Director of Operations

Dawn Melville

patconley Core Team
Dawn Melville

A creative and multifaceted entrepreneur with particular expertise in generating, testing, developing and turning ideas into business opportunities. With a wide portfolio across digital technology, media, design and research, Dawn has a natural flair for sparking off, bringing together and leading collaborations across industries, cultures and institutions. Dawn currently heads up i-DAT’s commercialisation and organisational management, making meaning and sustainable ventures out of complex interdisciplinary collaborations.

Being one of the first students to graduate from the renowned MediaLab Arts course at Plymouth University (now Digital Art and Technology) she has since worked across a number of sectors with roles that ranged from a sub editor in newspapers to a designer in the theatre before setting up Motiongrafik Ltd in 2000 – a Creative Digital Agency. Whilst running Motiongrafik Dawn set up initiatives to nurture and promote emerging  talent, including Young Motionplymouth – a young person’s film festival and Last Friday – a creatives’ monthly networking event. In 2005 she was given an Enterprising Woman award highlighting her success in business in the creative sector. She was also one of the co-founders of  Indra Congress (previously known as Arrow): an arts and reconciliation organisation working internationally with young people in the world’s trouble spots on creative expression as a tool for peacemaking.

Since 2008 Dawn has worked as entrepreneur, advisor, associate lecturer, board member and consultant across the educational, technology, creative and cultural sectors. She has successfully delivered core competencies such as strategy, bridge-building and relationship management, business conception, investment and development across a diverse portfolio. Integral in all of this is her ability and drive in bringing people together and realising their potential. A skill which Dawn frequently also applies to any two, three of four legged animal she meets, being a renowned and inherent animal lover and fixer.

mob: ++44-07876365210
eml: dawn.m.melville@plymouth.ac.uk

Birgitte Aga

patconley Core Team, i-DAT, Researcher
Birgitte Aga

Dr Birgitte Aga [B] is a creative technologist, researcher, producer and designer with an MBA in innovation and a PhD in conversational AI. She has 20 years of experience initiating and producing R&D with a focus on the creative application of emergent technologies, in particular conversational voice and text-enabled experiences.

She also creates conversational AI artworks, curates exhibitions, presents at international conferences and delivers a program of workshops that claim, drive and develop technological innovation for cultural, artistic and social impact. Central to her work is an ethos of collaboration with people, companies and cultural venues, driven by an ambition to engage the next generation of young people (in particular women) in designing future AI technologies.

Birgitte is also a South West Creative Technology Fellow (UK) for automation/AI, co-organiser of the Fulldome UK Biennial (UK), part of the  i-DAT Research & Design Collective and in receipt of funding from the ACE Artists International Development fund (UK).

mail: baga@plymouth.ac.uk

https://birgitteaga.com/