Lydia Nicholas is a anthropologist who works in places where data, identities, bodies and biotechnologies meet, focusing on futures and networks. She researches the tools and systems we use to think and work together, and uses stories to think through how that could be different or better.

In recent years she has used speculative fiction to explore information flow through interdisciplinary synthetic biology projects, researched antibiotic resistance for the Longitude Prize and edited a science fiction collection to spread awareness. Her research into lay understandings of big data took her to the UK Cabinet Office and the Science Museum, and produced a story collection with academics and authors on The Long + Short. She works as a Senior Researcher in Collective Intelligence at Nesta, exploring how people use new digital platforms to collaborate, how health institutions can work better with grassroots movements, and the ethics and regulation of using machine learning systems in government decision-making.