Christopher Edgar

Data Scientist

Chris is a Data Scientist at the Innovation Growth Lab (IGL).

At IGL, Chris works across innovation mapping, meta-science, and innovation policy experimentation. His role focuses on applying data science, experimental methods, and advanced analytics to better understand how public policy can support effective and inclusive innovation.

Before joining IGL, Chris was a Senior Quantitative Researcher at Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design. There, he led research on democratic innovation, developed data and technology pipelines for scaling public deliberation, and contributed to the evaluation of AI decision-support systems. Prior to this, Chris held academic roles including Lecturer in Social Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught research methods, statistics, and a range of topics in cognitive and social psychology. He also worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, researching the neuroscience of empathy, emotion, and social cognition.

Chris holds a PhD and a BSc in Psychology from Queen’s University Belfast and is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Chris also has strong experience in machine learning and generative AI, including the programmatic implementation of large language models and the development of predictive modelling pipelines.