Introducing our new trustees, Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland
We are very excited to introduce our two newest board members, Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland!
They are now part of the Board of Trustees at Global Change Data Lab, the charity that publishes and maintains Our World in Data. They join current board members Hetan Shah, Wendy Carlin, Rachel Glennerster, and Andrew Dilnot.
Claire and Michael joining us represents the end of a long, thorough, and very competitive recruitment process, during which we were helped by a specialist agency (Nurole) and received more than 120 applications.
We decided to grow our board because we were looking for more expertise in two particular areas — areas that are well-matched by Claire and Michael’s expertise and experience:
- The production of global data: Claire stood out as an expert in this area, with her long career leading public institutions focused on global data. We look forward to her perspective on how to make the data we provide as comprehensive and useful as possible.
- The communication of statistics in the media: Michael stood out here, as his work has focused on the role of statistical information in the public discourse. We look forward to his guidance on how to make Our World in Data more helpful for journalists.
We are truly grateful that the two of them have chosen to dedicate their time and expertise to help us achieve our mission.
Welcome, Claire and Michael!
Dr. Claire Melamed
Claire Melamed leads the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data’s Secretariat.
She was previously Managing Director of the Overseas Development Institute, has worked in the office of the UN Secretary General, and for a number of NGOs.
She is an Affiliated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and serves on the Board of Full Fact. She is based in London.
Michael Blastland
Michael Blastland is a writer and broadcaster, best known as the creator (with Andrew Dilnot) of More or Less on Radio 4, and as presenter and producer of numerous other series.
In a varied career, he’s also written several popular science books about numbers, chance, risk, and related subjects; was a board member of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication; has advised large-scale research projects; taught for many years on BBC courses for senior journalists and elsewhere; and most recently served as a non-executive director and deputy chair of Royal Papworth Hospital, and co-authored a BBC inquiry into the impartiality of its coverage of tax, public spending, borrowing, and debt.
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