Dr. Lucy Havens is the researcher, data scientist, designer, and writer behind Lucy Havens, LLC. She creates physical interfaces with tangible materials, digital interfaces with code, and hybrid (physical + digital) interfaces. Through her work, Havens explores ways to make what is invisible or ignored, visible. As a designer, she uses speculative, data-driven, and human-centered methods to visually communicate information about topics ranging from environmental concerns to the contents of library collections. As a researcher and data scientist, her work lies at the intersection of responsible Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), human-computer interaction, and cultural heritage. Most recently, she developed a natural language processing approach to identifying gender biases in archival catalog metadata descriptions.
In 2024, Havens earned a Ph.D. from the Institute for Language, Cognition, and Computation in the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics, where she held affiliations with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Centre for Technomoral Futures, Centre for Data, Culture & Society, and Digital Cultural Heritage Research Cluster. Her work with the National Library of Scotland was shortlisted for the Digital Humanities Awards in 2020 and she won the Edinburgh College of Art Purchase Award for her master's dissertation, Physically Encoding Collection Metadata, in 2019. In 2015, she received her undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied Information Systems, French, and English and played on the Women's Varsity Soccer team. She is member of Phi Beta Kappa, the United States' oldest and most prestigious academic honors society.
Outside academia, Havens has held positions of research software engineer, web developer and designer, information designer, and business and technology consultant. She has worked in numerous industries, including libraries, archives, energy, retail, private equity, and finance. Her past clients and collaborators include the Alan Turing Institute, British Library, National Library of Scotland, Talbot Rice Gallery, St Cecilia's Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum, National Trust for Scotland, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, and University of Edinburgh's Library & University Collections.
Havens is available for consulting, research, computational, and design engagements. She specializes in responsible ML/AI, human-centered research, natural language processing and text mining, and interaction and information design. Please get in touch if you'd like to chat!
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