Octavia is Associate Director (Impact & research practice) at the Ada Lovelace Institute. Her role connects research design to strategy, project planning, external outputs, impact and evaluation, ensuring that the Institute fulfils its commitment to make data and AI work for people and society.

Before joining Ada, Octavia worked in the creative and cultural industries as a gallerist and artist studio manager, in publishing as a commissioning editor, and in the technology sector as a product manager. Most recently, she worked in higher education, leading on strategic content and impact at the Royal College of Art.

Octavia has an MA in Digital Media Culture and an MSc in Social Research, with a subject specialism in tech company ethics. She is an advisory board member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project Patterns in practice at the University of Sheffield and Co-Investigator to the UKRI-funded ‘Including public voice in responsible AI’ programme.