I’m a specialist in public participation and democratic reform, with over 15 years of experience designing participatory and deliberative democracy processes, advising and supporting reformers in government and civil society, and advocating for open government and public participation.Currently, I am Democracy and Participation Lead for the Open Government Partnership, a multilateral platform of 75 national governments, 160 local governments and thousands of civil society organisations working to embed the principles of transparency, participation, inclusion and accountability in government. My work particularly focuses on strengthening civic space, addressing digital threats to democracy, and mainstreaming public participation.Previously, I was executive director of Involve – the UK's leading public participation charity – where I advised national, devolved and local governments across the UK on designing participatory processes; oversaw, led and facilitated 20+ citizens' assemblies, juries and panels; produced guidance and standards for good engagement practice; and developed peer-support networks to further the practice of public participation. Before becoming director of Involve, I held other roles in the organisation including as Open Government Programme Manager and Senior Researcher. During this time I led the UK Open Government Network, including through developing two open government action plans with the UK government. I worked with multilateral organisations - including the OECD, Council of Europe and Open Government Partnership - to improve the practice of participation and open government globally. And I researched and wrote on topics including public participation, open government and democratic reform.Before joining Involve, I was a researcher for the National School of Government's Sunningdale Institute. I worked on research projects covering public sector innovation, governance and accountability, the evaluation of leadership development, and citizen-centred public services.I hold a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and a BA in Social Policy and Administration, both from the University of Nottingham.