Meet the Teachers

Andrew helps people in government understand and use design to make public policies, services and spaces that create public value. He has over 20 years’ experience working in government, from frontline public services to central government, and now focuses on building design capability across the Civil Service.

Cam is a researcher and designer, currently at MoJ. He is also a teacher, both privately and for the International Institute of Technology, helping students at any level to understand and use research and design. In both his roles as a practitioner and teacher, he uses design to help organisations and the people they serve to work together.

Claire creates online training and information services that support early years professionals to develop their skills and confidence. Working in multidisciplinary teams, she takes a user-centred approach to designing accessible, effective content. Claire has over 14 years' experience in education content, including eight years at the BBC and six years in the Civil Service.

Clara helps teams and decision makers to understand their service users, their needs and behaviours, so they can design better and more inclusive experiences. She has been a User Researcher for 8 years, has experience across multiple fields and sectors, having worked as a consultant for most of her career. She is now focused in contributing for the design of better services for frontline Probation staff.

Antonio helps policy teams get closer to the reality of how people experience government, and to see where policy works differently in practice than it does on paper. His work is about using those insights to challenge assumptions, spot opportunities for change and shape policy that works better for the people it affects.

Gaurav helps people in government understand the lived realities of public systems. He uses human insight and visual evidence to make complexity easier to work with, helping people see what's really happening. He teaches the Make Sense of Evidence module at the Government School of Design, drawing on over 20 years of professional experience and more than a decade researching how government works in practice.

Isa works within user-centred design teams. She focuses on investigating ways to improve internal services and products to ensure they are accessible and meet user needs. With a background in product design, Isa has spent the last ten years specialising in design research across both the private and public sectors, uncovering insights that lead to meaningful improvements in services.

Lara Salinas is a design researcher and educator working on public design and design in government. Her work explores how design can help public institutions make policies and services work better for the public, while responding to complex challenges and creating public value. She is based at London College of Communication and is currently seconded to Camden Council, where she is researching and supporting design practice across local government.

Natasha works with disabled, neurodivergent and easily excluded people and communities to make public services, policies, places and experiences more inclusive and accessible. Natasha's participatory practice brings together the knowledge of communities, practitioners and decision-makers to ground change in everyday realities. Drawing on therapeutic arts and play, she challenges assumptions about whose knowledge and experience count and helps create more compassionate, equitable environments. She also teaches participatory design across education, public services, heritage and the built environment.

Noel mobilises the collective creativity of policy makers, frontline services, partners and communities to work together to drive place-based change. He brings experience in strategy, design, organisational development & change.

Rachel designs data journeys across local and central government departments to improve outcomes for vulnerable groups, critically reviewing how government departments can be better connected to prevent harm. E.g. improving the way government recognises and supports children affected by parental imprisonment. She has over 20 years of experience across advertising, strategy, consultancy and public service design.

Rosie's work focuses on helping innovation move from user-need to adoption across health and care. She is interested in bringing design approaches into policy development and delivery. Before joining the civil service, she worked in innovation in the charity sector, including teaching design to fundraising, strategy and service innovation to third sector colleagues.

Sue Jolly is interested in how design can help people think critically, make sense of complexity and shape change together. Her background spans fine art, ethnographic research, co- design with community, and modernising sport coach development through co designed systems and services. Her current work explores relational practice, designing collaboration conditions whilst bringing learning, research and design together in public services.

Thomas is a service designer, educator and illustrator. He uses design to create policies, products and services that deliver public value. He has worked across the public sector and higher education, leading service transformation and design strategy. His work focuses on bringing people together, building shared understanding and using visual methods to help people make sense of complexity and create positive impact.