I work with multiple organisations on topics around technology, digital, data and artificial intelligence and do a mix of technically-savvy policy and policy-savvy technology delivery. Some people call me a technologist, a policy wonk, or a “Peter-of-some-trades”. Others blame me for seagulls being blocked from Google Meet calls.

I like to work in teams, think about systems, ask questions, have opinions, and get useful stuff done. I enjoy working on multiple problems simultaneously and am motivated by reducing the harm caused by technology and trying to make it benefit everyone.

If you want to work together or talk then there are several ways to get in contact. Try emailing on peterkwells@gmail.com, peterkwells@protonmail.com, or messaging me on bluesky or even linkedin.

Background

I spent 20 years working with a mix of very large and very small telecoms businesses in most European countries before accidentally starting a second career in public policy.

In 2014 I worked in a voluntary role to organise an independent review of digital government for the UK Labour Party. From 2015-2019 I worked in the policy team at the Open Data Institute (ODI).

Since then I have freelanced with a range of public, private and third sector organisations, typically in roles that combine elements of strategy, policy and delivery.

Some work

In progress

An ongoing campaign to open up the UK’s geospatial data, starting with the UK address file.

Working with a business to make their collection and use of data more trustworthy while collecting evidence about why that matters to their customers.

Working within ProjectsbyIF teams to help:

  • a public sector organisation develop principles and design patterns for frontier AI experiences
  • a public sector organisation develop feedback, monitoring and evaluation capabilities for AI tools

Committee member of the Royal Statistical Society’s Data Ethics & Governance section.

Member of the advisory committee for the UK ONS (Office for National Statistics) SRS (Secure Research Service).

Member of the Sycamore Collective.

Completed

Accidentally blocking all seagulls from Google Meet calls.

Working with Careful Industries to help a regulator understand data protection harms throughout the lifecycle of LLMs/Foundation Models.

Work within ProjectsbyIF teams on various things including:

  • help a public service organisation develop a guidebook for designing, building and monitoring AI enabled tools
  • helping a public sector organisation understand the risks associated with implementing human oversight for back-office AI tools, and ways to reduce them
  • helping a multinational firm to develop and operationalise an AI policy aligned with its values
  • developing a method for a government to measure adoption, trust and inclusion in a digital identity market.

A paper for Open Rights Group on advertising business models that use a lot less data.

A paper for UKDayOne on why and how to make UK geospatial data fit for the future.

Work with Dr Natalie Byrom to develop a paper on data governance for people-centred justice systems for the OECD.

Helping the Royal Statistical Society develop its position on the UK’s Data (Use and Access) bill

Supporting Rachel Coldicutt, Dr Natalie Byrom, and Sarah Gold with a set of recommendations for the new UK government on people-first technology.

  • helping Careful Industries understand the landscape of digital identity in the UK so that they could perform a rapid response study.
  • supporting an AI wearable startup to develop an ecosystem where multiple developers can deploy AI agents.
  • helping Citizens Advice imagine a future where AI is more pervasive so that they can plan for how they serve people in that future.
  • developing new design patterns for AI that empower people.
  • bringing trust to fraud journeys in a major UK bank.
  • helping a new regulator understand trust in digital services, user research and roadmapping.
  • helping a North American healthcare provider explore what’s feasible with chatbots and how to build and use a design system that will make their services consentful by design.
  • developing a data service strategy for a major city.
  • improving AI fairness processes for a global social media firm.
  • researching the needs and motivations of local planning authorities so that better services can be designed for them by the UK government
  • a project funded by Luminate to explore a responsible future for digital advertising and explaining how advertisers and publishers can start to make that future a reality.
  • researching how AI will change services not through chatbots, but through connections.
  • research for Ofcom, the UK’s communications and digital regulator, on how to make future TV interfaces work for vulnerable consumers.
  • responding to a consultation on foundation models to say they need to be trustworthy to help other people build better services.
  • imagining and explaining a future in which charities create more value from data.
  • imagining what public services enabled by digital identity, data sharing, and personalisation might look like in 2030.
  • developing principles for generative AI services that provide control to service users, the principles are now embedded in a global social media firm’s processes and products.
  • reimagining accountability in digital services for a global technology firm.
  • a discovery project for a service that supports people to participate in genomics healthcare and research.
  • helping develop ProjectsbyIF ‘s Responsible Technology by Design framework.
  • exploring design challenges in how the EU Digital Markets Act changes consumer choice.
  • increasing trust in security software through design thinking on projects like sigstore, SLSA and Security Scorecards.
  • making recommendations on the user experience of PETs, privacy-enhancing technologies, for a global tech firm.

Advisory member of the Digital Catapult’s MI Garage Ethics Committee.

Working with Oxford Insights to

  • develop recommendations for how a government can run a data sharing pilot, and how to select between data trusts, data commons and data marketplaces as an approach.
  • understand data sharing in the UK agriculture ecosystem with Agrimetrics

Supporting the Centre for Public Data on geospatial data.

Co-chair of the UK Open Government Network working group developing commitments on algorithmic transparency and data ethics for the next National Action Plan. Sadly, the UK Government backslid on its commitments.

Recommendations on approaches to algorithmic accountability for a philanthropic funder.

The Hidden Middle for FutureDotNow: the case for businesses to invest in the essential digital skills of their workforce.

Reboot Britain for the Alliance for Full Employment: research and policy recommendations for closing the UK’s digital divide.

Exit through the App Store for the Ada Lovelace Institute: a rapid evidence review on using technology to transition from the first COVID-19 lockdown.

A book chapter on the UK’s initial approach to digital contact tracing.

Older work for the Open Data Institute:

Making Digital Work for Everyone: an independent review of digital government for the UK Labour Party.

Working with very large and very small telecoms operators in ~fifteen European countries to launch telephone, television, and a strange new thing called internet services.