The Digital Council Welcomes Anna Brown as a Special Advisor

Anna Brown joined us at our monthly meeting in July in her new role as the Digital Council’s special advisor. Anna and DC member Colin Gavaghan did an amazing job of presenting the findings of our research report to a lively networking session in Christchurch.

Anna is the Founder and Director of Toi Āria: Design for Public Good, a social innovation research unit focused on people-centred and participatory processes in designing positive social change. Even the name inspires creative thinking, with Toi Āria translating from te reo as ‘tidal pool of creativity'. The Digital Council is excited to bring this creativity into our inclusion workstream for this year.

Anna is also an Associate Professor at Massey University where she mentors postgraduate design students. Anna has an uncanny flare for design work and has a passion for book design, which suits her well as Anna is the chair of the Massey University Press.   

Anna and Toi Āria were the driving force behind the community research and engagement that informed our last research report; 'Towards Trustworthy and Trusted Automated Decision-Making in Aotearoa'. What makes Anna such a great addition to the council is that she understands our mahi, the importance of our aspirations for Aotearoa New Zealand and how we might take tangible steps to get there.

We want to extend a warm welcome to Anna.