Natalie Byrom

Dr Natalie Byrom is a researcher and policy adviser with expertise in justice system reform, evidence generation, data-driven technologies and justice data governance. She has a track record of leading high-quality research and translating this into policy impact.

Between 2018 and 2020 Dr Byrom was seconded to the UK Ministry of Justice as expert adviser on open data in the context of an ongoing £1bn programme of digital court reform. Her report led to the creation of new mechanisms for monitoring the impact of digitisation on access to justice and reforms to justice data governance.

Dr Byrom has given evidence to a number of parliamentary committees including the Justice Select Committee (open justice and court capacity) and the House of Lords Constitution Committee on issues relating to justice system reform, data collection, sharing and governance. Her writing on these issues has been published in the legal and national press. She is part of the BBC Expert Women Network and currently holds a number of public appointments, including membership of the Ministry of Justice’s Senior Data Governance Panel, and the Civil Justice Council. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Faculty of Laws.

As a fellow at Connected by Data Natalie will be continuing her research and advocacy to improve the quality and availability of data about the justice system. Her work will focus on mapping the implications of data driven technologies for access to justice and investigating new models for engaging the public and enhancing their role in justice data governance.