About Us

The Data Place was formed in 2016 and is a social enterprise made up of data scientists, designers, community builders and strategists helping people and places thrive.

Everything about our operations is designed to be participative and we believe that it is only by empowering people – in business as well as civic sectors – to conceive and implement their own changes that real positive transformation can be achieved.

This is particularly important when exploring the emerging issues around data sharing and management in the public sphere: we believe very strongly that the benefits of bringing technology to urban (and rural) spaces can only be a force for good when citizens can access, understand, shape and build these infrastructures for themselves. 

We applied for and received the Social Enterprise Mark in early 2020, in recognition of our focus on generating positive social and environmental impacts, particularly with data.

People

Martin Howitt

Martin Howitt

Technical Lead

With a solid background as a technical lead, project manager, enterprise architect and architecture team leader in the public and civic sectors, our technology lead and co-founder Martin has the depth and breadth of technical experience to understand all the things it takes to exploit data and technology in a variety of organisations, and in particular to facilitate open data release from proprietary systems, as well as solid experience managing and delivering technology projects.
Lucy Knight

Lucy Knight

Data Lead

Our Data Lead and co-founder Lucy is an ODI Registered Trainer, a co-founder of ODI Devon and has a background as a Data Lead in local and central government. Added to over 20 years experience including production monitoring in the telecommunications industry, database management, performance reporting, data analysis and visualisation, and open data publication, she has built up significant expertise across all aspects of managing data and applying her range of skills to problem-solving.
Simon Gough

Simon Gough

Design Lead

Our Design Lead, Simon, is an experienced service designer and facilitator. As a consultant, he’s led user research, prototyping and innovation workshops for Government Digital Service, the Food Standards Agency, Department for International Trade, DCMS, the Met Office and many others. He’s specialised in bringing together data and design through new tools and approaches. Simon is an ODI Registered Trainer and also a course tutor for Ravensbourne’s MDes where he leads the service design pathway.
Sabrina Simpson

Sabrina Simpson

Partnerships Lead

Sabrina has a strong history of community building and management, having contributed to the creation of an independent hub and workspace for freelancers and small businesses, and a social enterprise supporting the growing Digital Businesses community in Plymouth. Sabrina is focused on developing and implementing partnerships and strategies for growth, both for our clients and ourselves.