This year has been remarkable for many reasons, not least the acceleration of digital transformation. Here are just a few highlights from us at INDEX.

Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen joined our team in April. She has published 5 papers, taken part in 3 conferences and written 2 journal articles (on data-driven orthoses design and shared understanding within distributed design teams). Saeema was a speaker at Innovate UK Manufacturing Made Smarter workshop and co-programme chair for the 6th International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2020).

Alan Brown has spoken at many events, including London Market Forums and the AWS Higher Education Transformation Week. He was a guest on Headspring’s Learning Rewired podcast, and he renewed his Turing AI Fellowship.

Phil Godsiff and Zena Wood have collaborated on a working paper: Financing the Digital Economy: From financing products and purchases to financing service and use. Both have also appeared as part of London Market Forums: New World Series. Phil has contributed his expertise to a project to automate Gift Aid donations, while Zena has worked with DEAS on a series of funding calls and supportive webinars.

Beth Kewell has taken on new roles within the University (including Senior Lecturer), studied the role of women in blockchain and spoken at online seminars (such as E-Governments and Governing in the Digital Age).

David Lopez also renewed his Turing AI Fellowship, and his remarkable work using AI to tackle online harms captured headlines at Irish Times and Enterprise Talk.

Roger Maull has run workshops in supply chain collaboration in manufacturing. He analysed the impact of COVID-19 on the UK fresh food supply chain and lent his expertise to the Digital Sandwich project, dedicated to digitising the food supply chain.

David Plans too has renewed his Turing AI Fellowship. He had several Journal articles published, and his expertise in the realm of mental health in the digital age and COVID-19 pandemic has earned him a contributorship at Forbes.

Stavros Polykarpou gained his PhD, and his paper on scaling the digital innovation of 3D printing across organisations won a Best Paper Award from the Academy of Management.

Mark Thompson has continued to be a vocal advocate for digital innovation, particularly within public services. His appearances include: the AWS Higher Education Transformation Week, Tech UK’s webinar looking at community and public services post-COVID, and Dorset Council’s Festival of the Future. Mark delivered the opening keynote at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)’s first ‘unconference’, and also published an article in The MJ magazine.

And that’s not all, we have a very exciting announcement coming soon – roll on 2021!