Nicky Hickman is an innovation and identity specialist with more than 20 years of international experience in digital transformation, data transparency, and community-centered technology design. She is an advisor at cheqd and brings deep expertise in digital identity, digital inclusion, and the governance of data systems. Nicky serves as co-chair of the Human Experience Working Group at the Trust over IP Foundation, is an industry contributor at the Blockchain & Digital Identity Lab at the University of Jyväskylä, and is a named inventor in her field. Her work consistently centers the question of how data systems can be made trustworthy, legible, and genuinely equitable for the people and communities.
Jez Goldstone is a cybersecurity strategist and innovator with more than 25 years of experience in financial services, digital identity, and enterprise security architecture. He served as Head of Cyber Security and Innovation at Barclays UK, where he led the development of the bank’s mobile app enrollment framework and is a named inventor of the Barclays Direct Call function, a security innovation now used by millions of customers. He holds additional patents in security systems and is the author of PAS499, the British Standards Institution’s code of practice for digital identification and strong customer authentication. Jez is currently founder of Illicit Labs, Innovator in Residence at the University of Manchester, and an active contributor to the Cloud Security Alliance. He brings deep expertise in trustworthy AI, privacy-enhancing technologies, and the applied governance of digital systems.
Kelly Cooper is a product developer, researcher, and systems builder working at the intersection of workforce development, open source technology, and community-centered design. She is President of Livable Wage Jobs, a 501(c)(3) apprenticeship intermediary and publisher of open source work-based learning, and President of Open Source Ag, a 501(c)(3) certified organic grow-to-donate farm and open source IoT lab. As founder of 2 Degree Shift, she advises higher education and K-12 institutions on grant strategy, compliance, and pathway development. Her earlier career includes serving as Vice Chancellor and Computer Information Systems faculty in the California Community College system. Across decades of work in open source, tech, and workforce development, Kelly has maintained a consistent focus on open access projects that center and serve underrepresented populations. She brings that applied research orientation to the design of tools and systems that reflect the full complexity of the people and institutions they serve.
Ioanna Noula, PhD is a researcher and policy advisor specializing in children’s rights, digital citizenship, and the governance of online platforms. She holds a doctorate in Citizenship Education and has conducted research at UCL’s Institute of Education and LSE’s Department of Media and Communications, where she is a Visiting Fellow. She was a co-founder of the Internet Commission, which conducted the first independent trust and safety audits of major online platforms, and currently leads the Children’s Online Redress (COR) Sandbox, the first regulatory sandbox focused on children’s rights in digital environment supported by a global consortium and funded by Safe Online. Ioanna is also a Visiting Fellow at the UCD Centre for Digital Policy. Her work bridges rigorous academic scholarship and applied policy, consistently centering the voices of young people and communities in the design of digital systems.