Visible’ research project.

The workshop with legal practitioners and civil society participants will focus on contempt of court in the Court of Protection. Among other issues, it will focus on the transparency and perception of contempt commital applications, and consider how they might be avoided.

Commenting on the projects, Dr Townend said, “Though small-scale, these grants will be invaluable in supporting our existing work in this area, which seeks to improve transparency and public engagement in the justice and other public services. I look forward to hearing what stakeholders have to say, and thinking about how we can ensure that public voices are heard by those making decisions about data and technology in in the justice sector and other public services”.