My Work

Photo of me receiving an award from the hands of Jayne Broddle from BrotherAt the moment, I am the Director of New Technologies at RNID(1). My department is a Research and Development department, consisting of engineers, scientists, programmers and researchers. Our main mission is to harness Information and Communication Technology in order to make our Information Society a more equal place for deaf and hard of hearing people, who often face very specific challenges in a world where access to information and communication is so vital in order for people to fully participate.

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID(1)) is the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. As a membership charity, it aims to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. This is done by campaigning and lobbying vigorously, by raising awareness of deafness and hearing loss, by providing services and through social, medical and technical research. RNID's Vision is a world where deafness and hearing loss are not barriers to opportunity and fulfilment. RNID is a large organisation, with about 1,200 staff and an annual turnover of almost £50 million last year. My department is based in Head Office in the City of London.

Prior to joining RNID, I had a commercial IT career in Belgium, in mostly operational roles, from software development over network and application architecture through to IT consultancy. However, while I have developed my working career in ICT, I have much wider interests, skills and education. I have studied such different fields as history, linguistics, geography, didactics, docimology and psychology. This often allows me to take a broader look at problems and to frame them within much wider contexts.

In 2001, I joined RNID to drive policy, innovation, research and development in the domain of Internet, broadcasting and Mobile and wireless networking technology. I have endeavoured to establish RNID and my New Technologies department as a leading organisation in Technology and standardisation, winning several awards and commendations.

The sections below provide links to some of the results of my work. Please note that this is only a selection, not an exhaustive list. All external links open in a new window.

Recent Papers(1) Lectures, Speeches, Presentations(1)
  1. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users on 2G and 3G Mobile Networks req2g3g.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  2. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users and Web Accessibility webacc.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  3. Comments on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 Working Draft wcag2.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  4. Response to Ofcom's Consultation on New Voice Services newvoice.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  5. Response to Ofcom's Phase 2 Consultation on Strategic Review of Telecommunications strarev2.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  6. Response to Ofcom's Consultation on Review of Universal Service usorev.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  7. Response to Ofcom's Statement and Further Consultation Questions on the Review of the Universal Service Obligation usorev2.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  8. Response to Ofcom's consultation: Digital Dividend Review, dated 19 December 2006.ddr.pdf (Adbobe PDF format)
  9. Response to the European Commission's review of EU regulatory framework for electronic communications network and services ecrev.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  10. British Sign Language in Broadcasting bsltv.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  11. Response to Ofcom's consultation on the Digital Dividend Review: 550-630MHz and 790-854MHz, Consultation on detailed award design ddrcleared.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  12. Response to Ofcom's consultation on the Digital Dividend Review: geographic interleaved awards 470 - 550 MHz and 630 - 790 MHz ddrinter.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
  1. The future of interactive texting, speech given at the Institute of Physics, London, 8 October 2003. Full text (Adobe PDF format) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  2. The Information Society: opportunity or threat?, speech at the conference on "Access to the Information Society for deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people" on 25 February 2004, in the Residence Palace in Brussels. Full text (HTML) Slides (Adobe PDF format)
  3. Inclusive eGovernment services: towards a more equal Information Society: lecture at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, 30 March 2004. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  4. Disabled People in the Global Village: speech at the IFHOH 7th World Congress, Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland, 8 July 2004. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  5. Accessible e-Government services for a more Inclusive Information Society: speech at the British Library, London, 24 November 2004. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  6. Deaf People and Rail Transport: speech at the Railway Interiors Expo, Köln Messe, Köln, Germany, 30 November 2004. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  7. Telecommunication, pillar of the Information Society: full text of a speech at the EFHOH Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands on 8 April 2005. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  8. Disabled people and ICT: Charter Launch speech, given at the Houses of Parliament, London, UK, on 15 May 2006. Full Text (HTML)
  9. Changing lives through technology: a glimpse of the future for deaf and hard of hearing people: full text of a speech at the EFHOH Conference, Oslo, Norway on 5 May 2007. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
  10. The Digital Divide: a balance on where we are and a proposal for a new approach: full text of a speech at TechShare 2007, Novotel West-London, Hammersmith, UK, on 4 October 2007. Full Text (HTML) Slides (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 format)
Media Clipping Selection(1) Various(1)
  1. The Guardian, 5 February 2004, Letter about Conference on Access to the Information Society for Deaf and hard of hearing people. g050204.png (image in PNG format)
  2. The Financial Times, 16 April 2004, Letter about accessibility of online services. ft160404.png (image in PNG format)
  3. The Guardian, 7 October 2004, Letter about online services and the DDA. g071004.png (image in PNG format)
  4. The Guardian Life, 2 December 2004, Letter about access in BSL to services. gl021204.png (image in PNG format)
  5. BBC News, 17 December, 2004, about BSL Relay Service pilot. 4101993.stm (hyperlink to BBC site, opens in new window)
  6. The Register: Cellcos failing deaf people, says charity. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/21/mobile_rnid/ (hyperlink to Register site, opens in new window)
  7. The Guardian, 22 December 2005, Article on Next Generation Mobile Textphone. g221205.png (image in PNG format)
  8. BBC News, 23 December 2005, about Real-time texting for deaf people. 4546924.stm (hyperlink to BBC site, opens in new window)
  9. Computeract!ve, 22 May 2006: eInclusion Charter calls for greater focus on disabled and elderly (HTML)
  10. BBC News, 15 September 2007, about SiSi, a prototype English-to-BSL system. 6993326.stm (hyperlink to BBC site, opens in new window)
  1. TalkByText: family of state of the art solutions for real-time text communication for Windows, mobiles and the Web. (HTML)
  2. RFC 3351: User Requirements for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in Support of Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Speech-impaired Individuals (HTML)
  3. RFC 5194: Framework for Real-Time Text over IP Using the Session Initiation Protocol (HTML)
  4. Technical considerations for website accessibility, Slides (Adobe PDF format)
  5. Vodafone Corporate Social Responsibility report 2006: Feedback on socially inclusive products.
  6. Speech Recognition: opportunities and limitations. (HTML)

(1) All external links open in a new window.

This page was last updated 7 September 2008.