Why did you choose your MSc and Edinburgh Futures Institute?
Only a handful of universities in the world offered AI Ethics as a dedicated field of study, and Edinburgh Futures Institute was one of them. That alone made it stand out. Add the University of Edinburgh’s reputation across sociology, philosophy, and the social sciences, and the decision felt obvious. EFI was one of the few places where this kind of work could be pursued with true intellectual rigour.
How did you get to where you are?
After graduation, I joined Accenture’s Strategy and Consulting practice, where I advise private industry and public sector institutions on Industry 5.0, GenAI and agentic AI adoption, responsible AI, and governance.
Two experiences at EFI were particularly significant, acting as a bridge into the work I do now.
Alongside my studies, I led a team at the Buchanan Institute, the University’s student-led think tank. Our team developed a proposal to improve Edinburgh’s sustainability infrastructure and presented our findings to more than 100 stakeholders from industry, the public sector, academia, non-profit organisations and NGOs.
Getting people with different backgrounds and perspectives to align around a single recommendation, and then making that recommendation land with a non-technical audience, was a practical education in stakeholder management and persuasive communication.
The Futures Project then turned out to be much more than an academic exercise. It led directly to an engagement with the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre and Edinburgh Innovations, where I acted as an AI Ethics Project Manager and Consultant. I built and delivered their “Introduction to AI Ethics” curriculum for the AI Accelerator programme. This involved advising early-stage businesses on digital transformation and emerging regulatory frameworks. That experience still shapes how I work today, helping organisations work out where new technology is worth the effort and where it creates risks they haven’t considered
What did you gain from your time at Edinburgh Futures Institute / the University of Edinburgh?
What has stayed with me most is a different way of approaching problems. EFI trained me to sit with complexity rather than resolve it too quickly, and to take perspectives that fall well outside my own discipline seriously. That shift in thinking is harder to name than a specific skill, but it has shaped how I work every day since. Beyond the professional, I made friendships all over the world that have genuinely lasted.
Tell us about your Futures Project
My Futures Project was called “Hello World 2.0: Introducing AI Ethics to Seed-Level Technology Start-Ups at the Accelerator Stage.” I completed it in partnership with the Bayes Centre and Edinburgh Innovations for their AI Accelerator programme. The programme was looking for a practical way to help the founders taking part think about the ethical implications of the AI they were developing.
To transcend theory, I built a decision tree matrix that founders could use to assess the risks associated with their technology. It combined questions around fairness, accountability and transparency with a business impact assessment, landing on a concrete recommendation, ranging from introducing lightweight documentation practices all the way to “don’t launch this yet.”
I grounded the work in a literature review and interviews with founders and CEOs actually going through the accelerator, so the output was guaranteed to reflect business realities. The deliverables were two consulting-style slide decks, one for instructors and one as a practical guide for founders, alongside the written dissertation.
My advice to anyone starting their own Futures Project is relatively straightforward: don’t let it stay just theoretical. It’s tempting to disappear into the literature, but talking to the people who will actually use your work is what turns your output into something that makes an impact. I still draw on ways of thinking from that dissertation two years on.
Do you have any highlights or a favourite memory of your time at the University?
My favourite memory is from the very first week. A friend I had only just met and I hiked up Arthur’s Seat for sunrise. I have a bit of a habit of marking the start of something new in a city with a small ritual like that, and watching the sun come up over Edinburgh felt like the city was welcoming me in.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Edinburgh Futures Institute?
Be open to anything. The course selection gives you a lot of freedom to pursue what you’re already passionate about, and also to stretch well beyond it. For me, that was taking a course on Transforming Economies, taught by the brilliant Katherine Trebeck, something well outside my usual lane. It ended up being one of the highlights of the whole year.
