FOUNDER AND CEO

James has spent his career tackling challenging systemic problems such as climate change, obesity, asteroid hunting, disaster response and violent extremism.

Part product designer - part scientist - part entrepreneur - part inventor, James is a hybrid who believes in the power of interdisciplinary approaches to fast track innovation and is a passionate advocate of the power of teams and partnerships to do great things for the good of humankind.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Sarah is responsible for the operations and finance across the UK, American and Australian group of companies. She has over 20 years of experience, setting up and managing programs across science, innovation and finance. Previously, she led the Health Innovation Programme at The Young Foundation, the NESTA Social Enterprise Investment Fund and was deputy chief executive of the CDFA (now Responsible Finance) for five years.

HR AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Jodie is responsible for the human resources strategy, focusing on global talent, diversity, inclusion, and cultural development. She also manages the operational and financial aspects of the business. With a learning ethic at heart she has been instrumental in enabling Trillium’s vision by leading the team in delivering world-class research accelerator programs. With over 15 years of experience in operations and management, Jodie brings the passion, talent, experience, and strategy that allows Trillium’s ambitious team to thrive.

CHIEF SCIENTIST

Cormac is Trillium’s chief scientist, leading R&D efforts into bushfire and flood resilience, as well as machine learning on-board satellites. With a 20-year background in professional astrophysics, he has worked between academia and industry as an interdisciplinary scientist, building intelligent systems for ecology, astronomy and disaster management.

Cormac has a PhD in astrophysics and is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Anne has a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and experience in mathematical modelling and software engineering. Anne's background is in education and technical training encompassing a combination of skills in team leadership, learning and development and program management. She has worked in academia, early and late stage education startups and established technical companies. As program director at Trillium, Anne will create a collaborative research space for innovation.

EXPLORATION DIRECTOR

With 30 years in Silicon Valley senior leadership positions at Apple, Adobe, and Autodesk, in addition to an active career in a variety of science, engineering, and academic domains, Jonathan is a proven creative thinker and respected voice on future trends, mindset, long-range vision, and "moonshot" thinking. Jonathan provides insight on the intersection of emerging technologies and societal trends, and closing the gap between the theory and the practice of innovation in a world of rapidly accelerating technological capabilities.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

With a background in physics and science, Stephen trained as an industrial design engineer before joining IDEO, the global design consultancy, in 1999. He has extensive experience in project management, concept development, user experience design, interaction design, information architecture and digital prototyping. A client focused, skilled communicator, he is comfortable working with senior clients across diverse industries.

PROJECT MANAGER

Gabe has a passion for all things space. He has interdisciplinary experience across start-ups and academia including UAV and sounding rocket design, machine learning applications, space-domain awareness, and autonomous control systems for spacecraft. His research has centered around leveraging machine learning for autonomous space debris remediation missions. In his free time, he enjoys a hobby as an amateur astronomer.

PROJECT MANAGER

With a background in socioliguistics and a passion for AI Catherine brings a unique set of skills to Trillium. Based in Sweden, our globe trotting PM is a facilitation fanatic, a proud sustainer of women in tech and a restless italian, bringing enthusiasm and adaptability to every project.

INDUSTRIAL + SYSTEMS DESIGNER

Jon is an experienced product + systems designer with 8+ years of experience specialising in space related concepts, hardware development, CAD, systems design, sustainability, prototyping, illustration, aid dependency avoidance and open source projects.

He graduated from Brunel University with 1st class honours in Industrial design which allowed him to follow his passion in a career that solves challenging problems and prototypes on a different level with cutting edge tools, processes and materials.

COMMUNICATIONS DESIGNER

Ana is a creative and proactive designer with 15 years of experience delivering high-quality branding, web, and UX designs for clients from startups to established organizations. Known for her attention to detail and innovative approach, Ana thrives in both solo and team-driven projects, bringing clarity and collaboration to every project she undertakes.

ML RESEARCHER

Vít is a DPhil student at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, supervised by Andrew Markham and Niki Trigoni. He participated in FDL Europe 2021 as a ML researcher in the “AI On-Board” team and in FDL US 2022 as a ML team lead. In 2019-20, he was working as a research assistant and lecturer at the University of the Arts London in the Creative Computing Institute. Before that he was on a research internship at ETH Zurich in the EcoVision group (2019) and at Carnegie Mellon University in Franz Franchetti’s group (2017-18). He did his MSc and BSc at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He likes Machine Learning research, Arts, literature, travelling and analog photography.

ML RESEARCHER

Giacomo has a diverse range of expertise, spanning from astrodynamics to applied machine learning, where he focuses on probabilistic programming and deep learning techniques in the context of space science problems. Currently, he is a PhD researcher at the University of Surrey, working in collaboration with the ESA/ACT. His research focuses on advanced mathematical techniques applied to dynamical system theory, specifically the motion of spacecraft around small uncertain bodies. He has also been working on several topics at the intersection between space science and advanced machine learning, including spacecraft collision avoidance, orbital propagation, thermospheric density modeling, and space weather forecasting, among other topics.

COLLABORATION & COMMUNICATION COACH

Belina, originally from Baltimore and now based in Berlin, Germany, is a dual US/French citizen with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and an MBA. She specializes in innovation and business improvisation consulting, offering coaching, inspirational talks, and workshops designed to foster sustainable business transformation and planetary well-being. Her work primarily supports social entrepreneurs, scientists, experts, and activists. Since 2018, Belina has collaborated with the FDL Europe and FDL-X teams each summer, integrating improvisational practices into a unique innovation culture to facilitate co-creation within and across research teams. A former board member of the Applied Improvisation Network for six years, Belina is also the author of 'Using Improv to Save the World (and Me)' and operates her own global consultancy focusing on co-creation, complexity, and communication. Her mission is to make doing good delightful, impactful, and accessible on both small and large scales. Belina is known for her infectious laughter, a testament to her passion for her work.