Independent Researcher and Editor

Independent researcher, editor, and creative practitioner combining ethnographic methods, computational approaches, and experimental publishing to explore how people make sense of the world

Developing novel tools and methods for cultural analysis, archival practice, and knowledge organisation across diverse settings

Core competencies

Research methods and analysis

  • Ethnographic research: Participant observation, fieldwork, interview methods, rapid ethnography
  • Computational practices: Reflexive software development, trace ethnography
  • Research design: Hybrid approaches, experimental protocols, research ethics

Knowledge management

  • Writing and editing: Academic writing, journalism, creative non-fiction
  • Experimental publishing: Digital-print hybrids, interactive formats, alternative archival practices
  • Information architecture: Taxonomies, knowledge graphs, metadata, RAG systems

Professional experience

Editor and Researcher (2019–present)
Freelance, Remote + York, UK

  • Horizon-scanning, qualitative research, writing, editing, and experimental publishing

Team Ethnography Trainer and Volunteer Researcher (2023)
The World Transformed, Remote + Liverpool, UK

Mentor (Observational Research) (2023)
La Plateforme_, Remote + Marseille, France

  • Curriculum design, mentoring, instruction in observational and community-based research methods

Founding Member and Co-Director (2014–2019)
Strange Telemetry, London, UK

  • Policy and innovation projects, project management, expert interviews, workshops

Senior Tutor (Anthropology) (2016–2018)
Angewandte, Vienna University of the Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria

Instructor (2013)
Duke University Talent Identification Programme, Durham, USA

Education

Ph.D. in Development Studies (2022) Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

  • Thesis: “Mutability, mobility, worlding: Appropriate infrastructure and urban sociotechnical change in Ahmedabad, Gujarat”

MSc in Science and Technology Policy (2013)

  • STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK

M.A. in Digital Media: Technology and Cultural Form (2010)

  • Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

B.A. (Hons.) in International Relations and Anthropology (2008)

  • First Class Honours, University of Sussex, UK

Selected chapters, publications, conference papers

  1. Cowlishaw, T., Pickard, J., “Codes, cards, and compost: Performing smallness in software”, Híbrides: Small Embodied Data, Axolot and UOC, Barcelona, Spain, 28-30 November 2024.

  2. Pickard, J., “Latent futures: Anarchival practices and intimate prototypes in human-AI interactions”, Tacit Engagement in the Digital Age, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 19-20 September 2024.

  3. Pickard, J. (2023) “Times like these”, in: Wabi-sabi: Weathering Transience (Anarchive), ed. Maja Kuzmanović, Nik Gaffney, Justin Pickard, Theun Karelse and Maya Weeks.

  4. Mehta, L., Parthasarathy, D., Pickard, J., Srivastava, S. (2022, March). “The political ecology of COVID-19 and compounded uncertainty in marginal environments”, Frontiers in Human Dynamics 4.

  5. Revell, T., Pickard, J., Voss, G. (2018) “Valuing utopia in speculative and critical design”, in: Economic Science Fictions, ed. Will Davies. London: Goldsmiths Press.

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