CV

Bio

After graduating from the University of Sussex in 2010 I spent five years working in the digital media and IT industries in Brighton. In 2011 I joined my local hackerspace, Build Brighton, and shortly afterwards became a trustee. Over the next few years I organised workshops and public engagement events for Build Brighton, worked as a producer for the annual Brighton Mini Maker Faire, and visited other makerspaces and Maker Faires all over the UK.

Almost everywhere I went in the tech industry and maker community there was a noticeable lack of women and femme people. One day, I looked up from my desk at work and realised that I was the only femme person in a room of 30 people. I became interested in investigating ways to support women and femme people’s engagement with technology, and in 2015 I left my job to start a combined Masters and PhD programme in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at University College London.  In 2016 I gained my MSc in Science, Technology & Society, and I’m currently completing my PhD research on how some makerspaces have successfully built a gender diverse membership base.

Alongside my postgraduate studies I’ve taught undergraduate and masters courses at UCL, presented at various hacker and maker conferences, and contributed to research, policy, and activism projects with a focus on technology, community-building, and/or equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

Education

PhD Science & Technology Studies, University College London, 2026 (predicted).

• Thesis title: Gender, Technology, and Makerspaces. Supervisors: Professor Emily Dawson & Professor Carina Fearnley.

MSc Science, Technology & Society (Distinction), University College London, 2016.

• Dissertation title: Who’s in and who’s out: The state of the field of the UK maker movement.

BA (Hons) Film Studies (First Class), University of Sussex, 2010.

Grants & Awards

Grand Challenges Doctoral Students’ Small Grant, University College London, 2021.

• Awarded £2,500 for the project ”Re-Imagining Technology to Explore Gender Through a Game Jam”.

Making Spaces, Lloyds Register Foundation, 2019.

• Contributed to a successful grant application for the Making Spaces research project, awarded £688,467.

MSc STS Dissertation Prize, University College London, 2016.

ESRC 1+3 Studentship, Economic and Social Research Council, 2015.

• Awarded a studentship to complete an MSc and PhD in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at University College London, including full payment of tuition fees, a living stipend, and funding for research costs.

BA Film Studies Dissertation Prize, University of Sussex, 2010.

Research Experience

Research Assistant, Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College London, 2021.

• Project: “Exploring Experiences of LGBTQ+ Staff at UCL”

Research Support, Public Policy & Grand Challenges, University College London, 2020.

• Project: “AI and the Future of Work“
• Project: “Implementing an Inclusive Economy in London“

Researcher in Residence, NYC Resistor, 2018.

Research Assistant, Institute of Education, University College London, 2017.

• Project: “Making Spaces”

Policy Experience

Research Support, Public Policy & Grand Challenges, University College London, 2020.

• Contributed to UCL & The British Academy’s submission to the Work & Pensions Select Committee’s inquiry “DWP’s Preparations for Changes in the World of Work“.

Teaching Experience

Dissertation Supervisor, Division of Biosciences, University College London, 2024.

• Undergraduate dissertation supervisor for the BSc Human Sciences degree programme.

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College London, 2017 – 2021.

• Taught undergraduate and masters modules and marked student essays.

Instructor, Build Brighton, 2012 – 2015.

• Taught electronics and crafting workshops at my local hackerspace.

Instructor, Freelance, 2010 – 2011.

• Taught computer animation workshops for film-makers and technologists.

Talks & Presentations

Feminist perspectives. 35th Chaos Communication Congress, Leipzig, Germany, 2018.

Building inclusive makerspaces. Electromagnetic Field, Eastnor, England, 2018.

Women and femmes, technology, and makerspaces. Science Policy Research Unit PhD Forum, Brighton, England, 2018.

What even is a “maker”?: How we see ourselves and how other people see us. Electromagnetic Field, Guildford, England, 2016.

Organised Panels

Celebrating and critiquing feminist inclusion strategies in technoscience communities, Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), Toronto, Canada & Online, 2021.

Publications

Lightstone, A., Mulgan, G., Morris, S., O’Sullivan, E., & Stevenson, O. (2020). Universities’ role in building back London. Policy Postings (Medium).

O’Sullivan, E. (2020). All creatures welcome?. Hack_Curio, ed. Gabriella Coleman.

O’Sullivan, E. (2018). Excellence in the maker movement. Journal of Peer Production, 12.

Administrative Duties & Mentoring

Resources Coordinator, Warning Research Centre, University College London, 2024 – Present.

Academic Transcriber, Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College London, 2023.

Student Representative, ESRC Doctoral Training Centre Student Consultative Group, University College London, 2015 – 2017.

Mentor, Wired Sussex Internship Programme, 2011 – 2012.

E-Learning Admin Assistant, University of East London, 2010.

Public Engagement

Organiser, Gender Game Jam, 2021.

Volunteer, Diversity and Outreach Team & Conduct Team, Electromagnetic Field (hacker festival), 2019 – 2020.

Organiser, “Feminist Hackers & Makers” meetup, Chaos Communication Congress (hacker conference), 2018.

Roundtable Moderator, “Building Inclusive Makerspaces”, Electromagnetic Field, 2018.

Exhibitor, “Art:Work“, Tate Modern, 2017.

Organiser, “Machine Ghosts” (tech psychogeography tour), Haunted Random Forest Festival, 2017.

Speaker, “Gender & Makerspaces”, PubHD Brighton, 2016.

Producer, Brighton Mini Maker Faire, 2012 – 2015.

Director, Build Brighton (hackerspace), 2012 – 2015.

Exhibitor, Big Bang Fair South East, 2015.

Exhibitor, Elephant & Castle Mini Maker Faire, 2014.

Centre Lead, Young Rewired State Brighton (coding summer school), 2012-2014.

Co-founder, Coder Dojo Brighton (coding club), 2013.

Workshop Instructor, “Learn to Solder”, Brighton Science Festival, 2013.

Exhibitor, Dublin Mini Maker Faire, 2012.

Exhibitor, Derby Mini Maker Faire, 2012.

Activism

Project Manager & Event Volunteer, Trans Pride Brighton & Hove, 2021 – Present.

• I was the lead producer for Trans Pride Brighton’s first ever livestream Pride festival in 2021, broadcast to an audience of 50,000 viewers from a TV studio in Brighton. Our livestream was featured on the homepage of Twitch.tv.
• I also worked with Trans Pride Brighton volunteers and trustees to design policies and procedures for sustainably growing the charity and producing future in-person events.
• I continue to volunteer at Trans Pride Brighton’s annual summer Pride event.

Organiser, Zoom Out, 2020.

• I co-founded an initiative to push universities towards developing in-house open source remote teaching solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of adopting solutions such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams whose business models are built on user data extraction.

Director, Alexandrite House, 2019-2020.

• I was the co-founder of a proposed new emergency night shelter for transgender and non-binary clients in Brighton. In 2020 the project was put on indefinite hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.